The Art Unites Cbus project came about as a solution to an immediate challenge, how to turn broken windows into messages of support for Black Lives. Columbus businesses and organizations hired artists to paint the temporary plywood with messages that ranged from calls for justice, humanity and hope to expressions of Black pride, beauty and excellence. The popularity of the murals created a demand that they be preserved and exhibited once they came down. A committee was formed, the Greater Columbus Arts Council coordinated preservation, storage, and documentation of the murals, and then the committee curated the panels into groupings for exhibit. The first exhibition of this temporary public art comprised nine sites and went up in November 2020 and came down in spring of 2021. (Images below best viewed on a desktop computer).
#ArtUnitesCbus at the Coleman’s Pointe include two cube installations.
#ArtUnitesCbus at Easton Towne Center included a row of seven murals wrapped around the northeast corner of New Bond and Fenlon streets.
#ArtUnitesCbus at Huntington Center
The Huntington Center in downtown Columbus was one of the original sites for the temporary murals in summer 2020. Later the murals were removed from windows and built into two cube installations of nine murals that were situated in front of the building, facing High St. and the Statehouse.
#ArtUnitesCbus at the King Arts Complex included two cube installations with 13 murals.
#ArtUnitesCbus at Lincoln Theatre included one cube installation with five murals.
#ArtUnitesCbus at Maroon Arts Group Box Park included five installations: two murals on the gallery, three murals on the stage, a cube of four murals, a free-standing mural near by and four murals along a fence facing Mt. Vernon Avenue.
#ArtUnitesCbus at McConnell Arts Center included 12 murals in three cubes and one stairwell installation.
#ArtUnitesCbus at Ohio History Connection included five cubes with 23 murals.
#ArtUnitesCbus in the Short North included one long cube with seven murals.
