Cincinnati, OH
Creating an artful path between neighborhood spaces
The Project
Cincinnati artists and residents created a series of six murals along Pleasant Street connecting Washington Park and Findlay Market, two historic and beloved places in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. Cincinnati residents and visitors come to these locations frequently, making Pleasant Street an ideal location for a placemaking intervention in a rapidly changing neighborhood. Through extensive community engagement, long-time and new residents of the neighborhood came together with a team of artists to design asphalt art celebrating the community. The team painted one mural in August 2021, and the community decided to postpone the larger community painting day to May 2022 due to COVID. On a painting day in 2022, the team partnered with other community groups for a street party with art activities, music, and fun. Over 600 people painted the remaining five murals together in a single day.
- Driver compliance with stop signs increased from 20% to 60%
- The annual crash rate along the street decreased by 75% (from 4 to 1)
- The average volume of pedestrians increased by 67%
Pleasant Paints Asphalt Art
“With Pleasant Paints, we all found new friends while making the street safer and more fun for people walking and biking between the park and our public market.”
Margy Waller, Founder and Serendipity Director, Art on the Streets
Use the slider to see the transformation
Best Practice Highlight: Community-Inspired Designing
In July 2021, the team invited neighborhood residents to join a chalk inspiration day event on Pleasant Street. City-Designated Artist Pam Kravetz and her team posed questions about participants connection to the area, encouraging them to bring memories to life through chalk drawings along Pleasant Street. The artists incorporated figures and shapes from the community chalk drawings into the mural designs, bringing the residents’ memories to life. Over 600 community members painted the murals with the artist team.
Press
What’s Happening in Health (WKRC (local12.com), July 3, 2022)
‘Art on the Streets’ beautifies pavement in Over-the-Rhine (Fox19, May 28, 2022)
Street Painting Mural Project (WCPO, May 15 2022)
What’s happening in Cincinnati this weekend? Here’s a full list of events (WLWT, May 13, 2022)
Series of street murals to be painted in OTR stretching from Washington Park to Findlay Market (WLWT5, July 28, 2020)
Street murals coming to Over-the-Rhine thanks to $25,000 donation (WCPO, July 28, 2020)
Cincinnati, Art on the Streets receives $25,000 grant to paint a series of murals along Pleasant Street (Cincinnati.com, August 4, 2020)
For inspiration and tips for the creation of art on roadways and public places, download the Bloomberg Associates Asphalt Art Guide which features successful plaza and roadway art activations around the world, as well as key steps for developing such projects.
