New Mural Tackles Isolation, Celebration, Mental Health

In between rain storms and heat waves, a new mural was installed in downtown Milwaukee this week.

The approximately 450-square-foot piece, designed by artist Tia Richardson, is affixed to the rear of the Grand Avenue Club, 210 E. Michigan St. It is best viewed from the 600 block of N. Water St.

“When you look at it, you are seeing a lot of different perspectives come together,” said Richardson in an interview.

The club provides support to those experiencing mental illness. Richardson worked with members to identify themes important to them, including isolation, celebration, transportation and the pandemic-inspired practice of making greeting cards to uplift one another.

“The word experiencing is key. Not that they have mental health, but that they are expecting it. They are people first. We don’t want to categorize them as their mental illness,” said the artist.

In accordance with new Historic Preservation Commission regulations, the mural was painted on panels and affixed to the building. Painting it first on the ground allowed more people to be directly involved in its creation. “We had at least 40 participants from Grand Avenue Club and the surrounding downtown area help paint it,” said Richardson.

The artist, who has painted a growing number of brightly-colored, nature-themed murals across the city, said the aluminum panels allowed her more time to focus on specific details rather than painting on a lift.

“It made the members way more engaged in the project than we initially thought,” said Milwaukee Downtown, Business Improvement District #21 environment specialist Gabriel Yeager.

The downtown BID coordinated the mural’s creation, as it has with many other recent public art pieces. Club supporters Bud Selig and Sue Selig sponsored the mural’s creation and the Department of City Development provided a $4,000 matching grant through its Community Improvement Program.

The piece has been in the planning stages for two years and was most recently delayed by the large steam tunnel repair project following a November 2021 leak. But Yeager and Richardson are pleased with the finished project.

“We take pride in the Grand Avenue Club’s work and what they’re doing for the community,” said Yeager.

“There are universal themes in there that a lot of people can relate to,” said Richardson.

The name of the piece will be disclosed at a July 1 unveiling event. Grand Avenue Club occupies an Italian Renaissance Revival style complex made from two 1850s bank buildings. The mural is affixed to a much newer elevator annex constructed at the rear of the complex.

Richardson, who works through her firm Cosmic Butterfly Design, is doing more than painting murals. She released a children’s book, “Caring All Around Me,” in May with Orange Hat Publishing. “The book is for helping young people learn how to relate,” said Richardson. “It follows the character on a journey through a garden filled with possibilities.”

Next week she’ll launch the latest cohort of her summer teen mural program, Community Arts Leaders, with the Milwaukee Christian Center and Muskego Way Forward. Richardson teaches teenagers how to engage with community members to develop a mural concept and then paint a mural from it. A 2020 project along W. Forest Home Ave. won a Mayor’s Design Award. The 2022 program will culminate in a new mural on the
Nutricion y Bienestar building, 1734 W. Greenfield Ave.

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UPDATE: This article originally said DNS provided the grant due to an error in a press release.