New Murals Adorn The Tannery

New murals at Atlas Building. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Milwaukee has a new contender for largest mural.

Chicago-based artist Levar Hoard is putting the finishing touches on a seven-story tall mural collection at The Tannery Complex in Walker’s Point. Working with a coalition of artists, known as Onearts, Hoard and his fellow artists have spent the past month painting the three murals.

The murals adorn the Atlas Building, 600 W. Virginia St., and a connecting structure to the Timbers Building. Most of the buildings in The Tannery were once part of a sprawling Pfister & Vogel Leather Company tannery, later leased to other companies under the name PV Atlas.

In 2018, Chicago-based R2 Companies acquired the office buildings in the complex for $25 million. It has now undertaken a series of renovation and improvement projects, while Peter Moede, whose family led the complex’s initial redevelopment, and David Winograd developed additional residential properties.

Hoard is working with Eric Skotnes, Jesse Hora, Miguel Á Del Real, Ryan Yanoe Sarfati and Roberto Seminario on the pieces.

The largest mural adorns the southern face of the seven-story Atlas Building. The facade, unlike much of the complex, was not made of Cream City brick.

The murals, according to an Instagram post from the group, were inspired by John Gast’s 1872 painting “American Progress,” a depiction of the spirit of Manifest Destiny. Columbia is depicted in Gast’s painting and in the largest mural. The new pieces are intended to “illustrate American as it is today in 2024.” Elements of Milwaukee are intended to be incorporated into the pieces as well.

The Instagram account for Onearts also teases that plaster experts Orlandini Studios, located across W. Virginia St., will also have a role in developing a new art collection at The Tannery. You can tour Orlandini and see the murals during Doors Open Milwaukee this weekend.

Onearts formerly operated in Chicago as the Beta Project, but recently rebranded.

The new murals join a large mural that artist Dave Watkins created in late 2023 to a stair shaft to the northwest corner of the complex, where a collection of residential buildings now known as River Place Lofts sit. While Watkins’ “pop of color” is visible from Interstate 94, the Onearts piece faces the neighborhood and W. Virginia and S. 6th streets.

Founders 3 serves as the leasing agent for the office space in the complex and has landed several new tenants in recent years.

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