Art Seen Festival adds two new murals

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Community members contribute to the mural being painted at the back of Little Forks Outfitters at the Summer Art Festival on June 3.

Community members contribute to the mural being painted at the back of Little Forks Outfitters at the Summer Art Festival on June 3.

Community members contribute to the mural being painted at the back of Little Forks Outfitters at the Summer Art Festival on June 3.

Community members contribute to the mural being painted at the back of Little Forks Outfitters at the Summer Art Festival on June 3.

At the 2023 Summer Art Fair in Downtown Midland, a third and final mural is being painted at the back of Little Forks Outfitters as part of the Art Seen Festival.

The Art Seen Festival is a creative movement celebrating public arts and mural making to bring vibrancy to the community. Public art gives the community a collective voice and a way to express values while bringing awareness of and beauty to Midland's physical and cultural landscape.Public Arts Midland, an initiative of the Midland Area Community Foundation, has been the bridge to help link the Art Seen Festival together with Midland Center for the Arts Summer Art Fair and Creative 360's Art Speaks Festival to bring people together in one incredible art-filled weekend.

The festival returned to Midland for its third year, showcasing mural-making and performances by local musicians. This year it featured artists creating a community mural downtown and a commissioned mural in Center City. This year's downtown mural concept was created by local artists Selena Bender, Jazzmyn Benitez and Dacia Parker.

The design for the mural was inspired by and centers around the Midland County vision statement — Together. Forward. Bold.

The design features elements of origami, with paper butterflies and a paper crane. The flowers lining the base of the mural will be painted by community members over the two days of the art festival.

Organizers said they expected more than 100 people to stop by and contribute to the community mural throughout the weekend.

"The community has loved coming out and painting on the walls," said Dacia Parker, lead artist for the mural. "It's always nice to be able to make your mark and say I helped paint some of that,"

She said people of all ages come to make their mark on Downtown Midland.

"It's a lot of fun to watch the kids but I think what's been most interesting to me is that even the older people have just as much fun painting on the wall as the children do," said Parker.

This year, another mural was being painted by a local artist. The second mural is located in Center City Midland, and UpBeat Music Academy, located at 109 E Ashman St, in the Circle. The UpBeat mural artist, Michigan native Kevin Burdick, was selected by the Art Seen Festival Committee after reviewing over 300 applications from artists all around the world.

"I would say my process starts when I talk to locals and get the feel for the surrounding area," Burdick said. "Some cities love the abstract, some love realism. Once I know the ‘style’ that will suit the area best, I then let my head go wild. I really try to mix both historical elements with cool street art elements."

Organizers say they plan on continuing to paint a community mural each year.