Mural Painting To Start at Brooklyn Center Municipal Liquor Store

Brooklyn Center is planning for new wall art at the municipal liquor store in the Shingle Creek Crossing shopping center.

The city hired local artist Guillermo Valadez to paint a mural on a wall outside the store. Work on the mural is expected to start this month.

The project is the first in Brooklyn Center's public art plan.

An artist is painting an outdoor mural at the Brooklyn Center Liquor Store. The city is accepting community feedback on the project.

The city is currently surveying residents to see what they want the mural to look like.

"We wanted to make sure that nature was part of it, flowers, trees, waterways, colors, what the community meant to everybody," said Tom Agnes, Brooklyn Center Liquor operations manager. "We really want this to be part of the community and we want the community to have some say in what direction we go with this piece of art."

Agnes said the busy mall makes for a good spot for an art installation.

"It really is the perfect scenario as far as very popular, a lot of traffic by here, we think it will be a nice [addition]," he said. "It's not a liquor store piece of art, this is a piece of art that we want in the community. It just so happens to that it's on our liquor store."

Brooklyn Center artist-in-residence Raquel Diaz Goutierez, said that art can help people connect with the city and it's landscape.

"People are putting cultural roots down in the community and so public art, it's way of doing that," she said. "Depicting what the community looks like, depicting what the community wants."

Community engagement will be an important part of public art projects for Brooklyn Center in the future, Goutierez said.

"Any art that goes up in the city, it has to reflect the community it serves," she said.

The survey is available here.

See also: Brooklyn Center Liquor Partners with CEAP on ‘Ace's Warmth for the Winter Drive’

Brooklyn Center