Spring 2016 Edition
Alumni & Friends Magazine
Sketching in community murals
The local canvas grows.
By Jon Greenberg, BSJ 鈥01 | March 16, 2016
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LEFT: Athens is on a colorful track, thanks to community murals like this one by OHIO studio art students for a rental property. RIGHT: OHIO painted this mural for a rental property owned by Peter Kostes, AB 鈥92, and Meredith Erlewine, AB 鈥95, proprietors of Athens Bicycle. Photographs by Edwin Flores-McDowell
Peter Kostes, AB 鈥92, and Meredith Erlewine, AB 鈥95, a married couple who own Athens Bicycle, along with several other buildings at the corner of Stimson Avenue and Cornwell Street, wanted a mural on one of them, a rental house. That art form has brightened Southeast OHIO of late.
After seeing the rendition at Athens Bread Company, they contacted one of their customers, John Sabraw, OHIO professor of art and Painting + Drawing chair, and the point person for that piece. He queried his students who had pitched in on it and found two interested parties, Samantha Slone, a senior studio art major from Springfield, and Tiffany Roenigk, a senior double major in psychology and studio art from Grafton, last summer.
They collaborated with Kostes and Erlewine on the design: a female mountain biker pedaling by an array of colors and, in the distance, a railroad track representing a train that once ran in the area.
鈥淥ur approach with any artist is to get out of the way,鈥 Kostes said. 鈥淲e had a great conversation with John about who we were and how we interpret the physical space where we run our business. From that, the general design was dreamed up by John, Sam, and Tiffany. We made a few tweaks but the overall design was purely the artists.鈥
For Slone, these assignments taught her about commercial art and helped her develop a greater appreciation for public art.
鈥渓 never thought I鈥檇 love client work,鈥 said Slone, who is interested in environmental art. 鈥淏ut it was really awesome to work with people who were so passionate about something.鈥
鈥Jon Greenberg, BSJ 鈥01, lives in Deerfield, Illinois, and has worked for ESPN, TouchVision, and Team Marketing Report.
