Public Art and the Making of a Mural District
Large-scale murals have transformed a stretch of Wilmington's walls into an open-air gallery, and residents into an audience.
Blank walls make poor neighbors, and a stretch of Wilmington has spent recent years proving the point in reverse. A wave of large-scale murals has transformed once-dreary building faces into an open-air gallery, turning an ordinary walk through the district into an encounter with public art.
The projects have been deliberate. Working with local and visiting artists, arts organizations have commissioned works that reflect the city's history and communities, choosing walls that ordinary residents pass every day rather than tucking the art away.
The effect goes beyond decoration. Studies and common sense alike suggest that public art can deter blight, draw visitors, and give residents a renewed sense of ownership over their surroundings, and the mural district has become a modest point of local pride.
The murals also invite a broader audience than a gallery ever could. There is no admission and no hushed room — just paint on a wall, free for anyone to encounter. In turning its walls into canvases, Wilmington has made art a part of the ordinary city, which is where it may do the most good.
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