Check Out the New Westown Gateway Mural

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Photo credit: Cole Vandermause

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Photo credit: Cole Vandermause

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Despite rising temperatures, a good-sized crowd gathered on Friday, July 19, for the official ribbon-cutting ceremony of the new Westown Gateway Mural titled "Westown in Bloom."

Milwaukee Downtown, BID #21, and the Downtown Placemaking Task Force commissioned local artist Emma Daisy Gertel for the mural.

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Photo credit: Cole Vandermause

Local artist Emma Daisy Gertel speaking during the unveiling of the new Westown Gateway Mural on Friday, July 19, 2019.

The new public art piece is located on the northeast corner of James Lovell Street and Wisconsin Avenue. According to Milwaukee Downtown, the west-facing mural will be seen by an estimated 4 million people annually.

Speakers at the ribbon-cutting ceremony included Susan Johnson, Chair of the Downtown Placemaking Task Force and Senior Property Manager at 411 East Wisconsin Center/Colliers International; Beth Weirick, CEO of Milwaukee Downtown; Samir Siddique and Shyama Chauhan, property-owners of Wisconsin Avenue Property, LLC; Emma Daisy Gertel, artist of "Westown in Bloom" and Martha Brown, Deputy Director of the Dept. of City Development for the City of Milwaukee.

The mural features an urban garden as its subject matter—a metaphor for the resurgence in Westown.

“My artistic concept is to create a bright, colorful garden of flora to enliven the space and create a sense of wonder, vibrancy, beauty, and hope that is representative of the revitalization and renewal efforts of Westown,” Gertel said in a press release. “Plant life improves mood and there is nothing more welcoming to visitors than fresh flowers.”

The Westown Gateway Mural is the second public art piece commissioned by Milwaukee Downtown in as many years. On Oct. 29, 2018, a new mural named "Migration," was unveiled in the Jefferson Street pedestrian tunnel.