Photo: Grand Avenue Club grandavenueclub.org
Grand Avenue Club’s Art Collective
Grand Avenue Club’s Art Collective
A new mural on the west façade of the Grand Avenue Club, 210 E. Michigan St., will pay tribute to the organization’s continuing mission of offering employment opportunities, pre-vocational training and educational, cultural and holiday programming and activities to Milwaukee-area individuals coping with mental illness.
The 26 ft. high x 16 ft. wide mural, a collaborative effort of the GAC, Milwaukee Downtown Business Improvement District #21 and local artist Tia Richardson of Cosmic Butterfly Design, will be installed in early 2022. The 25 members of the GAC’s Arts Collective program will paint sections of the mural on panels, while Richardson will paint the remainder of it offsite, at 310 W. Wisconsin Ave.
“The Grand Avenue Club community is grateful to the Downtown, Business Improvement District #21 for creating this exciting partnership,” said Rachel Forman, executive director of the GAC. “Tia immediately recognized the value of GAC as a diverse urban community of people from throughout the metropolitan area. We share with Tia the satisfaction that comes from offering people—who are often seen primarily in terms of their disabilities—an array of opportunities, including the opportunity to create art, that others may take for granted.”
Forman noted the importance of the mural to GAC staff, volunteers, club and board members, as well as the organization’s supporters throughout metropolitan Milwaukee. “To us, it signals that GAC is actively participating in the resurgence of Milwaukee’s Downtown,” she said. “We can’t wait to speak to the passersby on Water Street when they stop to sit on the benches in front of the mural and view it.”
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Forman added that GAC membership “is available at no cost to anyone living in Milwaukee County who has experienced mental illness.”
Visit grandavenueclub.org for more information.
