Color My Candler Park Walls
By John Fleming (all photos by John Fleming)
Speaking of murals… Candler Park has a bunch of them. All of L5P, of course, is flush with them and Mister Totem’s most recent work on Seminole Ave will add to the treasure we already have.
Still, we thought this might be a good time to remind everyone of the great pieces we have inside the borders of the Candler Park neighborhood.
It’s a lot to take in, once you’ve done a proper survey. Some of it is brought to you by artists’ collaboratives such as The Loss Prevention, The Outer Space Project and Living Walls.
They all do great work and focus on maintaining, preserving, and enhancing community as well as finding ways to include long-excluded groups from the public art scene.
The Loss Prevention folks say their mission is to, “transform communities with art. We paint experiences that inspire connections and build value for collaborators…”
The Outer Space Project’s website reads: “OuterSpace is an event series that merges public art, live music, design, and culture. With an outdoor mural project at its core, OSP’s goal is to enhance outdoor spaces, generate positive energy, expand the mind, and engage the public through urban beautification and creativity.”
Living Walls has this to say: “Living Walls seeks to change the historically white male-dominated industry of public art by creating more space, visibility, representation & celebration for women, people of color, and LGBTQIA+ voices, especially in places that face gentrification and erasure of these communities.”
Several others in the neighborhood are the works of individual artists, some well-known, some unheard of, and some unknown. Please let us know if we missed any. Click or tap on the mural names to learn more:
1. Fairtrade, Sevananda, 467 Moreland
2. Welcome to L5P, USPS Service, 455 Moreland
3. Outkast, Wish, 447 Moreland
4. Earth Day, 1189 Euclid
5. Portraits, Brewhouse, 401 Moreland
6. East Wall, Sean’s, 1394 McLendon
7. Eat More Colors, Fellini’s, 1534 McLendon
8. Maasi, Cander Park Market, 1642 McLendon
9. Portals, Salon Red, 1642 DeKalb
10. West Wall, Salon Red, 1642 DeKalb
11. Wings, Etc, 1580 DeKalb
12. Western Sunrise, 1522 DeKalb
13. Please Stay, MARTA, 1400 DeKalb
#1. Fairtrade, Sevananda, 467 Moreland
Fairtrade: North wall of Sevananda and Moreland. Artist: Muhammad Yungai, who specializes in painting school murals across the nation, created this gorgeous mural on the wall adjacent to the now roped-off rear parking lot. He based this piece on Agnes Senesie, of Sierra Leone, a member of a Fairtrade-certified cocoa cooperative. In a phone call, Yungai’s wife, Khadijah Pegues-Yungai, said she helped her husband with the mural, as she often does. “We’ve got nothing but good things to say about the good people of Sevananda and the neighborhood. That one, that was a lot of fun.”
#2. Welcome to L5P, USPS Service, 455 Moreland
Welcome to L5P: North wall of the USPS office on Moreland Avenue. Artist: The Loss Prevention, painted in collaboration with the Little Five Points Business Association.
#3. Outkast, Wish, 447 Moreland
Outkast: In the parking lot behind Wish, on the south wall of Sevananda, Moreland and Euclid Avenue. This was a collaboration with Outer Space Project and the artist Jeks who based this well-known piece on photos by the hip-hop photographer Jonathan Mannion.
#4. Earth Day, 1189 Euclid
Earth Day: Andrea O’Herron, an artist and art teacher at the International Montessori Academy (IMA) on Euclid, designed this mural, made of bottle tops collected by the community. The painting was done by Junior High students from the IMA from Auburn. Sonya Bettis, the head of school on Euclid, wrote in an email that, “the bottle top mosaic depicts a night and day landscape scene of the North GA mountains … The painted section that follows expresses the diversity of nature through exquisite patterns found in nature.”
#5. Portraits, Brewhouse, 401 Moreland
Portraits: South side of Brewhouse and McLendon. Artist: Christ Veal, painting under the name Caveal.
#6. East Wall, Sean’s, 1394 McLendon
East wall of Sean’s: Northeast corner of McLendon and Oakdale, by mural artist Yoyo Ferro.
#7. Eat More Colors, Fellini’s, 1534 McLendon
Eat More Colors: East side of Fellini’s parking lot and McLendon. Artists: The kids from Midtown Atlanta High School cluster. Did this, when and more background.
Where to Find It: On the wall of Candler Park Market wall on the Fellini’s Pizza side.
A 2019 collaboration of students and teachers of the then-Grady High School Cluster. (Mary Lin, Morningside, Springdale Park and Hope-Hill elementary schools as well as Inman Middle School and Grady, now Midtown High, made this work possible.) At the time, Grady art teacher John Brandhorst told the Southerner that some 100 students were involved in the project.
#8. Maasi Mural
Maasi Mural: East side of Candler Park Market parking lot, on the wall of 1654 McLendon. Artist: K.C. Angel. According to Christina Blossey, the owner of a Piercing Experience at 1654, the mural was put on the building in 1995, when she first moved her business into the space. Lots of wisdom passed down through the years from this one. It pays to absorb the Maasai saying. “Lack of knowledge is darker than the night…”
#9. Portals
Portals: East Wall of Salon Red and Dekalb Avenue. The good people at Salon Red gathered up some paperwork for us from a few years ago. From them, we know the mural was commissioned through the Outer Space Project and was completed in 2017. If you go to the 2017 recap page, you can learn more about the Portals. The Portals’ artist is Douglas Hoekzema, known in the art world as HOXXOH. See his many, many other portals from around the country.
#10. West Wall of Salon Red
West wall of Salon Red: North side of Brooks Avenue and Dekalb. Artist: Nikos Mann, who signed this piece, Doodles. It was commissioned by Living Walls and completed in 2010.
Again, thanks to Salon Red for digging deeper for information about this mural on the Brooks Avenue side of the building.
#11. Wings Etc.
Wings, Etc: West wall of 1580 DeKalb Avenue, between Mell and Glendale. Artist: Unknown. This trickly, complex, magical piece almost defies description. If you are the author of this gem, please come forward and explain.
#12. Western Sunrise
#11 – Western Sunrise: East side of 1522 DeKalb at the parking lot and DeKalb Avenue. Long-time Candler Park resident Diirga Jokl-Brough painted this mural in 2000. See this conversation with him in The Messenger a few years ago.
#13. Please Stay
Please Stay: Under the MARTA bridge at Whitefoord Avenue and DeKalb. Artist: Margo Perkins, an Atlanta-based artist who teamed up with Living Walls to give us this big and wonderful piece. It lies just outside of Candler Park, but it’s so big and wonderful, we decided to include it here.