By SALINA POST
Dream Cartographers, a recently completed downtown mural that included community involvement, will be dedicated Saturday.
The mural, which serves as a backdrop to the new downtown stage at N. Santa Fe Avenue and W. Ash Street, is scheduled to be dedicated at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, according to information from Salina Arts & Humanities. The dedication will include remarks by the artist, Dave Loewenstein, and Salina Arts & Humanities staff. Light refreshments will be served.
Dream Cartographers was designed by Loewenstein, a Lawrence muralist. Prior to painting the mural, Loewenstein, conducted a number of community workshops and visioning sessions in the spring. During the workshops, participants mapped their memories, dreams, and personal geographies using pushpins and colored thread to connect points of interest on a map.
The mural painting was completed by Loewenstein, community volunteers, and artist assistant Karla Prickett.
The downtown stage mural is not Loewenstein's first in Salina. Arts & Humanities noted that the new mural "includes a reference to Loewenstein’s 2010 work in Salina entitled Waiting in the Wings, which was decommissioned when Campbell Plaza redesign took place earlier this year. A figure walking through a painted doorway was recreated as part of the new mural."
This mural is made possible with funding from Leadership Salina and the Greater Salina Community Foundation, Salina Arts & Humanities, the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission, private donors, and in-kind support from local businesses.