GOLDEN BLOCKS PROJECT PHASE TWO BRINGS MORE MURALS TO AUGUSTA!

GOLDEN BLOCKS PROJECT PHASE TWO BRINGS MORE MURALS TO AUGUSTA!

GOLDEN BLOCKS PROJECT PHASE TWO BRINGS MORE MURALS TO AUGUSTA!

Augusta loves its murals and thanks to the Golden Blocks Project, new public art is coming to the Laney-Walker and Bethlehem neighborhoods of Augusta! The Greater Augusta Arts Council, Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History, and City of Augusta Housing and Community Development are proud to announce the selection of two artistic concepts that will be funded for the next Phase of the Golden Blocks Project.  The selected artists: Xavier O. Jones, W. Travis “Brotha Trav” Wright, and Hasani Sahlehe will work with historians at the Laney Museum to create pieces that tell the story of education in the historical Golden Blocks area. Each of the two creative teams will receive $7,000 to complete their projects in 2021.

Visual artist Xavier O. Jones and poet W. Travis “Brotha Trav” Wright are teaming up to create a mural, titled “Ember of HOPE” and a poetry manuscript with spoken word that will be placed in the digital walking tour to accompany the mural.

Visual artist Hasani Sahlehe will select images related to the Golden Blocks’ educational legacy from Museum archives He has commissioned photographer C. Rose Smith to capture images of current students, educators, and schools in the Golden Blocks area.  Selected photographs from both historic and contemporary sources will be printed onto outdoor vinyl and transformed into a series of photo murals.

The artists were chosen by the collaborating organizations that envisioned the Golden Blocks Project: representatives of the Public Art Advisory Panel of the Greater Augusta Arts Council, representatives of the Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History; and representatives of the Housing and Community Development Department of the City of Augusta. The call for artists was released in February 2021 and asked artists with an interest in the crossroads of art, history, and social change to submit their concepts for creative pieces that merged the knowledge housed within the walls of the museum and existing historical neighborhood sites into the public sphere.

Initiated in 2018, the Golden Blocks Project is a creative placemaking program that unites the vision and skills of local artists with the historical knowledge housed within the Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History to bring the stories of Augusta’s historically Black, Laney Walker and Bethlehem neighborhoods colloquially known as the “Golden Blocks” out into public spaces.  The stories of local Black history told through public art are easily accessible to everyone and bring attention to the cultural wealth of the Golden Blocks for longtime residents, newcomers, and visitors alike.

The Arts Council is committed to supporting the work of economic and cultural equity in Augusta.

For any questions regarding the project, contact Project Manager Pax Bobrow at [email protected]