The City of Wauwatosa has announced the names of the six artists tapped to create murals this summer near the intersection of 68th Street and North Avenue in East Tosa, in collaboration with Wallpapered City.
After the project was announced in early April a juried call for artists followed and hundreds of submissions were received.
"We received an overwhelming response to this call," said juror Antoine Carter of Wallpapered City in a news release.
"Submissions came in from South Africa, Europe … not to mention from all over our own city. It took us many, many hours just to get through them."
In the end, the artists selected were:
- Christina Thomas of Wauwatosa, who will paint a mural on the Heartland Information Services building
- Dan Leonard of Ireland, Cranky Al’s
- Eric Ricks of Liberia (now a Maryland resident), Nobleman
- Ivan Roque of Miami, Florida, TosaYoga
- Adam Hernandez of Columbus, Ohio, BelAir Cantina
- Matthew Mederer and Max Komorov, of Chicago, Voline gas station
Ricks’ work is described as "a 3D anamorphic mural," and the Chicago duo is said to "have a very special surprise" for the Voline station on 69th and North.
Renderings of all the works can be seen below.
"Thanks to our amazing city staff, the creative minds at Wallpapered City, and our six building owners who are committed to their community, Wauwatosa is proud to help kick-off Milwaukee's future mural corridor as a western anchor," said district Ald. Joel Tilleson in the release.
"These six murals will further East Tosa's appeal by establishing it as a public art destination."
According to Wallpapered City's Stacey Williams-Ng, the murals will be painted in the second half of July.
The project is part of a series of art installations along the North Avenue corridor, from Lake Michigan to Wauwatosa, called the North Avenue Mural Arts District (NoMAD) planned by Wallpapered City, which is best known for its management of Black Cat Alley just off East North Avenue on Milwaukee’s East Side.
Adam Hernandez
Christina Thomas
Matt Mederer and Max Komorov
Dan Leonard
Ivan Roque
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
