MADISON, Wis. — With the help of a stencil, Sara Howe painted the outlines for a number of large yellow circles on State Street in Madison on Sunday.
She was part of a nearly day-long effort to transform the cement streets into a canvas for art.
“This is just part of the mural,” Howe said. “We’re going to have little icons in the middle, then a big flamingo mural in the middle.”
The flamingo is the official bird of the city.
Howe joined more than 600 people who signed up with the city to paint part of State Street. It’s one element of a broader experiment in this area.
“It feels really good to know that I helped part of State Street and I can walk past it everyday on my way to class,” Howe said. “The painting, and closing off State Street, and having something everyone can look at is really cool.”
The experiment — as the city is calling it — is on a forthcoming pedestrian mall between the 400 and 600 blocks of State Street. It will close to vehicle traffic this summer for much of the afternoon and evening.
Jaymes Langrehr of the city’s Planning, Community & Economic Development Department said this street art is phase one.
“We’ve got the larger murals that we’re working with a group of local artists on. Some of the volunteers will be helping the artists paint these larger murals,” he said. “The smaller circles, those are going to be stencil spots.”
The transition to largely pedestrian traffic in these blocks is expected to start in early May.
“Along with these street paintings, we’re going to have a lot of pieces of artwork installed. Benches. Planters. Sculptures,” Langrehr said. “Then, a whole summer’s worth of activities planned down here to really make this a destination.”
For people such as Mary Kok, it’s a way to give something back to the community they call home. She came out with her husband and two children.
“State Street is a huge part of our city, so it’s being able to come down and see how we were able to be a small part of something bigger,” Kok said.
Yellow, green, pink, blue and mauve are all part of a palette bringing a different look to this section of an iconic street.
Howe said the effort is also about bringing the community together.
“I just think it’s really cool to be a part of something. State Street is super big. Everybody knows what it is,” she said. “To be able to walk past here every day to class and to know that I helped paint part of State Street is really cool and it will be here for years.”