A Guide to Louisville's Street Murals (Part 2)

As I explored Louisville's eclectic and diverse neighborhoods looking for street murals, I quickly discovered that the Derby City has so many more than I ever realized.  Once I started looking for them, they started popping up...  everywhere.  By the end of my third day of exploration, I had too many pictures to include in one blog post.  Not wanting to leave any out, because I personally think they're all very cool, I chose to make this a two-part post.  Click here to view Part 1. 

Here are the murals I found in the Germantown, Shelby Park, Three Points, St. Joseph, and Butchertown neighborhoods of Louisville, KY.

GERMANTOWN

Technically the first mural is located in the Highlands, but it's  on Barret Avenue, the street that separates the Highlands from Germantown, so I took some liberty and grouped it with other Germantown neighborhood murals.

At the intersection of Winter Avenue and Barret Avenue, at 1025 Barret Avenue is the Hunter's Louisville mural, by Carol McLeod, Alexander King, and Andy Cook.  The mural  depicts the likeness of Hunter S. Thompson, an American journalist, author, and founder of the gonzo journalism movement.  It was painted in 2010 and is located on a rear wall of the former Monkey Wrench Bar, which closed in 2017.

About one block north on Barret Avenue, on the outside of  Nitty Gritty vintage clothing store (996 Barret Avenue), is a mural by Carlos Gamez de Francisco.  The mural features three women and, according to the artist, references different immigrant cultures represented in Louisville.

Directly across the street from Nitty Gritty is the Artist & Craftsman Supply.  The outside of the building features a bold, colorful mural with animals,  a giant ant, and human faces.  The mural is the creation of C. L. Chappell (the artist who painted several murals that I featured in part 1 as well as the Three Points mural below).

SHELBY PARK 

I ventured into Shelby Park in search of one mural, the pixelated bouquet mural by Tyler Deeb, which can be found at 1217 Logan Street. 

Little did I know, however, that several other murals existed in this neighborhood.  A block and a half north of the pixelated bouquet is a large raven mural by Wilfred Sieg III (1124 Logan Street at the corner of Logan and Mary Street).  I love the messages that are embedded within the pages of the painted books: The Pen is Mightier Than the Sword, Change, Believe in Yourself, Live and Let Live, and Inspire. 

One block east and one block south of the raven mural, at 741 E. Oak Street, is the Sunshine and Shadow mural by Gibbs Rounsvall.   It is located on the outside of Scarlett's Bakery.  There's something about this mural that conjures up memories of the 1970s for me.

About 3/4 mile away, at 1264 S. Preston Street, you will find this thought provoking window mural on the building currently occupied by Best Blind Company.  It was created by The Art Cartel, and more specifically based on the signature, by Wilfred Sieg, III (the creator of the Shelby Park raven mural). 

The next mural really snuck up on me.  I was getting off the interstate, following the directions on my GPS, and when I popped around a curve, there it was.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get the best picture of it.  It is located on the western side of a building located at 501 Woodbine Street, on the corner of Woodbine and S. Jackson Street.  I do love the simplicity of it, though, for it reminds me of childhood, of running around, playing, and blowing bubbles.

THREE POINTS AREA

Approximately a block and a half south of the pixelated bouquet mural in the Shelby Park neighborhood is the Three Points mural by Henry Cunningham and C. L. Chappell.  It's located 1256 Logan Street, at the intersection of Goss Avenue and Logan Street.  This crossroads is where the Shelby Park, Germantown, and Schnitzelburg communities connect.

The next mural, To the Top, Please, is also located at 1256 Logan Street, the home of Abell Elevator. This mural is on one of the buildings on the property and is best seen from the Logan Street side.  It was created by the artists who simply call themselves Often Seen Rarely Spoken in 2017.

Within spitting distance of the Three Points mural are two more.  The first is the Ackerman Millworks mural at 923 Goss Avenue.  The mural was painted by Stephen Paulovich and features muted, almost ghostly figures of millworkers in the early 20th century.

Directly across the street at 946 Goss Avenue are the Germantown Mill Lofts.  On one of the buildings of the former cotton mill is the Germantown Mill Coin mural, a mural that depicts the likeness of the coins that were used by workers in the cotton mill to get lunch in the cafeteria when the mill was in operation.

SAINT JOSEPH

At 2118 S. Preston Street, on the side of Nord's Bakery, which is my husband's favorite place to get donuts, are these two murals.  I must say this - we live nowhere near the Saint Joseph neighborhood, so Nord's donuts must be that good for my husband to go out of his way to get them.

The quilt-like Welcome to St. Joseph's Neighborhood mural can be seen from Interstate 65 north and is located at the intersection of Brandeis Avenue and Bradley Avenue, just a block or two from the University of Louisville campus.  It is the creation of Marjie Ryan who painted it in 2011.

BUTCHERTOWN

I originally went to the Butchertown neighborhood in search of a mural located at a specific address, a mural that I never did find.  Apparently, my intel was inaccurate or the mural was on a building that has been leveled.  But, much to my delight, I found several others that were very cool.

The first one I came upon was very hard to miss because of its sheer size.  It is a wrap-around mural that completely fills up two sides of one of the buildings on the property of JBS Swift (the pork processing plant) that's located at 1200 Story Avenue.  The building is on the western side of the railroad tracks that intersect Story Avenue.  Anyway, with it's sheer size and colorfulness, I seriously doubt you would miss it!

The portion of the 5000 square foot mural (I told you it was HUGE) that faces Story Avenue depicts bright, current scenes of the Butchertown neighborhood - a large pig, there is a slaughterhouse next door after all; the extreme skate park; and the pedestrian ramp that leads to the Big Four Bridge among others.  It is quite overwhelming to take in close up and I found it is best viewed from the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street.  

But, that's not all of the mural and that's only the end of the story.

If you venture over to the side of the building that faces the railroad tracks, which I highly recommend, you are greeted with scenes that go back into Butchertown's history, starting with a black and white rendition of the first slaughterhouse.   A portion of the mural depicts the great flood of 1937 and  then progresses through time and illustrates scenes of Beargrass Creek and St. Joseph's Catholic Church in  vibrant technicolor.

If you visit the Story of Butchertown mural, I suggest starting on the railroad side of the building and working your way from the oldest scenes to the newest on Story Avenue.  It is a beautiful mural that is cram packed with 100 years of history.

~~~

Across the street from the Story of Butchertown mural at 1201 Story Avenue is a building that houses Work the Metal among others.  On the railroad side of the building is the There is Always Hope - End M. S. Forever mural.

On the opposite side of the building, facing Cabel Street, is The Heart of Our City mural which was created by the Often Seen Rarely Spoken crew in 2017.  

About a block and a half away, on Webster Street in between E. Washington Street and Story Avenue, is the following mural, which may be one of the coolest ones I found.  In the upper left hand corner of the mural is written "Love Has No Color" and NYC - Mia - KY and is dated 2016.

The last two murals I found in Butchertown are both on Story Avenue directly underneath the I-64 overpass.  One depicts a mid-twentieth century scene from the Butchertown neighborhood.  (I especially liked the scene of the butcher, cleaver in hand, running down the sidewalk after a runaway pig.)

On the opposite overpass retaining wall is a more modern day depiction of the same street.  I'm not sure when the murals were painted, but it is probably set in the late 1900s or early 2000s.  

As I conducted my mural exploration, especially when I continued to stumble upon mural after mural, I wondered what caused this explosion of street murals in Louisville.  A little research revealed that my fair city has the most incidents of graffiti per capita in the entire country.  Street murals have been adopted in other cities to help curb graffiti vandalism and Louisville has followed similar suit. 


Of the murals I shared today, my favorites are the Shelby Park Raven, the Story of Butchertown mural, and the Love Has No Color mural.  

Have you seen any of these murals before?  Do you have a favorite?

Linking Up With:

Shooting Stars Mag and Not In Jersey

The Weekly Postcard