Mural delay, targeted art submissions head PACO meeting

Members of the Public Arts Commission of Oxford (PACO) met Oct. 13 to discuss multiple murals, next year’s art submissions for the city municipal building and an update on the initiative to join a statewide celebration of writer Toni Morrison.

Murals

According to Jessica Greene, assistant city manager, engineering for the tentative mural on the city’s parking garage “has been a little bit of a roadblock.”

As of now, Greene said the city has been unable to find a structural engineer for the project, who would be needed specifically for the installation plan of the mural’s panels into the brick structure of the building.

Greene estimated that this would “nudge back” the project to next year.

In communication with the artist Mathew Sharum, Greene said Sharum suggested also including a QR code in a potential plaque nearby that would provide a three-dimensional version of the mural on the viewer’s phone.

As for another pending mural project, the city is planning to collaborate with a Miami University class over two spring semesters on the creation of a mural at the Duke Energy substation. 

According to Greene, members of the class are to work on the mural in the 2026 spring semester. Due to the short turnaround time of the project, the timeline included in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Miami cites Jan. 29 as the date in which “the class receives preliminary mural details from PACO representatives,” said Greene. The spring semester itself is scheduled to start Jan. 27.

A second class would then add to the mural in the spring semester of 2027. Based on the MOU, explained Greene, “the mural must appear visually complete after the spring 2026 installation” before the 2027 additions.

However, commission member Robert Benson expressed concern about the class that would work on the mural in the spring semester of 2027. “What worries me about this,” Benson said, “is they’re suddenly given a set of panels that they had nothing to do with.”

“That’s a very difficult thing to ask them to do,” Benson said, adding he would rather have the project be divided up in some form.

Based on such comments, Greene said she would request further feedback, and that it would be a topic of discussion for the commission’s next meeting in November.

Art submissions and tours

Commission members discussed a more targeted approach to the city’s upcoming annual request for art installments in the municipal building. In past years, the city has called for art submissions in any medium, with their current art on display in the municipal building ranging from pencil illustrations to quilted vignettes.

However, Greene said the city previously received an array of photography submissions. City Council member Amber Franklin, who serves as the council representative for PACO, recalled how someone once commented to her that “‘photography was not art.’”

This prompted discussion on the role of photography as art in comparison to photography within journalism, and Benson suggested the upcoming art submission call be for “photography as art and journalism.”

Based on this idea, a subcommittee was formed between commission members Benson, Joe Squance and Therese Ehrnschwender to provide a more formal, precise write up of the specific parameters of the topic to share with the entire commission at a later date.

In relation to local artists and artworks, Greene also discussed how a past summer intern for the city began a project mapping local art work.

Now, said Greene, a Miami University “art management class was willing to pick up the torch and take it to the next step,” including photographing the art and providing more information on each artwork, and possibly even creating a web guide.

Celebrating Toni Morrison

According to the Ohio Celebrates Toni Morrison website, the project is a statewide endeavor that, prompted by the upcoming 250th anniversary of America, aims to showcase Morrison’s own work and how “her novels tell the story of America.”

Although this statewide project takes a more multifaceted approach to interacting with Morrison’s work, Benson showed interest in Oxford’s own collaboration in the project, suggesting that “in order to distinguish ourselves, we could ask students to read Toni Morrison’s writing.” 

Squance added that because Morrison’s books have been so widely banned, collaborating with students would “almost (be) an act of rebellion.”