Crooked Tree, city looking for muralists for new project

PETOSKEY — The bare walls and ceiling of the pedestrian tunnel that connects Bayfront Park to downtown Petoskey will be a lot more colorful this fall after a new mural is installed.

The Crooked Tree Arts Center, in partnership with the City of Petoskey Public Arts Commission, has posted a call for muralists to submit their design proposals for the project. The submission window will be open from July 15 to Aug. 17.

The tunnel mural is the first project of the commission, which was founded in 2023 and is designed to bring more public art installations into the city.

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“The tunnel mural is really the first of these many projects,” said Sheila Ruen, Crooked Tree’s visual arts director. “Following the tunnel mural, in a couple of months, we will get a call up for a public sculpture at Sunset Park. That’s the next project. That call will go out in the fall, with the project being realized next spring and summer. That’s an even more ambitious project.”

The call for muralists describes "the site specific relevance of the proposed design, reflecting or evoking the cultural and environmental contexts of the site." The description also notes the public piano that is located in the tunnel, and “which may be considered in the concept and design” of the mural.

“Somehow it should reflect or evoke something about this unique place that we live in,” Ruen said. “It’s a beautiful public space, so the design should somehow be relevant for that specific location and especially connecting the business district with the Wheelway and the views of the bay and so on.”

The design should also be appropriate for the architecture of the tunnel, using the ceiling as well.

“They’re also open to innovative concepts, like if somebody wanted to do a photo mural or a mosaic or something like that,” Ruen said. “It doesn’t have to be traditional painting. I think they’re really open to all ideas.”

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Artists interested in submitting proposals must be at least 18 years old, reside in Michigan and they must have prior mural experience.

“We’d really love to see some local muralists participate in the call,” Ruen said. “Local artists really know this area, they know the tunnel, they walk through the tunnel, they probably have great ideas about what they’d like to see in the tunnel.”

Once the proposal process is completed, the painting and installation window is scheduled for Sept. 7 to Oct. 7. The tunnel will be open to foot traffic during the installation process.

To view the full call for muralists, visit crookedtree.org/call-for-artists/call-muralists-city-petoskey-public-art.

— Contact Jillian Fellows at [email protected].  

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Crooked Tree, Petoskey city officials looking for muralists for tunnel project