Part of Pleasant Street is receiving an artistic makeover starting Monday afternoon.
A mural, commissioned by Main Street Morgantown and produced by a Harvard-educated artist, is being painted on the Pleasant Street Parking Garage.
Barbara Watkins, executive director of Main Street Morgantown, said the Pleasant Street Parking Garage lot serves as a gateway into the downtown community and was an ideal mural location.
“For the most part, it’s all painted white already. It’s blank. It was the perfect canvas to put a mural,” Watkins said.
Watkins said Main Street Morgantown reached out to the community in October via social media, radio and local press to find artists interested in painting three different murals. Sixteen artists responded. The Main Street Morgantown Design Committee then voted to decide which artists would get the job.
Jennifer Ramsey is the once-Morgantown-based artist behind the Pleasant Street project. While she no longer lives in Morgantown, Ramsey said she saw the need for artists in the community through Morgantown Murals, a social media group she has worked with in the past.
Ramsey said she’ll paint the mural in the style of mixed realism or, as she calls it, “imaginative realism.” It will depict a child sketching animals representative of West Virginia — cardinals, black bears, fish — that come to life, set on a high-contrast botanical background.
Ramsey said the mural may take over two weeks to complete, given the prediction of rain in the area’s weather forecast.
“It’s March, it’s always a problem. It’s not great mural season yet,” Ramsey said.
Ramsey said the completed painting will span about 500 square feet, though the exact measurement is difficult to calculate due to the shape of the building.
Ramsey said she believes more art is needed in Morgantown, especially with the recent closure of businesses and push to revitalize downtown Morgantown.
“I’m hoping that this will add to the community, add color, [and] revitalize downtown a little bit,” Ramsey said.
Dana McKenzie, executive director with Morgantown Parking Authority, said the institution was receptive of the proposed mural in part due to other upcoming updates to features like sidewalks and crosswalks in the area.
“Thinking about the future of Pleasant Street, it just seems like it would bring a lot of beautification to that area,” McKenzie said.
McKenzie said he believes the incorporation of art into public facilities benefits the area, especially when the theme of that artwork is rooted in the community surrounding it.
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