Aurora Blooms With New Downtown Mural and Sculpture Garden
Featuring larger-than-life blooms, the mural out of Aurora Public Art is the latest contribution to Aurora's outdoor space—with interactive sculpture designs newly erected this same month to further solidify the downtown area’s ode to community art.
Completed by seven different local artists—Melissa Celaya, Catalina Diaz, Diana Gomez, Caitlin Hazelton, Lisa Manning, Laura Reyes, and Juan Sepulveda—"Aurora in Bloom” takes inspiration from locally grown flowers.
“This group of artists was incredible. Everybody was totally dedicated and super hard-working. We [painted] in about two and a half weeks,” lead artist and owner of Nido Art Studio, Lisa Manning, said.
Prior to painting onto the 15 individual panels, the group of artists first took photographs of the flora and fauna found in and around Aurora—including in their own gardens. This collage of photographs was then digitally projected onto the 5”x10” panels.
Caitlin Hazelton, an art and photography teacher at West Aurora High School and 18-year resident of Aurora, said that the variety of flowers included in the mural is “symbolic of how...people are what make a city great.”
The digital design of the mural was initiated by Hazelton, who worked alongside Lisa Manning to plan the colors and techniques which would allow the design to be transferred to such a large scale.
“I love collaboration and community art. I never thought I would be part of such a huge mural for the city I live in and love. I am so grateful for this opportunity as an artist, a resident, and an educator,” Hazelton said.
All artists of the “Aurora in Bloom” mural are Aurora-based, strengthening the connection between an artist’s own endeavors and their own community.
This theme of growing one’s own garden extends to the newly installed sculpture garden, not far afield from the “Aurora in Bloom” mural.
Designed by Chicago-based artist, Edra Soto, the five-part sculpture garden features a design which encourages interaction. Installed amid flower beds newly planted, the colors of the sculpture garden mirror the florals in downtown Aurora, which continue to actualize a collective cling to summer. As the co-director of the outdoor project space, The Franklin, Soto’s work and collaborations explore themes of shared history and diasporic identity. Soto's design in downtown Aurora emphasizes her specialty in transforming public outdoor spaces into communal art exhibitions.
Indeed, Soto's Puerto Rican heritage and regular exhibition of her work in Puerto Rico, Cuba, Mexico, and Brazil showcase the artist’s focus on using art to preserve and analyze cultural memory.
In the sculpture locations in Aurora, residents can move through the works of art, share their space, and feel part of an interactive gallery in their own community. This type of accessible space—usable for events to come—stands, most importantly, as a place for community members to gather.
Just as Soto’s concern with personal and communal identity acts as a hallmark of her work, so, too, will the newly installed mural and sculpture gardens in Aurora act as exemplary hallmarks of the city—and its people's—concern for growing its own garden.
