VAMONDE

Murals display a narrative of history, of social justice, of movements, and of the community around them. Milwaukee is home to literally hundreds of murals, many located in the walkable neighborhoods of Mitchell's Point, Walker's Point, Clock Tower Acres, and the Historic Third Ward. Learn the stories behind them, and also pick up some tips for nearby haunts to explore while wandering around the streets of Milwaukee.

Photo credit: Luke Webb via Pixabay

Milwaukee Public Art Walking Tour

Psychedelic mural by the world-traveling Couto brothers.

The vibrant, colorful face of the “Milwaukee Monster Mural” stares out at passing cars from the intersection at the corner of 1st Street and Pittsburgh Ave. Created in 2011 by Alex and Chris Couto, the Couto Brothers, this mural gives homage to indigenous masks from around the world. They decided to keep its meaning general and open-ended, to create a connection with a history of human culture instead of focusing on one tribe at the exclusion of all others. Their primary artistic purpose was to allow personal interpretation to guide the positive inspiration from the bright colors and patterns of circular shapes. 

Alex and Chris Couto lived in Milwaukee for two years, and consider the mural a gift to the city. They were raised in both Brooklyn and Brazil and regularly travel the world together, painting kaleidoscopic images using brilliant colors and psychedelic patterns. Their social and historical themes, such as the Milwaukee Monster Mural, are also expressed through sculpture, fashion, and print. They also painted a mural in Los Angeles through the WeWork Mural Project. 

If you are hungry after admiring the face and outstretched hands of the famous Milwaukee monster, stop at the Purple Door Ice Cream flagship store on Pittsburgh Ave and 2nd Street. Their twenty flavors of ice cream and sorbet will feel almost as eye-opening as the vivid and sparkling design of the Milwaukee Monster. The “dipping cabinets” will let you truly design your own work of ice cream art, before strolling down S 1st Street the confluence of the Milwaukee and the Menomonee Rivers. 

Cover photo credit: David Mark via Pixabay

Milwaukee Monster Mural

Community collaboration painted on the west side of the Anodyne Coffee Roasting Company building.

In true collaborative style, the mural located on the west side of the Anodyne Coffee Roasting Company building titled, “The Historic Walker’s Point,” was created through a whole community effort. The non-profit organization TRUE Skool, whose mission is to engage, educate, and empower youth and communities through the creative arts, launched the Adopt a Community Program with support from the Walker’s Point Association. Other key creative stakeholders included the Milwaukee Violence Free Zone, Bradley Tech High School, Hope House, and Urban Underground. It takes a village to raise a child, and also to paint a historical mural. 

The design is simple yet engaging. It dates the founding of the Walker’s Point neighborhood at 1835 and describes its ability to connect the past, the present, and the future. Key images in the mural include the Bradley Tech High School and the Harley-Davidson Museum, located across the Menomonee River on 6th Street. One of the buildings depicted in the mural is a window into an empty classroom. A fun detail is scrawled on the blackboard in graffiti, illustrating the date that the mural was painted. It reveals a compelling cultural narrative of hope and youthful aspirations, crystallizing the neighborhood in that particular moment of time. 

When you are finished checking out the mural, visit the Anodyne Coffee Roasting Company for a cup of locally owned, small-batch coffee. It is another neighborhood staple, having established itself in 1999. The Walker’s Point location is certified organic, includes a bakery and cafe, and also serves beer and wine. You may hear some live tunes on a Friday or Saturday night. 

Cover image credit: Kat Wilcox via Pixabay

The Historic Walker's Point

Collaborative mural project designed and created through the Walker's Point Creative Collective.

Our next stop is five blocks east of the “Mural of Peace,” and is a mural titled, “Bienvenidos a Walker’s Point.” This piece was a collaboration between the entirety of Walker’s Point Creative Collective. It took over 130 hours to complete and used more than 300 cans of spray paint in its creation. 

Located directly across S 2nd Street from Chacho’s tattoo shop, “Bienvenidos a Walker’s Point” is a dedication to the Walker’s Point neighborhood from locals who eventually founded important community organizations and businesses, including the Walker’s Point Creative Collective, and Walker’s Point Tattoo. 

As a commemoration, the mural depicts landmarks from the neighborhood: the Basilica of St. Josephat on the corner of 6th and Lincoln Avenue; the Escuela Verde charter school on Pierce Street; the Daniel Hoan Memorial Bridge; and the Allen-Bradley clock tower. Interspersed throughout these landmarks are also images of the artists’ personal lives. Some of the houses are the artists’ childhood homes. The man with the guitar is artist Adam Correa’s grandfather and a founding member of the Walker’s Point neighborhood. 

Other notable illustrations include a skull floating among cloud, a clock tower set to the time of 4:20, and a dog taking a poo. The entire mural was painted freehand, and the details are impressive. It was completed in July 2016. 

The artists used the Spanish language to communicate a testimony to the neighborhood’s vibrant Latino culture. Although real estate developers are referring to the area as the “Fifth Ward,” the artists of the Walker’s Point Creative Collective stand firm in their proclamation that it is “Walker’s Point.” As the area continues to move toward gentrification, their presence as artists and as members of the community, set the boundaries needed to maintain their history and defend their future. 

Cover photo credit: Luke Webb via Pixabay

Bienvenidos a Walker's Point

Symbolic mural to inspire us toward peace and reconciliation.

Less than one block from the “Viva la Raza” mural is another majestic painting called, “Mural of Peace.” It depicts an eagle and a dove, meeting each other over a backdrop of a world map, while an explosion of color extends from the dove’s outstretched wings. The dove holds an olive branch in its beak, communicating the universal symbol of delivering peace after an extended time of conflict. 

This is an inspiring mural, even at a superficial glance. Upon closer examination, you will see additional layers of meaning woven into the dance of colors and paint. During an interview with WUMW 89.7, Milwaukee’s NPR, the artist, Reynaldo Hernandez describes how, “after I was almost done [painting the mural], I started thinking ‘well there’s not really total peace in the world, there’s always tension, so I added the lighting right in the middle of the mural, in the back of the globe to show tension -- hot spots or war zones.” 

The mural is not painted directly on the building but instead is painted on 300 4x8 foot wooden panels. In 2016, a section went missing and a ripple of surprise spread through social media, and the Milwaukee Latino artist community. The Esperanza Unida International building, which had supported the art project since 1993, had been sold to developers and was being renovated to make room for upscale apartments called the Mercantile Lofts. Apparently, building codes required natural light for the apartments and the mural was removed without Hernandez’ knowledge or consent. Ultimately, Hernandez was able to find a negotiation with the developers, and the mural today is fully intact, with windows inserted into revised wooden panels. 

Cover image credit: David Mark via Pixabay

Mural of Peace

If you were ever curious about what a Mayan queen might have looked like, you will find out at the next stop through a mural titled, “Viva la Raza.” Located on the west side of the building that houses Gina’s Beauty Salon at 705 W National Ave, this mural kicked off the community-based artist scene in Walker’s Point. Although “Viva la Raza” translates literally in English into “Long Live the Race,” the figurative meaning is much more symbolic. It encourages pride in a Mexican heritage, but it is also connected to the deeper history of the Aztlan, or the Meso-American empire that extended through what is now Mexico and Central America prior to the arrival of the Conquistadors from Spain. 

This inspiring and cosmic mural depicts an Aztec Queen and a god supporting the stars, planets, and constellations of Aztec and Mayan mythology. The artist visited the Mexican archaeological site of Chichen Itza before painting the mural, to connect himself to the vision of what he wanted to communicate through his art.  

“Viva la Raza” was a collaborative project between artists Chacho Lopez and Ben Stark, both of Milwaukee. Stark is the founder of the non-profit organization, Painting it Forward, which provides opportunities for artists to create culturally-relevant murals in economically vulnerable communities throughout the US and worldwide. In 2016, Stark and Lopez led another collaboration during the creation of a four-story mural in Colombia. In 2017, they painted a 180 foot long and nine-foot-high mural at a school in San Andres De La Barranca, Mexico. 

Lopez is also a tattoo artist at Walker’s Point Tattoo Company, and across the street from another mural along the route.

Viva la Raza

Thirty-four scenes from the Latin world painted beneath the I-94 overpass.

Start your tour at the corner of 6th and Washington Street in the historic Walker’s Point neighborhood, and explore Latin America from beneath the I-94 underpass. This unique collection of murals depicts 34 scenes from the Latinx world, painted onto support beams and pillars. Images include the underwater colony of Baja California, the jungles of Venezuela, and various animals and plants from those ecosystems. 

This project was a collaboration between Venezualan Raoul Deal from the UW Milwaukee School of Art, Mexican Robert Cisneros, Juan Flores, Jose Augusto Paradisi, and local youth from the community. It was painted in 2002, and won is the winner of the Mayor’s Design Award. 

The United Community Center, or Centro de la Comunidad Unida, is three blocks directly west and is worth a visit to learn more about the neighborhood’s history of supporting Latin American artists and grassroots community initiatives. Its lively events calendar features performances, gallery exhibits, and group tours. 

After visiting the United Community Center, stop into Cafe el Sol to sample Mexican and Puerto Rican specialties. If it’s Friday, you might also hear the live sounds of La Pena, the band named after the Spanish traveler tradition of camping around bonfires in caves among large rocks, or “Penas” and sharing stories of their journeys. If you are of legal drinking age, which is 21 or older in the United States, be sure to stop at the nearby Urban Harvest Brewing Company, located en route to the next mural. The Urban Harvest features 10 year-round craft brews, and 17 limited release and seasonal options. The taproom is open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday afternoon into early evening, and Sunday afternoon. 

Cover image credit: Savannah Dematteo via Pixabay

Wonders of Latin America

Mural giving respect to the indigenous people who used to live in the Menomonee River Valley.

The Menomonee River Valley, which today is the city of Milwaukee, has been home to human settlements for an estimated 10,000 years. The first inhabitants of the lush and fertile river valley were the Menonomee, Fox, Mascouten, Potawatami, Ojibwe, and Ho-Chunk nations. Europeans did not arrive on the scene until the 17th century, and the city itself was founded as recently as 1846. 

The mural located on the loading dock of Studio 420b at 420 S 1st Street is a solemn remembrance to honor the people who considered the Menomonee River Valley as part of their sacred land. Titled, “The Rhythms of Water, Land, and Sky,” it depicts a native man wearing a ceremonial dress, beneath a starry night sky while the phases of the moon outline the top panel. The concept of time is communicated through the nuance of the phases of the moon. Native American cultures followed the lunar months to track the passage of time through a system connected to the natural environment.

Artist Mark David Gray captures the eternal qualities of a sacred environment through his somber backdrop while inciting the imagination with the vibrancy of dual horizontal lines crossing the entire piece. It is as if he is painting a landscape of time, to illustrate how we cannot escape the past which will inevitably create a future. Gray specializes in designing a narrative of hidden dramas through his art, and his gallery is behind the painted door of the loading dock. 

Cover image credit: Michael Vosoughi via Pixabay

The Rhythms of Water, Land, and Sky

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Milwaukee Public Art Walking Tour

Milwaukee Monster Mural

Milwaukee Monster Mural

The Historic Walker's Point

The Historic Walker's Point

Bienvenidos a Walker's Point

Bienvenidos a Walker's Point

Mural of Peace

Mural of Peace

Viva la Raza

Viva la Raza

Wonders of Latin America

Wonders of Latin America

The Rhythms of Water, Land, and Sky

The Rhythms of Water, Land, and Sky

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