If anyone deserves to have his face immortalized on the side of a building in the 9th District of Louisville, it is probably local resident Steven Bobbi. The Councilwoman of the 9th District, Tina Ward-Pugh, describes Bobbi over and over as “an exemplary citizen.” According to Ward-Pugh, he is a bundle of positive energy, volunteering his time for nearly every charitable event in the area. When this year’s Back to School Block Party in Crescent Hill created a mountain of over seventy-five empty pizza boxes, Bobbi was there to stuff nearly all of them into his car so that they could be recycled. His weekly routine includes following recycling and garbage trucks through the neighborhood to save what’s been left behind, and walking the railroad tracks along Frankfort Avenue cleaning up trash and other detritus. Any money that Bobbi earns from his can-collecting or volunteer efforts gets channeled back into public landscaping projects, with the ultimate goal of beautifying the streets of his neighborhood.
Between now and the end of Spring 2012, there will be forty new murals of people like Steven Bobbi painted all around the city, representing the forty winners of a new competition called Louisville’s Next Top Neighbor. Each Louisville neighborhood or Louisville Metro District is encouraged to nominate one or more of its residents for the honor, and the winners will be chosen from that pool of applicants by the Center for Neighborhoods, a local non-profit organization that created this mural project with the financial support of the Christy and Owsley Brown Foundation. Although only the Neighborhood Association leaders and Metro Council members may submit official nominations, they’re open to suggestions from anyone. The deadline for the first round of nominations recently passed, and a second round will be beginning soon.
Whether or not Bobbi has what it takes to be judged a true “Top Neighbor” remains to be seen. This fall’s nominees are currently going through a selection process to ensure that they meet the criteria drawn up by the Center for Neighborhoods. Winners must be forward-thinking stewards of the community who strive to protect the environment, embrace diversity, and who are inspirations for positive change in their neighborhoods, among other requirements listed on the CFN website.
After Louisville’s Next Top Neighbors have been selected, a team of artists and designers from Owensboro, Kentucky will be creating the murals at yet-to-be-determined sites. The crew recently gained notoriety for spending five hours creating a massive chalk drawing on the side of a building in Owensboro. The two-toned, graphic faces on the mural in Owensboro were taken from well-known images of pop culture antiheroes like Salvador Dali, Alfred Hitchcock, Edward Scissorhands, and Ed Norton from the movie “Fight Club”. One website with photographs of the finished drawing claimed that “the concept and meaning behind the chalk mural is that everything, even Life, is temporary—so enjoy it while you can.” This statement refers of course to the fact that the drawing would be washed away with the coming of rain.
Lisa Dettlinger of CFN pointed out that inserting the idea of public art into some suburban areas in Louisville has been dicey, given that much of the visible real estate in places like Hikes Point or the East End belong to large corporate chains who aren’t as open to mural possibilities as smaller businesses are. Dettlinger also said that some suburban areas even have a difficult time thinking of themselves as being “neighborhoods” in the traditional sense, so Louisville’s Next Top Neighbor project presents a two-fold challenge for them.
The story of public art in Louisville is being written at this moment with projects like Louisville’s Next Top Neighbor. Initiatives by organizations like the Center for Neighborhoods and Art Without Walls have been increasingly introducing art into the streets of our city, and the public is testing the waters.
Since Louisville loves honoring a homespun hero by displaying his or her face in public, the Top Neighbor project should be a palatable way of introducing public art into some of these hesitant areas while also strengthening their neighborhood pride and sense of identity. Notable Louisvillians loom large on dozens of black and white banners all around the city—these are faces of people who are not only world-famous, but who have made our state proud with real cultural breakthroughs, like Pee Wee Reese’s influence on the civil rights movement, Diane Sawyer’s rise to the top of a male-dominated medium, and Tori Murden McClure’s solo journey across the Atlantic. Muhammad Ali’s face is now a permanent feature of the Louisville skyline, as seen on the Ali Center from across the Ohio River. Obviously Colonel Sanders’ face smiles from its perch on top of every KFC on earth. And on a smaller scale, the popular downtown restaurant Proof houses a well-known painting series by Shawn Hull featuring the legendary, or at least the highly prominent faces of Louisville.
Most recently in the face race, local Facebook users have been asked to vote for the four personas to be featured on a Kentucky version of Mount Rushmore. This Styrofoam and cement sculpture is expected to be an attraction at the upcoming Kentucky Wonders amusement park, the newest brainchild from Lebowski Fest co-creator Will Russell. Russell should know the power of a face. He and designer Bill Green were inspired by the iconic André the Giant “OBEY” image (originally created by Shepard Fairey, the artist also behind the Barack Obama “HOPE” poster) and transformed it into a Lebowski Fest sticker with the character Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski standing in for André. Pairing down The Dude’s image to its most essential graphic form gives it an almost propagandistic punch. It makes a face into an icon, creating an image that’s elemental, powerful, abiding.
By incorporating the faces of Louisville’s greatest neighbors into graphic, semi-permanent murals, the Top Neighbor project artists are helping to turn the people it selects into lasting icons. And because the Louisville’s Next Top Neighbor murals will be done in paint, a much more durable medium than that of their chalk predecessors, their positive messages will endure for at least a year after installation. If all goes well, the portraits will introduce a new, grassroots breed to the existing canon of Louisville legends, adding an element of attainability to the citywide celebration of what it means to live a life of distinction and goodwill.
Editors Note:
As this issue went to press, the Next Top Neighbors were scheduled to be announced within a week. Check www.centerforneighborhoods.org for your top neighbor.
The Center for Neighborhoods will also highlight Louisville’s Next Top Neighbors and the project at their exhibit booth during the Festival of Faiths, November 2nd- 7th at the Henry Clay. Congrats to all the nominees!
–Julie Leidner
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