Paddlers, prepare to be dazzled: A new mural along the Cuyahoga River aims to tell the story of the region’s rebirth as "A Wild Urban Refuge.” That’s the title of the mural which was commissioned to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
The eye-popping, angular piece covers an abutment under the bridge near the corner of Riverview and Boston Mills roads - just a few feet from kayakers on the river. Visitors at the Boston Mills Visitor Center can also clearly see the work by artist Arlin Graff.
“The mural celebrates the ecosystem,” he said. “It's a symbol of resilience. The beaver lives near the river and they … can bring a lot of native animals and plants. He's a kind of nature engineer.”
Graff currently lives in Berea with his wife, an Ohio native, but he grew up surrounded by nature in Brazil.
“I think the wildlife here is different,” he said. “Like the beaver, for instance, I learned everything about the beaver since I moved to the United States. We don't have a beaver, we have otters, capybara.”
Using paint mixed with water taken directly from the river, he spent 10 days this fall crafting the geometrically themed piece. It’s a style inspired by the wood scraps he played with as a child from his father’s wood shop.
It’s also what caught the eye of Antwoine Washington, co-founder of the Museum of Creative Human Art, the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park’s arts-organization-in-residence.
“How vibrant it was but then also the geometrical shapes and… the simplicity,” he said. “I think the vibrancy coming up off the trail … seeing that brightness come from underneath the bridge was something that we were looking for. That could connect with passerbys and get people to stop in their tracks.”
Washington and MOCHA co-founder, Michael Russell, led a team of about a dozen people to assess 40 entries commissioned earlier this year by the park service and the Conservancy. The theme was “a wild urban refuge, reimagined.” Graff’s mural, the size of two garage doors, now covers a spot which was previously layered with graffiti. The artist specially treated his work with a coating to make it easy to remove any future graffiti.
Ryan Ainger, CVNP river ranger, said he hopes to see more mural projects along the river.
“We have about half a dozen road bridges plus three state highway overpasses throughout the park,” he said. “All of those have supports holding up those bridges. We will always be finding new areas in the park that will provide a good canvas for those opportunities for public art.”
On December 27, 1974, President Gerald Ford signed the act of Congress establishing Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area. It was officially designated a national park in 2000.
