June- Kent Fence Beautification Project

In 2025 I told myself that I was going to be "offer only" on big projects, and I tried not to take on anything that would interfere with my teaching job. I needed to re-focus on providing the students with a great art experience. I didn't know, however, that I would be offered the chance to create a woven fence mural. What is a woven fence mural? This one is a 60' span of plastic fence weaving material, vinyl cut strips, and large banners of my own artwork. I started last November doing site visits (getting coffee) and sketching what I thought the fence could look like. the Main Street Kent organization wanted a public artwork that would integrate with the fence and obscure the parking area below, a by-product of the demolition of an old factory building on Water street.

I personally have always enjoyed this area of water street in Kent. It has the best coffee places, there is always free parking, and I like to stop here and do a walk around town and by the river. The fence, however, was not very visually appealing and so I brainstormed ways to make a public work that felt like a weaving. I really enjoy making small paper weavings using transparent paper and plastic, so I sourced materials that would act the same way, but that would make a big impact. I discovered that the "fence weave plastic" from the 60's (or earlier) was still manufactured and they had a lot of new colors that would go with this project.

I was asked if I could use the older banners from downtown Kent as part of the work. I decided to add them as one of the diagonal elements of the fence along with the plastic strips. It was very surreal cutting up the old vinyl printed artworks, many of which were by friends and artists I know in the community. But they all agreed to have their artwork used in the mural, and it was important that I gave them all their space. I also was able to print new, large banners of my own artwork. I scanned images of my woven material and then overlaid them with digital drawings using my Ipad. This made it look more like the paper weavings that I enjoy creating in a much larger format.

I started the actual "weaving" of the fence right after school ended on June 1st, working for about a week straight. I drove to the site each day and planned out which sections to weave, and which places to leave open to see the trees and railroad tracks by the Cuyahoga river. I think I ended up with a good balance of what is hidden and what shows through. I thankfully had a couple of days of help, but the work was out in the hot sun, and I got a very decent tan even wearing sunscreen and a hat every day.

After 7 months of planning, and a solid week of hard work it was time to put on the finishing touches. I had some friends come out and give me pointers, but it was all mostly positive feedback. I saw people taking pictures in front of the fence even before it was complete, and took that as a good sign. When I was done, I invited my two sponsors from Main Street Kent to come out and look at the fence, thinking they would have more feedback. Leslie and Heather looked at me and said "this looks great! and this is for you," handing me my check.

The finished fence mural is the biggest artwork I have created to date, and something I am really proud to share with the community. I consider Kent to be a second hometown, having gone to college there and continuing to work and visit there every chance I get. I have always felt a sense of belonging in Kent, and I am so honored to have a piece of my art on display for everyone to see.

Special thanks to @mainstreetkent , Stephanie Brewer and Main Street Kent for suggesting this project, Susan Rich, April Bleakney, Cathrine Lentini, and the other artists who gave me permission to use their old artwork in this piece. Kim Hackman helped me weave the fence and the graphics were printed by Advanced Display in Kent. The fence mural will be on display until Fall 2027 or whenever they turn the vacant lot into a parking garage. Hopefully you are able to go see it!

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more updates about my art this 'summer break'!