@PLAY Akron

In 2017, Art x Love was awarded a $240,000 Knight Cities grant for @PLAY Akron, an 18-month, 24-neighborhood, interactive art project designed to bring diverse people together and encourage deeper community connections. Our team walked and biked every street in the city, conducted thousands of street intercept interviews with residents and stakeholders, and produced more than 100 murals and 50 placemaking transformations across the city.

@PLAY Akron has inspired millions of dollars of new investment and systemic change across the City of Akron, and fundamentally changed the way local organizations and non-profits approach neighborhood research, community engagement, and creative collaboration.

Superior Hill Park

In the summer of 2022, Art x Love was engaged by Warehouse District and Downtown Cleveland Alliance to create a transformative mural for the space they refer to as “Superior Hill Park,” located on W. Superior Ave. & W. 9th Street, in downtown Cleveland, Ohio.

We created a worksheet to collect ideas and aspirations from the community, and from the dozens of submissions received, identified themes of hope and historic reference for concept development. Mac Love power-washed and primed the area, painted the asphalt art and mural, and finished it with an anti-graffiti coating.

The Superior Hill Park mural depicts a child blowing a kiss that is travels through time and space along the Cuyahoga River by historic modes of transportation. “Hold fast to dreams” is a line from Langston Hughes’ poem, Dreams, and was included as call for hope.

History in Chalk

In the summer of 2019, Art x Love created the "Who is Levi Johnson?" chalk mural for Cleveland’s Take a Hike program in the Historic Warehouse District. Our work included cleaning and repainting the vandalized walls, and working with the Historic Warehouse District Development Corporation to create an iconic mural to support tourism and local events. The mural was designed to last for several weeks, was embraced by the community, and remained unspoiled for 2 years.

Levi Johnson came to Cleveland in 1809 and was famous for building ships and homes for early settlers. In 1812, he built the first courthouse and jailhouse in Cuyahoga County, on the northwest corner of Public Square. In 1830 he built Cleveland's first lighthouse, and is remembered as an outstanding ship builder who contributed to the growing trade business throughout the Great Lakes. By the time of his death in 1871, he had continuously lived in Cleveland longer than any other person. He is buried in Woodland Cemetery.

“We’ve got such a positive response. It draws awareness and pride to historic aspects of the neighborhood”

– Eileen Cassidy, Historic Warehouse District Development Corporation

Following the success of the “Who is Levi Johnson?” chalk mural, Art x Love was engaged again to create a "Rockefeller Snow Scene" mural for the Historic Warehouse District’s winter programs.

John D. Rockefeller, the famous industrialist and philanthropist, came in Cleveland in 1853 and was an assistant bookkeeper who rose to become one the wealthiest men in the history of the United States. Rockefeller organized and directed Standard Oil Co., and was involved in numerous local business ventures including the Cleveland Arcade Co. and the construction of the Rockefeller Building in 1905 (pictured in the mural). His charitable donations were extensive and include more than $865,000 worth of land donated to the City of Cleveland for use as parks. The mural depicts Rockefeller with his grandson, Fowler McCormick, walking through the streets on a snowy night.

“You feel good when you walk by it.”

– Eileen Cassidy, Historic Warehouse District Development Corporation

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”Cleveland chalk mural still here, brightening the space under the Main Avenue Bridge”
– Channel 19 News, Cleveland

P.S. I Love You

In 2019, Art x Love was engaged by the Kohl Family YMCA to create an interactive mural for the P.S. I Love You 5K Walk/Run. Mac Love came up with the idea of a mural created with the footprints of participants.

An 8 ft. x 8 ft. foundation was laid out with eight colored platforms for people to step on and paint with. Hundreds of participants, including kids and pets, left their mark on the P.S. I Love You mural. It is currently installed on the East Market Street side of the Kohl Family YMCA in Akron, Ohio.

Ordinary Superheroes

Mac was commissioned to create this chalk mural for SparkSpace’s offices and co-work space in Columbus, Ohio. The theme of the month was “Ordinary Superheroes.” Make conceived of and designed the mural on site, illustrating it freehand, and completed the mural in 6 hours.

The Ordinary Superheroes chalk mural was beloved by staff and visitors, and served as a popular backdrop for corporate visits and special events.