The panels were dedicated on Friday afternoon on the plaza with several committee members attending. VIP attendees of the Come Together Beatles tribute concert on the plaza that evening were seated between the panels.
“We thought it was a good time to celebrate the first publicly-commissioned art project on the 50th anniversary of the last one, to carry on their legacy,” said Lauren Houser, one of the committee members.
One depicts the Cablevision Mural, created by Ramsey and Meier that was on the then-new Cablevision Building with bold red, green and blue interweaving lines, symbolizing the components of analog television. The other is of the Lagonda Club Mural designed by Ramsey, containing four red and five blue parallelograms, a blue and yellow triangle on a black background with the shapes intersecting.
The latter’s original is still faintly visible on the side of the Lagonda Club building, located at 150 E. High St.
Local artist Pete Hrinko worked with historian Kevin Rose, both committee members, to recreate the murals by piecing them together from photo reconstructions, taking the illustrations and redrawing them and working with the city of Springfield on placement.
“The idea then was to have art infused into people’s lives and infuse downtown with energy. This is a fitting tribute to the years they worked on them,” Rose said.
One of the advantages of this design is these panels could be moved out for other works in coming years according to Houser. The City Hall Plaza renovation also had the addition of pickleball courts and other features in the past few months.
Recent years have seen the Springfield Public Art committee help with the creation of around 10 large-scale murals and smaller efforts including art wraps on utility boxes throughout the city.
The committee’s next project will be adding comprehensive signage to the various works telling about the artists and their subjects to educate people for years to come. Going forward, they are also looking for a way to preserve and display one of the works that greeted City Hall visitors for 42 years that is currently in storage.
“We’re focused on infusing the community with art, historical and contemporary, including finding the best place for Oracle’s Vision,” Rose said.
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