PUBLIC ART
Jerry Springer Mural
The Design
Portrait Grid and Outline
Portrait Grid and Outline Grayscale
Completed Project
The Team
Measuring Grid
Outline Design
Fill in Grayscale Portrait
Blending
Filling in Letters
DESIGNER: Brady Corcoran
PAINTERS: Lead Teaching Artist: Jaylin Stewart, Teaching Artist Emily Mallot, Six Apprentices: Sophie Koehl, Riley Johnson, Jessie Miller, Audrey Carranza, Olivia Hahn, and Hal Loomis.
PROJECT INFORMATION: The project site is located in downtown Over the Rhine in Cincinnati, Ohio on the building Tender Mercies. Tender Mercies is an organization that provides housing and support for homeless adults combating mental illness. Jerry Springer a previous mayor of Cincinnati and News Reporter passed away in spring 2023 this mural honors the life and impact that Jerry Springer had on the community. It presents the viewer with a vertical portrait of Jerry smiling and his sign off message as anchorman for WLWT, “Take care of yourself and each other.”
PROCESS: Working with the given design and primed wall, as a team we gridded both printed design references and the job site to scale as a guideline. Using chalk we worked by sketching the design to fit the grid. For the portrait we did a smaller scale to capture more of the detail to guarantee accuracy. The background was done using color blocking large sections, similar to the large scale lettering. For the face we completed a grayscale outline similar to a color by number and then blended out the paint to make it more shaded and gradient like.
YEAR: 2024
ORGANIZATION: ArtWorks Cincinnati
NINJA GRILLE MURAL AND DESIGN
Architectual Reference for Design
Design process pic 1
Design process pic 2
Design process pic 2
Design process pic 3
Design process pic 4
Completed Design and Mock Up
Completed Design with Color Swatches
In Progress Image
Completed Dragon Detail
Final Mural
DESIGNERS: Sophie Koehl, Molly Cardosi, Sidney Bacon, and Kaya Friday.
PAINTERS: Sophie Koehl, Molly Cardosi, Sidney Bacon, and Kaya Friday.
PROJECT INFORMATION: This project was designed to bring more color and appeal to the side of the business Ninja Grille and the apartment complex situated above it in Clifton Heights. We incorporated different themes to go along with the restaurant with golden waves and cherry blossoms. The area was previously overlooked with trees and trash cans blocking the side of the building, so we wanted to elevate it through a colorful mural.
PROCESS: Originally, when designing the mural, it was a complicated layout to implement a mural with different ducts, trees, and a doorway situated in the center. So, working with the composition and elements the wall had, we started with a dragon that could compositionally fill the space through winding through the different blockades or awkward spots on the wall that made it not flat or square. Then in those empty areas in the background, we incorporated waves and cherry blossoms to make it full and cohesive. Once the design was laid out we made a color palette and got paint materials to match our swatches. We printed references and used the grid method to properly translate our design for accuracy. Once gridded we sketched, color blocked, and added final details to the mural till it was completed.
YEAR: 2025
ORGANIZATION: Clifton Heights Community and Urban Redevelopment Corporation.
FORTUNE NOODLE MURAL
Primed Job Site
Primed Job Site
Tagged Site
Gridding Process with Chalk Lines
Sketching Design Outline
Painting Outline
Adding Color process pic
Adding Color process pic
Adding Color process pic
Mural Design
Final Mural
Final Mural
DESIGNER: L.D Nehls
PAINTERS: Sophie Koehl, Molly Cardosi, Sidney Bacon, and Kaya Friday.
PROJECT INFORMATION: This project was pre designed and a commissioned work by Nehl’s. The location of the mural is the side wall of Bagel Brother’s and the top of Fortune Noodle by the University of Cincinnati. The concept of this project was to capture the different smells of the restaurants within the area. The mural is a vibrant and saturated image of different plants, spices, and ingredients in an illustrative style.
PROCESS: Using the design reference and the primed wall we measured out and gridded to scale on the job site using chalk lines. Then we did sketch of the design to the wall as an outline for painting. Once the sketch was complete we began color blocking large areas. We continued to do multiple coats of paint to make it opaque. Additionally, we did linework to make the image clear and neatly portrayed.
YEAR: 2025
ORGANIZATION: Clifton Heights Community and Urban Redevelopment Corporation.
MONSTER WALL
DESIGNER: Rheann Wells
PAINTERS: Molly Cardosi, Sophie Koehl, Sidney Bacon, and Kaya Friday.
PROJECT INFORMATION: The location of this project is Warner street in Cincinnati, Ohio near the University of Cincinnati. It is an active pedestrian area for people who live locally. Previously the wall had an older mural that would get tagged frequently so it was a design to bring more vibrancy and fun into the space and be more preventative of vandalism. The design contains illustrative cartoon like monsters that stretch along the long walkway with a simplified color pallet.
PROCESS: This project was already in progress when the interns and I joined in to assist in finishing the work. We completed a large blank section by sketching in the grid and the monsters to scale on the wall. Then we went in with sketching the line work using a lighter shade of paint. After the outlines were made we started color blocking large areas of different paint colors on the wall. To refine the paint coverage and clean the design up we spent a lot of time doing the thick illustrative linework to then complete the mural.
YEAR: 2025
ORGANIZATION: Clifton Heights Community and Urban Redevelopment Corportation.
PLAZA MURAL AND DESIGN
Left side completed mural
Completed mural
Right side completed mural
Artists signatures
White layer to grid/sketch
White layer to grid/sketch
Adding color to base layer
Adding color to base layer
Color design mock up
Color design mock up
Color design mock up
Color design mock up
Design of line work, sketching, hatching, and dimensions
Composition reference to scale
DESIGNERS: Sophie Koehl, Molly Cardosi, Sidney Bacon, and Kaya Friday.
PAINTERS: Sophie Koehl, Molly Cardosi, Sidney Bacon, and Kaya Friday.
PROJECT INFORMATION: The location of this project is the windows of Plaza Art supplies located by the University of Cincinnati. Plaza is a major resource for students in the area in art related programs at the University and local artists. We communicated with the owners to hear their ideas related to the project and they wanted art supplies to be part of the subject matter on the glass windows. Originally, these windows were covered and not offering much to the space so we decided to transform the busy area.
PROCESS: Initially, we ideated on design ideas for the project. Since one of our guidelines was art supplies we used what the store carried, and arranged different compositions on paper of art supplies to scale of the glass. Then we started doing different sketching and outlines both physically and digitally of the references. We decided on bold linework and cross hatching portraying well used and loved supplies. Once the outline was made we then started different color mock ups and communicated with the client and people in the community their preferred one. A couple mock ups contained colors of Plaza’s brand of blue and different shades along with the University’s art programs colors (DAAP- College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning) to further connect with the community. However, after receiving voting on the design mock ups the orange and blue design ended up being the most favorable amongst Plaza’s owners, some of our team, and majority of the people we communicated with. Once the design was finalized, we began doing different paint tests to check durability on glass to see which kind would withstand. Then we prepped the glass panes by cleaning and scraping them to be ready for the painting process. We gridded the glass with chalk markers and outlined the supplies. Then we applied a base coat of white to help with paint coverage and to create a border of the supplies. After that we did color blocking of large areas. Once all the paint was applied we then went in with POSCA markers of varying sizes to do the linework and cross hatching to then complete the mural.
YEAR: 2025
ORGANIZATION: Clifton Heights Community and Urban Redevelopment Corporation.