Imagine West Park Brings a Splash of Public Art to Kamm’s Corners
In 2023, thanks to generous support from the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Foundation, West Park Kamm’s Neighborhood Development was awarded $50,000 to launch its first public art initiative in Kamm’s Corners. The grant was used in a three-pronged approach – a Mini Muralist Youth Art Program, the installation of two Murals on Main Street, and Upgrading the Ordinary through eight utility box wraps along Lorain Avenue.
The program officially kicked off in the spring of 2024 with the Mini Muralist Youth Art Program at Riverside Park Homes led by local teaching artist, Susie Underwood. Susie brought a wealth of experience to the course and designed the curriculum to introduce the students to the basics of art and design, as well as how to be successful as a working artist. She herself has established a career as a mixed media, performance, and ceramic artist over the last fifteen years.
The ten-week course engaged youths at Riverside Park that culminated in the design and installation of their own group mural inside the community center at Riverside Park. The collaborative piece let the students work together on the design and get hands on experience painting a large-scale piece of public art. As an added bonus, two students were selected to apprentice with artists on the next part of the program – Murals on Main Street.
Prior to receiving the grant, the team at WPKND did some groundwork to gather community input on what residents would like to see if new pieces of public art were installed throughout the neighborhood. Some questions posed to community members were:
- What is your favorite or most memorable location in the neighborhood?
- What is your favorite mural/art style?
- What makes West Park special?
- What are three words that describe you?
- What is your favorite thing to do in West Park?
After gathering responses at public events like the Kamm’s Corners Farmer’s Market, some common themes started to emerge. A strong sense of community, connection to nature, and familial ties to the neighborhood were recurring responses when residents thought about why they chose Kamm’s Corners as the place they call home. These themes were shared with the artists selected for the Murals on Main Street program to incorporate into the pieces they designed for the neighborhood.
The first Mural on Main Street was installed at 4251 Rocky River Drive by Ryan Jaenke in the fall of 2024. Ryan is a well-known local artist whose pieces you’ve likely seen throughout the City of Cleveland. He is known for incorporating iconic, abstracted design elements into his work and has a passion for graffiti and street art. The site selected for his mural activated a prominent but stark wall on the northern façade of the mixed-use building at 4251 Rocky River Drive.
Ryan’s design was meant to incorporate many elements of the neighborhood. The left section of the work represents the Rocky River Reservation, through the center is an abstraction of the iconic Kamm’s Corners clock and storefronts along Lorain Avenue and Rocky River Drive, and it ends with a skateboarder and basketball hoop to represent the other parks throughout the neighborhood.
The spring of 2025 saw the second Mural on Main Street completed at 16211 Lorain Avenue on the west-facing façade of Cleveland Moto. The wall chosen overlooks the much-beloved greenspace of residents at the neighboring Lorain Square Apartments. Residents of Lorain Square can regularly be seen enjoying the space with lunch at the picnic tables or tending to the flowers they plant below the trees. WPKND has long eyed this wall as a prime spot for a mural and was glad the property owner was just as eager to dress up the wall through this initiative.
West Park resident Charley Frances was selected to design the piece for 16211 Lorain Avenue. She, too, took direct inspiration from community feedback and incorporated many plants and animals native to the Rocky River Reservation into her work. The overall design was based on an infinity sign to highlight the continuity of nature.
Charley is known for her baroque-inspired works that incorporate geometry and pattern with classical design techniques. The rich, jewel tones accented with gold are intended to show the convergence of nocturnal and diurnal species at the break of dawn.
The final piece of Imagine West Park, Upgrading the Ordinary, brought eight utility box wraps spread along Lorain Avenue from the intersection with Triskett Road to the Fairview Park Bridge. Completed in the summer of 2025, Mike Sobeck designed a collection of works to be installed across the selected sites. Mike is a graphic artist who primarily works in portraiture and still life. He regularly incorporates playful subject matter with fine art techniques into his work.
Mike also took inspiration from the community feedback gathered in 2023, as well as cues from the physical locations of where each design would land.
The stretch of utility boxes is anchored by the same graphic interpretation of the Kamm’s Corners clock at Lorain’s intersection with Triskett Road and the Fairview Park Bridge. The design is meant to serve as gateways into the neighborhood highlighting to passers-by that they are in Kamm’s Corners.
In between those bookends are a mix of other quirky patterns. Near the western end of Lorain Avenue is a box of cartoon-like wildlife to reference the Rocky River Reservation and another spot showcases a herringbone pattern of band aids to reference Cleveland Clinic’s campus.
Near the intersection of Rocky River Drive and Ferndale Avenue and Lorain Avenue and West 168th Street are a repeated pattern of fruits and vegetables. These designs callout the many food shopping and dining options in Kamm’s Plaza, as well as one entrance to the lot where the Kamm’s Corners Farmer’s Market happens every summer.
Finally, an abstracted pattern of the Kamm’s Corners clock is in place at the intersection of Rocky River Drive and Lorain Avenue and Lorain Avenue and West 165th Street to highlight entry points into downtown Kamm’s Corners.
Below are maps and a list of addresses highlighting each location of the new public art works made possible by the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Foundation’s support of the Imagine West Park initiative. We hope residents and visitors alike will explore the neighborhood and take-in all these works in person.
A final thank you to all the artists who leant their time and talent to make the streetscapes in West Park more art filled! Imagine West Park would not have been a success without the creativity of Susie Underwood, Ryan Jaenke, Charley Frances, and Mike Sobeck.
Murals:
- Charley Frances Piece - 16211 Lorain Avenue
- Ryan Jaenke Piece - 4251 Rocky River Drive
Utility Box Wraps:
- Intersection of Triskett Road and Lorain Avenue
- Intersection of West 165th Street and Lorain Avenue
- Intersection of Wesy 168th Street and Lorain Avenue
- Intersection of Lorain Avenue and Rocky River Drive
- Intersection of Rocky River Drive and Ferndale Avenue
- Intersection of Old Lorain Road and Lorain Avenue
- Intersection of West 179th Street and Lorain Avenue
- Intersection of Lorain Avenue and Fairview Park Bridge