FALL RIVER — Murals have been popping up across the Spindle City in recent years, with a new painting enlivening a parking garage downtown and another piece of street art coming next year that will decorate the street at a major intersection.
While one project brings a moment of startling beauty to the landscape, the other has a crucial public safety component. The city and the Fall River Arts and Culture Coalition recently received a $25,000 grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies to paint a mural inside the intersection of Broadway and Bradford Avenue.
“The point is to use eye-catching visuals to prompt people to slow down and pay attention,” said city grant writer Jasmine Pereira.
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Fall River was one of only 25 communities in the United States, Canada and Mexico to be awarded Bloomberg grants as part of its Asphalt Art Initiative. It puts Fall River in rare company with cities like New Orleans, Mexico City, San Francisco and Honolulu.
“It’s a really big deal to get a Bloomberg grant,” said FRACC Executive Director Ashley Occhino. “I’m very excited — the grant, and who the grantor is, and what that means recognition-wise for the city, for the artist that we have involved, and of course for FRACC as well.”
The intersection of Bradford and Broadway is a notoriously hairy one for drivers and pedestrians. The Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District has named it one of the top 100 most dangerous intersections in the region.
“This particular intersection is only controlled by stop signs,” Pereira said. “And it’s a pretty complex intersection because you have the inlet to Kennedy Park and the entrance to the parking lot on the other side. And there’s also persistent problems with speeding going up Broadway.”
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The mural will cover the square inside the four crosswalks, designed to call drivers’ attention to the road and slow them down for safety.
Pereira said Lena McCarthy, a Boston-based artist who grew up in Fall River, will design and install it. A preliminary design will be submitted in April, with a final design by June to be unveiled shortly after that. The mural will be installed in September.
It’s intended to last for years, with FRACC responsible for touching it up. But the project doesn’t end when the paint dries — the city traffic department will collect data at the site to see if the mural works.
“It can’t be without statistics to back up what we’re doing,” Pereira said.
“I really think it’s going to be a wonderful visual asset to people walking and enjoying it by Kennedy Park,” Occhino added, “but I really do hope it serves the purpose and intention of the project, which is to help make that intersection safer.”
On Milliken Boulevard, another mural already installed is meant to inspire people to slow down — but more to admire the beauty.
Five stories high, a painting titled “Dad’s Home” now graces the city-owned Pearl Street parking garage. It depicts an intimate moment of a serene young girl held in her father’s arms.
Occhino said the art is meant to be a “constant reminder that Fall River is a city about family.”
“We really wanted to make it something that was really accessible, that people would see themselves in,” Occhino said.
The mural was designed by artist BKFoxx, painted with assistance from Claudio Picasso — “that’s his real name, not his street art name,” Occhino said.
Dan Medeiros can be reached at dmedeiros@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News today.