Portrait of the community

The Museum of Public Art, an initiative spearheaded by local orthodontist and artist Kevin Harris, continues to beautify old walls in Old South Baton Rouge. Last weekend, the Royal KingBee, a graffiti artist from New York City, finished the exterior walls of the old JT Patin building on the corner of Myrtle Walk and Eddie Robinson Sr. Drive (across from the Lincoln Theater).

The piece, which takes up two outer walls of the gutted building, functions almost like a mission statement for the museum—depictions of neighborhood residents strolling through an outdoor museum gallery, taking in the paintings under a ceiling of blue skies.

This was KingBee’s second trip to the Capital City. He also contributed to the mural on the side of the old Habitat Imports building on 14th Street, which we wrote about here. Check out KingBee’s Flickr photostream here to see more of his work.

The two buildings will serve as the locations for most of the museum’s exhibits, live painting events and workshops for students, with an expected opening date in December. “We want to help put Baton Rouge on the map as one of the top centers for public art,” Harris said in a press release.

And while Harris has so far brought New York City-based artists to contribute street art to Baton Rouge, he’s got some international talent lined up, too. Portuguese street artist Odeith, known for his 3-D-style murals, is scheduled to leave his mark on Old South Baton Rouge starting later this week. Check out a video of some of his work below:

And find out more about the museum at museumofpublicart.org.