The East English Village Love Letter
The first completed stop on my “Mural Tour” was East English Village. The furthest neighborhood east on East Warren that murals would be installed for this project. This also happens to be the neighborhood adjacent to my home, so its been nice to learn about the area both professionally and personally.
In March, along with City Walls Detroit, I hosted a Listening Session at Bethany Lutheran Church for the neighbors of East English Village to give their feedback about the project. The sessions happened to occur at the exact time I needed my own personal pick me up. My partner was deployed during the time and headlines had just dropped a few weeks prior about the bombings happening at the base he had recently been evacuated from. I share this because this idea started as a passion project to uplift the community, but it also has saved me in ways I couldn’t have previously anticipated.
My heart really needed positive reinforcement during this time and Choosing to intentionally bond with the community did exactly that.
During the Listening Session I learned what made this area uniquely quirky. It is a diverse neighborhood, with friendly people who live in their own “Cheers” episode. They love to have block parties with one another and they are passionate about their gardening.
As with all the sessions, people were invited to write their very own Sticky Note Affirmations. From this activity, there were a few that the group voted to include.
Small Acts Create Strong Communities
Good Morning Neighbor
You Matter Here
I took these notes along with the information from the surveys and developed the East English Village Love Letter design. The mural features an assortment of flowers, and two different hands holding messages. I thought the flowers were a good way to showcase diversity, vibrance, and illustrate the area’s green thumb.
The mural took about 3 weeks to complete, but in actuality maybe 7-9 paint days. Those days allowed me to meet people in the area and start seeing familiar faces more regularly. The Royal Auto Clinic was the first business to volunteer their wall for this project with literally no questions asked. If you are on the Eastside and need some work done to your car I would certainly recommend them. The guys there are really kind and hard workers. They helped create a great environment for me to work in.
Check out more photos from the project below. Stay tuned for more updates! Learn more about Eastside Love Letters as a whole here.
The Completed Mural :
Eastside Love Letters is a mural initiative sponsored by City Walls Detroit. This neighborhood’s mural would not have been possible without our community partners East English Village Neighborhood Association, Morningside Coffee, East Warren Development Corporation, and Royal Auto Clinic.
Photos captured by Darren Ballard and Elonte Davis.