Fort Wayne artists paint murals on boarded storefronts

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) - Local artists are painting murals on storefront windows that were boarded up in downtown Fort Wayne during George Floyd protests to support the Black Lives Matter movement.

Fort Wayne resident Adam Garland reached out to '~Art This Way,' a public art program, to ask artists to come downtown and paint the plywood with 'œmessages of hope and shift the focus from the negatives of the vandalism to the positivity of the message,'ť according to Wane-TV.

'œIt's a way for the art community to create something beautiful out of something that's been very painful,'ť said Garland, adding that it's also a platform available for artists to be able to vocalize their own thoughts and feelings about the protest and the Black Lives Matter movement.

'œInside of this painting I have a little girl blowing bubbles to the city of Fort Wayne,'ť said painter Sederick Lorick. 'œThe bubbles actually have butterflies coming out of them which show the new beginning for Fort Wayne and the United States. Hopefully, all of the violence and all of the madness can go away.'ť

Most artists participating are from the Fort Wayne area. However, many are making the trip to Fort Wayne from other states to take part in the murals, according to the Downtown Improvement Districts.