Ben Garbacz/Daily Mining Gazette The Keweenaw Coummunity Foundation located at the third floor of the Hancock Community Hub is looking for designs for a movable mural to promote the theme of community within the Keweenaw Peninsula. The piece needs to represent the diverse peoples of the area while honoring the Keweenaw's history.

HANCOCK — A little over two weeks remain for interested artists to submit design ideas to the Keweenaw Community Foundation for a movable mural project. The Foundation is looking to create a visual piece to represent the Keweenaw communities that can be displayed at multiple locations and community events for years to come. Proposals for the Movable Community Mural are being accepted by the Foundation until July 18 at 4:00 p.m. and must be sent via email to mail@keweenawgives.org.

Keweenaw Community Foundation Director of Programs Erin Barnett said the project is a way to support local artists.

“We know that art is important to the health of a community, and it’s important to tell the story of a community visually as well as in words and in writing and orally,” Barnett said. “So this is a way for us to support local artists and to get a lasting, durable piece of art that can be moved around the community, different events and different spaces to communicate that story.”

The submissions made can be made by individual artists, an artist team or art groups such as the Copper Country Community Arts Center or a group from Michigan Tech. The proposed pieces can be hand drawn or digital and must reflect a non-fixed and movable mural 10 to 15 feet in length and about 4 feet tall. The design should be made in a number of segments so it can be put together and taken apart multiple times in multiple indoor spaces.

Barnett explained spaces can be livened up by art, and there is a blank wall in the Foundation’s office in the Hancock Community Hub that could best exemplify the communities the Foundation represents. The Foundation is requesting interested artists to come up with designs that cover the overarching theme of community and represent the numerous groups of people which inhabit the area.

“There’s lots of different people that make up our local community, lots of different backgrounds, histories, religions, races, genders, and so we want to make sure that this is a visual representation of the fullness of our community and the richness of that community,” Barnett said.

The design will also need to honor the history of the area, though what these things combined into a visual design will be up to the artists’ interpretation. Barnett explained the community is evolved and multidimensional due to the diverse population Michigan Tech brings from those seeking higher education.

“You think about the Parade of Nations and how we get to see that on display, and so this [will be] a piece of art that essentially represents that,” Barnett said.

This is not the first time the Foundation has focused on the art field, with the Foundation giving grants out for the Calumet Theater and the Community Arts Center, providing graphic novels to the Calumet Public Schools through the Youth Advisory Council and a request for proposal regarding a concept design sketch for the Big Annie Statue. After the conclusion of this mural project, Barnett said there are opportunities to explore other art projects in the future.

After July 18 a committee within the Foundation will meet to determine the selected submission and the artist will be notified by July 31. Once selected, the Foundation will provide the winner with $2,300 for the project, though half up front and the other half upon completion. It is expected the funds will be used to supply the artist with the tools he or she needs to complete the project and to use whatever is left over to pay themselves.

“Artists a lot of times are asked for free work. That’s a common thing that happens. So we want to make sure that they’re compensated,” Barnett said.

The final product is planned to be completed by November 1, just in time for the Foundation’s Annual Gala where the piece will make its first appearance on November 5 at the Rozsa Center. Barnett said she and other Foundation members are excited to see what the submissions will bring.

“The fun part to my job is I get to review all the granting applications that come in. It’s so exciting to see all these ideas that are generated by our community in terms of projects and passions. And so this is just another iteration of that, except it’s a visual iteration– a visual thinking of community as opposed to a programmatic and so that’s really exciting to see what’s going to come in the door and how people view our community,” Barnett said.