ALUMNI STORIES - COURTNEY SEARCY

Mayor: Downtown Jackson 'Love your neighborhood' mural hopefully first of many

Anyone entering downtown Jackson heading south on North Highland Avenue is now greeted with the sweeping scene of a cheerful neighborhood perched on a series of hills. Wind ruffles a girl's hair as she rides down a hill on a bicycle. A pastel yellow dog sits calmly in the rays of an oversize sun. 

The mural is artist Courtney Searcy's idea of an idyllic neighborhood — a place where people say hello to fellow passersby and bask in the togetherness of a vibrant community.

"It's simple, but hopefully it's a way to spark for people an appreciation for their neighborhood and a desire to get out and really get to know the people in their neighborhood," Searcy said.

The painting on the building at the corner of West College Street and North Highland is the result of more than a year of planning and the help of multiple local organizations, including the Jackson Mayor's Office, the Jackson Chamber, Visit Jackson and the Jackson Downtown Development Corporation.

It's also the first of what Mayor Scott Conger hopes will be many public art projects on Jackson's walls, fire hydrants and electrical boxes.

"We have to have a welcoming environment, and art just enhances everything," Conger said. 

'Love your neighborhood'

Searcy, a graphic design graduate of Union University, will finish the mural on Saturday and Sunday with the words "love your neighborhood."

She said she was inspired by a recent documentary on Mr. Rogers, the host of American children's show Mister Roger's Neighborhood from 1968 to 2001. 

"In his opening theme song, you have that question of, 'Will you be my neighbor?'" Searcy explained. "And [Rogers] says, 'I've always wanted to have a neighbor just like you.' I think that concept of a neighborhood is just very important for downtown Jackson and for everyone right now."

The mural itself is a testament to a neighborhood coming together to create something beautiful; Searcy's friends helped her scrape the wall to create a clean canvas, and local businesses donated paint and applied a coat of primer. Fellow Union University graduate Madison Borden helped Searcy paint the design over two 13-hour days.

"I will get a lot of attention for this, but there's a list of so many people who played a part in making it happen," Searcy said. "That has been really fulfilling and humbling ... As an artist who decided to stay in Jackson, it is encouraging to have been given an opportunity to do what I love, for the people I love."

Calling all artists

Searcy's mural project inspired Conger to put out an all-call for artists with similar ideas. Encouraging public art has been important to him from the start, he said, because it allows more members of the community to be included in shaping their city.

When people look at moving to a new city, they want a place that has aesthetics, quality of life and nice people, Conger said.

"For the most part, we have people being nice," he said. "We have to work on enhancing our quality of life and we have to work on our aesthetics, and public art is just a very low-cost, high-impact way of doing that."

Artists hoping to create a public project can submit their plans — including location, design and budget — to City Project Manager Lauren Kirk. The city will work with artists to get permission from building owners if a building is the desired canvas.

Design plans will be reviewed by the mayor's office and the planning office to "make sure it fits in to what we see with our city," Conger said.

In a Facebook post that has now been shared more than 475 times, Conger promised to create a comprehensive art plan in the future, possibly securing some funding to help with projects.

In the day since the post has been live, Kirk received more than 20 emails inquiring about art projects, Conger said. He's fielded several messages himself, including some about a potential project on a Bemis building. He said he wants the city to serve as a conduit for making these projects a reality.

Searcy sees her mural as a pivoting point for Jackson.

"One of the best parts of this process for me has been the fact that this is kind of signaling a shift in people having an opportunity to use the skills and gifts that they have to serve where they live and make it a better place," she said.

Article written by Jackson Sun’s Cassandra Stephenson. Sept. 18, 2019