Which of these would you rather see?

A creative use of walls in the skywalk, like this picture of the skywalk through the Financial Center from Wells Fargo? or	Another bland white wall as recently done for the Des Moines Building skywalk?

As the cold weather season approaches more and more of us will be spending more time in the skywalks getting to and from work, shopping, dinging and running errands. For most of the three miles we have nothing interesting to engage us except for the few lighted billboards that are scattered here and there. So here’s my idea to the powers that be:

• Use the blank white walls as a showcase to display Des Moines centered art or art from local Des Moines area artists

Ideas of what could be put on the walls:

• Murals on the walls, that show case Des Moines History, Des Moines Skyline, or scenes from Iowa or local attractions.
• Display photography groupings, similar to what’s done for the Iowa State Fair photography exhibit.
• Display canvas or mixed media art done by local artist and make the skywalks like an art gallery.
• Local galleries could also sponsor a wall or an empty store front window to display art. There’s a lot of empty store fronts, especially in the Kaleidoscope, why not allow local galleries to hang items in those windows along with the “For Lease” signs, again more foot traffic equals greater opportunity for leasing space. A good example of this is the bottom floor of the Liberty Building, an artist from the Art Dive showcases work in an empty retail front.
• Learning walls, for example, allow local non-profits, like Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Iowa to display items promoting their organization, telling their story in words and pictures.

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Posted under Living Downtown
Tags: Art | Skywalk