ArtWorks restarts Saturday Mural Tours of OTR and downtown public art


ArtWorks, the local nonprofit that employs young people to create public art, is again offering its Saturday Mural Tours program.
 
Each 90-minute walk — one through Over-the-Rhine, one through Downtown — is approximately a mile long and features 7-10 murals created by ArtWorks artists. The OTR tour begins at Coffee Emporium at the corner of Walnut Street and Central Parkway at noon, while the Downtown walk begins on Fountain Square at 2 p.m. Two guides lead each tour.
 
The Spirit of OTR tour features “Mr. Tarbell Tips His Hat,” “The Golden Muse” and “Strongman Henry Holtgrewe” among other murals. The Cincinnati Genius tour includes three works from the Cincinnati Master Artist series, including Charley Harper’s “Homecoming (Bluebirds),” Tom Wesselman’s Still Life #60” and John Ruthven’s “Martha, the Last Passenger Pigeon.”
 
The tours help raise money for ArtWorks, which lured the then 88-year-old Ruthven to a scaffold at Eighth and Vine streets in the summer of 2013 to work with 15 apprentice artists on a massive rendition of his original “Martha” that covers the entire side of a downtown building.
 
The tours run every Saturday through November and are $20 for adults and free for children under 12. Tickets must be purchased in advance.

Do Good:

• Join one of the mural tours by purchasing tickets in advance through the ArtWorks website, which also offers discounts and coupons to A Tavola in OTR’s Gateway Quarter following the tours.

• Find out about all 90 of ArtWorks’ public murals, located in numerous neighborhoods on both sides of the river, and do your own self-guided tour.

Support ArtWorks’ mission to employ, engage, create and transform the Greater Cincinnati region.
 
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Read more articles by Bill Thompson.

Bill Thompson is a writer and editor who has more than 30 years of experience with The Cincinnati Enquirer and local magazines. He hosts a weekly radio show on WAIF (88.3 FM), "Blue Snakes and Banjos," and lives in Mt. Adams.