Officials from the Hattiesburg Alliance for Public Art and the City of Hattiesburg are almost halfway to their goal of the Hub City becoming “The City of 100 Murals” with the recent unveiling of “Essence of Happiness,” the city’s 48th large-scale, permanent mural.
The art was unveiled during an October 27 news conference at 215 Broadway Drive, where the mural is painted at the Family Dollar store and Alpine Snow, familiarly known as Hattiesburg’s “green snow cone stand.” To complete the mural, HAPA teamed up with Brighter Broadway – a Leadership Pinebelt group designed to inspire wellness, unity and development on Broadway Drive – for the first piece in the new Broadway Drive Series of artwork.
“Over the past six years, we’ve seen progress in almost every part of our city,” Mayor Toby Barker said. “We’ve seen momentum, we’ve seen new energy, rebirth … whether it’s in downtown at 4th and Main (streets), or in The Avenues.
“One of the challenges that we’ve always had, and that we’ve talked about, is Broadway Drive and West Pine (Street) – what has this area become, and how can we evolve this and breathe new vision into it? I love when a group of people gets together and just decides, ‘hey, we’re going to do this,’ and ‘lead, follow or get out of the way’ is the concept.”
The mural, which was painted by local artist Andrea Kostyal, depicts a group of children playing with a dandelion flower, which Kostyal said represents “a wish for hope, resilience and happiness in the community.” The children are shown in front of street signs for Broadway Drive and Adeline Street, along with signs from landmark businesses such as Grin Coffee and the snowball stand.
The mural measures 75 feet wide by 18 feet tall, at 1,350 square feet.
“The dandelion is a symbol for wishes granted, healing, innocence, transformation and resilience,” said Kostyal, who also designed the ‘New Normal’ mural in downtown Hattiesburg. “This is what I wish for this beautiful community.
“The abstract brushstrokes and bubbles permeate the colorful design (of the mural) to create a dreamlike feeling.”
Leadership Pinebelt, which is a program of the Area Development Partnership in Hattiesburg, was instituted in 1989 to train emerging and existing leaders in the Greater Hattiesburg area. Its class sessions focus on enhancing leadership skills in areas such as healthcare, cultural arts, economic development, military and industry.
“I’m just so thankful to the group of leaders that did the hard work, did the detailed work, had all the conversations, to be able to pull this off today,” said Todd Jackson, executive vice president for the Area Development Partnership. “We use stories like this all over the world.
“When Hattiesburg was recently ranked as the 11th place in the world for public art – with places like New York City and Paris, France – that resonates with people, especially with folks from around the world that may not be familiar with exactly where Hattiesburg, Mississippi is.
“So I’m very thankful for the group that saw this through.”
Brighter Broadway group members include Mavis Creagh of R3SM; Michael McCullum of The University of Southern Mississippi; Hilaire Long of Anderson Design; Ed Hargrove of Accelerate MS; Amanda Sanford of Jones Capital; and Kevin Kitchens of Landry Lewis Germany Architects PA.
“We set out to create Brighter Broadway as a group of dedicated individuals joining hands to inspire positive change,” Long said. “Our brainstorming sessions focused on mental health, and we were unified in creating something uplifting as a symbol of hope for things to come.
“Our mission led us to bring art as the first step in a breath of new life into this area.”
