Mural for Oak Park Dog Park Will Be In Memory of Animal Activist
(Elizabeth Schanz, March 23, 2023)
Oak Park, MI – This summer Oak Park will open a new dog park that will contain a new mural that will create an appealing and engaging visual element for park-goers.
The mural connects the work of a local family and artist to the wider Oak Park community. The mural will be created by Oak Park artist Joey Salamon as a memorial for a son of an Oak Park family. Both the artist and the family hope that the mural will create a positive and enjoyable atmosphere in the dog park and for the city.
The Park is in the works at Lessenger Park, just east of Lessenger Preschool at the end of Scotia, two blocks south of Nine Mile. The name is still up in the air as the City is having a contest to name it. The park is expected to be completed this year, but an exact date has not yet been announced.
Oak Park resident Mark Phillips came up with the idea for the mural as a way to honor his late son Idan Phillips who worked at the Animal Welfare Society in Madison Heights and was known to be a “huge dog lover” and “dog whisperer.”
When Oak Park announced that the city would be opening a dog park, a committee that Phillips himself sits on, Phillips realized that this could be the perfect opportunity to connect his son’s love for animals to the mural they hope to create. He independently set out to get the mural project in motion.
In September, Phillips connected to Salamon via Facebook after the artist posted in a local Facebook group to ask if he would be willing to take on the project. Salamon agreed and Phillips worked to solidify the logistics of the plan.
“We’d already set up a go fund in memory of my son in order to get something for the dog park,” Phillips said. “He (Salamon) sent us the quote and I said ‘oh, we can pay for it all.’ It went through obviously the bureaucracy of a city and actually got passed in a city council (in February).”
Phillips was able to make the mural possible through private donations through a GoFundMe from loved ones and community members. He said that the amount of money raised is a testament to the life of his late son.
He said that his son also dabbled in art making the mural fitting commemoration of his son’s interests and will allow for the memory of his son to live on.
Phillips chose Salamon as the artist because of his local connection, as an Oak Park resident for about six years, and the impact his art instantly had on him. Phillips said that seeing Salamon’s artwork was like “love at first sight” and he knew that he wanted Salamon to execute the project.
The Oak Park dog park mural will be one of the many pieces Salamon has created. Salamon began his journey with art at five years old. In 2010 he graduated with a degree in Art and Design at Grand Valley State University and continued to work as an artist and was greatly drawn to murals.
“My main goal in all of my artwork is to create more or less an emotion because a lot of times when you see murals that are super specific unless you know what it’s about it’s kind of hard to relate to it,” Salamon said.
He aims to create artwork that appeals to many different people through geometric, abstract shapes and bright colors that he hopes create interest and often happiness.
Once Salamon starts the Oak Park mural he said the process of creating the piece will take about one to two weeks. Some of his first steps will be to project the two dog figures onto the wall to sketch the basic outline and measure different elements of the image. He will create the design with spray paint a faster method of production than other types of paint.
Even though he has done many murals throughout his career he said that each project offers different experiences and opportunities.
“I like to do things I don’t get to do all the time. In this one, being able to add dog characters in it just sounded cool and a little bit of a challenge,” Salamon said. “With every single one (each mural project), there’s is some aspect to it that is a challenge whether or not I know about it before I start.”
He recalled that in previous projects he has painted directly near bee hives and often has to adapt to the different environments that each mural presents. For the Oak Park mural, he said one of the challenges he is excited about is expanding his practice of figure work with the dog head images.
Beyond his personal creative experiences, Salamon said murals can connect communities. He said that murals can have visual and social impacts. He emphasized that murals can reflect many different characteristics of the area and bring a personal and unique aspect to each community.
Salamon hopes that incorporating the mural into the brand-new dog park will help to draw people in and open up opportunities for people to take pictures with their dogs. Additionally, Salamon expressed that bringing in art allows for a greater sense of community pride and hopes that this project will bring that same sense of appreciation and love to Oak Park.
Learn more about parks and amenities in Oak Park at https://www.oakparkmi.gov/departments/recreation/index.php. Learn more about Joey Salamon’s artwork at https://www.joeysalamon.art/
