Crews started work Thursday on a mural at the Kent Lions Skate Park on West Smith Street. They expect to finish the project Friday.
Lee Schlosser, a Kent resident and emerging artist, created an imaginative, brightly colored design for the drab gray bowls of the park.
The young artist attended Kentridge High School and is currently working toward an associate degree at Green River Community College. His portfolio demonstrates a whimsical style that incorporates intertwining images, which is what excited staff from several departments at the initial planning meeting, according to a city of Kent media release.
Some of the images will become part of an interactive “find and seek” game posted on the informational kiosk at the park, which is also a target of taggers.
The downtown skate park is the second of Kent’s three skate parks to incorporate a mural, in part as a tactic to deter taggers. The paint is partially funded by a Bureau of Justice, Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant.
“There are some alternative strategies to deter graffiti, one of them being art murals,” said Sara Wood, public education specialist with the Kent Police Department. “The mural in the bowls of the West Hill Skate Park has been effective in preventing graffiti. We hope this mural in the Kent Lions Skate Park has the same outcome.”
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