Mural on Display in Arts Center’s Gardens “Harvesting the Winds of Change” Part of 2020 Sprayetteville Festival Walton Arts Center is best known for presenting performing artists from all over the world on its stages. But this summer the arts center commissioned a local visual artist to create an outdoor mural for the gardens of its Fayetteville campus. Harvesting the Winds of Change was installed by artist Octavio Logo in just 12 days in July as part of the Sprayetteville Street Art Festival. The mural is painted on the Grub’s building, which is part of the art center’s campus. It’s displayed on the north wall, allowing patrons and visitors to enjoy it from the art center’s gardens, which open onto West Avenue. The mural was inspired by the true story of William Kamkwamba, an inventor and author from Malawi, Africa, who gained fame at age 13 when he built a wind turbine from scratch using only a few books he had access to. To build it, he used his father’s bicycle, a small generator, and old scrapyard parts that he repaired himself. William’s family faced a life-threatening drought, but his wind turbine generated enough power to activate a water pump that supplied an irrigation system, saving the harvest, his family and ultimately an entire village. Logo is a professional painter from Mexico City who has been living and working in Northwest Arkansas
for several years. In addition to collaborations with Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Logo’s bold, dynamic street art is gaining favor in south Fayetteville, where his murals include depictions of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, and a Black Lives Matter memorial to George Floyd.
Octavio Logo
For Walton Arts Center, commissioning the garden mural and participating in Sprayetteville 2020 was a practical way to support local creatives and add to the ever-growing catalog of public art in Fayetteville. Eight new murals were painted during Sprayetteville, most of which are in walking or biking distance of downtown. Harvesting the Winds of Change was made possible by donations to WAC’s Ghost Light Recovery Fund, which is in effect during the pandemic. For more info, visit waltonartscenter.org.
BUTTERFIELD LIFE
NOV + DEC 2020 17
