Page last updated on May 27, 2025 at 5:54 pm
About Bloomington's Public Art Program
The City of Bloomington takes an active role in supporting opportunities for its citizens to experience public art and other projects resulting from the creative expression of artists in public places of the City. Public art enriches individual and collective lives and promotes community awareness and understanding of the visual arts. In order to sustain Bloomington's economic and cultural vibrancy, the City supports public art and those who make it possible.
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Current Projects
McDoel Blooms by Rachel Kavathe
The City of Bloomington is excited to announce the installation of a new street mural, set to be painted at the intersection of Allen and Fairview Streets in the McDoel Gardens neighborhood. The mural will be installed directly on the asphalt and include a community paint day- where residents are invited to help paint alongside the artist. Designed by local mixed media sculpture artist Rachel Kavathe, the mural is focused on the identity and history of the neighborhood, emphasizing the shared values of the residents.
City of Bloomington Invites Volunteers to Help Paint McDoel Gardens Street Mural
The City of Bloomington invites residents to take part in a community paint day for a new street mural at the intersection of Allen and Fairview Streets in the McDoel Gardens neighborhood. Designed by Bloomington-based artist Rachel Kavathe, the mural celebrates the neighborhood’s identity, history, and values through vibrant floral imagery inspired by community input.
The mural will be painted directly on the asphalt during a Community Paint Day on Saturday, June 14, from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Up to 30 volunteers may sign up to participate in 90-minute shifts throughout the day.
Paint, brushes, and all materials will be provided. The artist will be present to guide the process—no prior experience is needed. Volunteers of all ages are welcome. However, pre-registration is required; walk-up participants will not be permitted.
The event is free and open to the public. Participants must register and sign a waiver ahead of time, as walk-ups will not be permitted on the day of the event. Families, youth groups, and individuals are encouraged to sign up. To register, visit bton.in/J8Com.
In the event of inclement weather, the event will be rescheduled for Saturday, June 21.
Artist Bio
Rachel Kavathe is an artist, landscape architect and urban designer located in Bloomington, Indiana. Her artwork focuses on our connections to the natural environment and sense of place.
For her site-specific work, she engages communities in the artwork process to spark a dialog about cultural understanding of nature and explores connection to the land and to community. She uses a range of materials to realize the vision, depending upon the site context and community discussions. After decades of experience as an urban designer, city planner, and landscape architect, Rachel is skilled at leading teams of community leaders, activists, and design professionals to realize an artistic vision.
"During my time living in Bloomington, I have gotten to know the McDoel Gardens neighborhood from its welcoming community, historic architecture, and beautiful flower gardens. To me, the gardens represent the residents’ ongoing care and cultivation of their community. These gardens are an important representation of the spirit of this community. I have been told that the gardens are not a recent development, but have been a part of the community for many generations. Showcasing some commonly seen garden flowers in my mural design is intended to further communicate to visitors that this neighborhood is loved, cared for, and continuing to thrive.
Most of the homes in the neighborhood were built in the early 1900s, with a significant number of homes built in the 1920s and early 1930s. This was also the time of the art deco movement in American culture. For this artwork, I took inspiration from art deco floral motifs to celebrate the time when much of the neighborhood was built.
The flowers represented in the design are ones that are commonly seen in the neighborhood today, and have a long history of being present in the region. Flowers were selected because of their beautiful colors and forms, but also to highlight the importance of these gardens to our area pollinators and wildlife. Many neighborhood residents also weighed in on the design during the summer of 2024, which led to the final flower selection. Flowers chosen for the mural at the intersection of Allen and Fairview are blue flag iris, coreopsis, and coneflower. Flowers selected for the sidewalk stencil designs are peony, iris, and clover. Stencil designs will be located on sidewalks near major intersections throughout the McDoel Gardens Neighborhood." - Rachel Kavathe, Street Mural Description
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New Projects
OT 987 by Stefan Reiss
OT 987 is an interactive artwork that closes the gap between modern technology and the history of sculpture. The piece features beams painted according to Reiss’s color alphabet that are arranged in intersecting triangular forms varying in height. Each beam contains LED lights programmed in sequences that vary over time and fill the surrounding area with dynamic color.
OT 987 is part of the City’s One Percent for the Arts Ordinance, which states that city capital projects shall include an amount not less than one percent of the city's contribution to the estimated construction costs of the project for public art. OT 987 was selected from over 70 applicants who responded to an international request for qualifications (RFQ) for a work of art in the Trades District. Reiss’s artwork was selected after a four-week public comment period during which the selection review panel collected over 350 comments about work proposed by five finalists.
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Permanent Collection
*Stay tuned as we develop this page!*
The City of Bloomington has a permanent collection of public art on exhibit in City Hall and throughout the community.