Four new murals are being painted on the side of two buildings in downtown Traverse City as part of a Traverse City Arts Commission project.

The 'Union' Mural Project will feature two murals on the south side of the AT&T building at 427 South Union Street (pictured, in progress). Brooklyn-based artist Natasha Platt will be painting two murals: one piece of her own, and the other of Mexican artist and collaborator Miriam Castillo. Platt began working on the murals Saturday, and the community is invited to come by to see live art being created as she works to complete the project.

Two more murals will be going up on the side of the Dish Cafe building located at 108 South Union Street. Work on these is set to begin later in August by Traverse City artist Rebecca Howe and Michigan-based artist Amy O’Hanlon. Artists were selected through a public request-for-proposals process, with funding made possible through a grant from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs - facilitated by the Northwest Michigan Arts & Culture Network - and the Traverse City Downtown Development Authority and Public Art Trust Fund. Property owner Terry Beia gave permission to the Arts Commission to utilize his buildings for the project.

"The goal of the pilot project is twofold: One, to show unification through artistic pairings and the pieces themselves, in a current political climate that has been very divisive," says DDA Director of Community Development Katy McCain. "Two, utilize art as a placemaking mechanism on Union Street and in Old Town, to additional foot traffic, where there might not ordinarily be."