The Traverse City Arts Commission (TCAC), in partnership with the Traverse City Parks and Recreation Commission, will officially unveil a new mural at Bryant Park at a ribbon cutting celebration scheduled for next week. The event marks the completion of a project that local artist Katherine Corden has been working on for more than a year.

TCAC put out a request-for-proposals last spring, seeking an artist “to install a colorful mural on the restroom building at Bryant Park.” The project is the first installment of “Art in the Park,” a new initiative between TCAC and the Parks and Recreation Commission aimed at providing “access to public art experiences in Traverse City’s parks.”

After receiving 20-plus proposals for the project, the TCAC board selected Traverse City artist Katherine Corden to paint the mural. Corden pitched a beach scene concept “painted from a perspective that appears as though you are looking through the building,” with loose brush strokes and color blocking “to complement the surrounding nature while also brightening and adding interest to the building.”

Corden’s mural, which adorns the back and sides of the Bryant Park restroom building, is now complete – a milestone TCAC and the Parks and Recreation Commission will celebrate with a ribbon cutting at Bryant at 4pm on Wednesday, October 9. The event is free and open to the public.

“When I pitched my idea for this mural, I envisioned a painting that would allow you to look through the building, making it disappear, experiencing the beach life taking place in the distance,” Corden said of the mural in a TCAC press release. “Now, if you stand in the right spot, the peninsula and horizon lines in the distance actually line up.”