Project Overview

Marion Hale Community Center | District Mural Program

UAC and the City of Memphis launched the second iteration of the District Mural Training Program in 2017 to provide mural training and professional development to seven Memphis-based artists, culminating in each artist creating their own $30,000 mural project in each of the seven Council districts. Training to support neighborhood engagement in the public art process, mural design, and installation techniques was provided in partnership with MuralArts Philadelphia in Memphis and Philadelphia following artist selection in May 2018. Each artist was paired with a site across the city including Bickford Community Center, Whitehaven Community Center, May Soccer Complex, Orange Mound Community Center, Mitchell Community Center, Raleigh Town Center, and Marion Hale Community Center.

About the Artist

Darlene Newman

Darlene Newman, Memphis, TN, is an illustrator and painter, but her work is often an offering and testimony to her faith journey.

Her joy in painting and interacting with others stems from a divinely purposeful space, in which she believes her work is a positive light in a world where its easy to find work that doesn’t seek good in difficult situations or complexity.

For Newman, her paintings are often a continual narrative of paintings she’s made prior, to tell biblical stories, personal testimony, and delve into the binary of good and evil in the world. She sees her artwork as an ongoing story of God’s love for us.