Kroger selects artist for Euclid murals

LexArts and Kroger announced Monday that three local artists have been commissioned for large-scale murals for the new Euclid Avenue store, which is scheduled to open in January.

An exterior mural, with a budget of $25,000, will be on the side of the building facing Marquis Avenue. The two additional murals, with budgets of $10,000 each, will be in a seating area and the produce area.

LexArts issued a call to artists that resulted in more than 50 submissions. Kroger's selection committee included local arts and community leaders, and neighborhood representatives. Committee members included architect and neighborhood advocate Graham Pohl, Urban County Council member and Farmer's Jewelry owner Bill Farmer, Art Museum at the University of Kentucky executive director Stuart Horodner, West Sixth Brewery owner Ben Self, artist and art educator Georgia Henkel, Bryan Station High School student Ella Hellmuth, and LexArts community arts manager Nathan Zamarron.

The committee selected John Lackey of Homegrown Press for the exterior mural, and UK associate architecture professor Liz Swanson and BroCoLoco's Aaron and Jared Scales for the interior murals. All of the artists are Lexington residents.

Work on the murals, to be created on panels off-site, is to begin immediately. After the store opens, the murals are to be dedicated in a ceremony.

This story was originally published November 3, 2014 at 2:19 PM with the headline "Kroger selects artist for Euclid murals."