Mike Howard to do mural for Artbeat 2016

It is going to be one really big postcard.

Renowned artist Mike Howard is going to paint a 10 feet x 20 feet mural which will eventually be located on the side of the Banks Building on Bay Avenue next to WhiteWater Express.

“It is going to be fun,” Howard said of the work in which art students from Brookstone School, Hardaway High School and Aaron Cohn Middle School will assist.

The mural is just one of the projects connected with Artbeat 2016, a community celebration of the arts that had its kickoff Monday.

“We will have 45 events over two weeks,” said chairman Rick McKnight.

Howard, a Phenix City native, who has had shows in places such as the High Museum in Atlanta and Whitney Museum Art Resource Center in New York City, said the mural will resemble a postcard featuring a Chattahoochee River scene complete with dam, rafters and zip line.

“It will say ‘Greetings from Columbus’ and I hope people will want to have a photo taken with it,” he said.

Monday, a sculpture, Slanted #3 by celebrated artist Ida Kohlmeyer, was introduced to the public on the corner of 10^th Street and Broadway.

The work of abstract art by Kohlmeyer, who died in 1997, is on loan from the collection of the Columbus Museum. Kohlmeyer’s work can be seen in the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

And there will plenty of fun Saturday morning with Artbeat 2016 adding something extra to Uptown Market Days, which features about 150 vendors selling home goods, jewelry and produce. An Artbeat 2016 event, the “Strut the Hooch” comedy parade, featuring local people wearing wacky outfits, will begin at 9:30 a.m.

Also, Gallery on 10^th will have an “Avenue of Artists.” Area artists will be painting, their easels lined up on the sidewalk along 10^th Street near Broadway. Refreshments will be served at the gallery.

In “Art for Everyone,” Columbus State University and the Columbus Museum will give people a chance to create 3-D paper sculptures.

On Saturday and Sunday, the National Civil War Naval Museum, will have its RiverBlast with live entertainment, cutlass drills, black powders weapons demonstrations and more.

For more information on events, visit www.artbeatcolumbus.org or go to Artbeat Columbus on Facebook.

This story was originally published March 28, 2016 at 4:34 PM with the headline "Mike Howard to do mural for Artbeat 2016."