Ithaca's History:
Past Murals: Public Art, Come and Gone 
Everything changes and changes again.
Like everything else, murals are temporary.
This webpage is a visual memory of past murals.
🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓
​Women's Nomination Belt Mural
Painted by Brandon Lazore, Onondaga Artist, Snipe Clan
Green Street Garage, 2014-2021
"Women’s Nomination” is dedicated to all Haudenosaunee women. A silhouette of “Sky Woman” falls from Sky World. In moments, she will be caught by flying geese & put on turtle's back - “Turtle Island.” In her hands she holds roots of the 3 sisters - corn, beans, & squash. The woman in green represents Clan Mother, grandmother, elder. The woman in purple is her daughter & the baby is her daughter’s daughter. The wampum belt is the Women’s Nomination Belt which represents, among other things, the right that Haudenosaunee woman have to give their child a clan, to chose names of children, & to choose chiefs. Strawberries represent medicine like mother’s love is medicine to a child. The moon represents fertility & how it’s cycle plays a huge role in every woman’s life. The Sky Domes are inspired by traditional art decorating our clothing for centuries. It represents the sky world & the plants that were given to us - corn, beans, squash, & tobacco.
VIDEO: Brandon Lazore painting a detail of the mural. 
​MUSIC: Seneca Women's Dance recorded by Indian Country Today.
☁️ 🐴 🎩 🌂 🇫🇷 🐺 🕰 🎻 🎈 🕊 ☁️
Mural on the Green Street Garage
by Amir Roti (2011)
In 2011, French artist Amir Roti arrived into town & painted this curved wall in front of City Hall - across from the Tompkins County Public Library. After 4 days of ladder-work, the Downtown Ithaca Alliance rented a lift for 3 additional days for Amir to paint above the stairwell. 
En 2011, l’ artiste français Amir Roti est arrivé en ville et a peint ce arrondi en face de la Mairie et de la bibliothèque Tompkins. Après quatre jours de travail à l échelle la Downtown Ithaca Alliance a loué une nacelle pour trois jours afin que Amir puisse peindre au dessus des escaliers suspendus.
Instagram: @amir_roti
Facebook: Amir Roti
amir.rottti@gmail.com​
“LOVE CONQUERS ALL” 2015 mural by Sean Chilson 💗 Video with his son Jasper 💕 Recording memories before the Green Street Garage is demolished this month!
Instagram: @seanchilson
Food for Life
Food for Profit
Food for Thought
Mural painted by Dan Burgevin in 2003-4 and organized by Christine Barksdale.  It was on the side of P&C grocery on Hancock St. The P&C closed and Neighborhood Pride moved in for a short time before also closing. On March 3, 2016 the building was bulldozed. The good news is that this location is home to wonderful new INHS housing. 
These aren't great photos.  Please send pics if you have any!
Mural painted in 2007 by Ryder Henry (and Tina & Dan?) on the old Running Store at the corner of MLK and Geneva.  The Running Store moved to the Commons in 2009 and the owner of Capital Corner (which moved into the spot) didn't like the mural so she had it painted over.
2016 Porchfest Mural
​by Nina Widger
Despite being painted with fancy street paint, this one faded within a year and then got paved over in 2019.
October 28, 1977: “Artist David Finn toasts to the completion of his mural on the back of the Strand Theatre.”

The mural on the back of the building faced Seneca St & front faced E. Martin Luther King Jr St. (where Canopy Hilton is now).

​The building was demolished in the late 1980s.
Other murals you won't find in Ithaca anymore, but you might see on this webpage soon...
  • Jay Stooks, Eder Muniz, and Safety First artwork on the old library
  • Streets Alive Intersection by Sean Chilson
  • Commons construction barriers organized by the Downtown Ithaca Alliance
  • Arlo Chapple's monster box that disappeared from Aurora & Hillview
  • Box that disappeared from East MLK St & Stewart
  • Wizard of Oz box that disappeared from Cayuga & MLK 
  • Markles Flats mural by John Ewing & who else?
  • The Westy Gate
  • Jay Stooks' box that had birds on it (now has fists)
  • Various graffiti from around Ithaca (Ithaca Monster, Sandra Bland, WeMoons Army, tags, stickers, etc)
  • Pixel artwork by Michael Change & others
  • Humming Bird box by Ryan Curtis (Plain & Court) now is the Youth Farm Box
  • Harolds Square mural​
What else would you like to see on this page?