Pathway To Hope Public Art Trail Project Underway In North Tulsa

Yellow walls are currently all you see when driving by this underpass on North Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Tulsa, but that will soon change.

“They’re yellow right now, but the work that’s coming is truly incredible,” said Jarica Walsh with the Oklahoma Arts Council.

Come spring of next year, the underpass will be one of 6 art pieces from Greenwood Avenue to Main Street that connects the present to the past.

The project is called the Pathway to Hope Public Art Trail, and Walsh says it’s been years in the making.

“I’m so thrilled for the public to get to experience this now,” she said.

The project will celebrate and honor the people, culture and history of Tulsa's Greenwood District.

“We assigned a curatorial theme to each of the underpasses to help guide the artists as they develop their proposals for the work,” said Walsh.

The art pieces will focus on six specific themes: creativity, resilience, vision, justice, hope, and remembrance.

Walsh says the theme on MLK Jr. Boulevard is “Vision” and will pay homage to the original developers of Greenwood. It will feature portraits of 16 Tulsa visionaries, each one a vinyl-wrapped steel panel mounted to the underpass.

“We asked the artists as they were developing the proposal to really think about the visionaries of Tulsa through the history of Greenwood, and so that’s who you will see reflected on the wall as they start to install the portraits,” Walsh said. 

Walsh hopes Tulsans feel a sense of pride once everything is complete and to inspire them to learn more. 

“What we really want is for North Tulsans but also visitors, that are coming here from across Oklahoma, from across the country to be curious," she said.