By Justin Markofski
Northside Planning Council

As if FEED Kitchens wasn’t exciting enough with all the delicious food and diverse aromas coming out of the building, all the stories of social impact and enhanced equity via entrepreneurship, all the job creation and training and yummy baked goods via FEED Bakery and all the food recovered and redistributed via Health Food for All, now it is also home to “The Northside Counts” public art mural installed May 8. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s time to walk, bike or otherwise cruise down North Sherman Avenue to the Northgate Shopping Center and have a look for yourself; Hint: Look for all the food carts in the FEED Kitchens parking lot, you can’t miss it. We want to celebrate and share this community art story.

In 2020, the Northside Planning Council (NPC) partnered with the City of Madison to commission these murals for the 2020 census. The panels feature 28 portraits of people of different ages and ethnicities, representing the diversity and beauty of the Northside community. The art project was created by DAMA (then Dane Arts Mural Arts and now known as Developing Artists, Murals & Alliances). DAMA’s website, damawi.org, features a 2½ minute video by Emida Roller showing the creation of the art under “Recent Projects.” The video depicts how over 55 community members and artists collaborated to bring this mural to life.

After its creation, the art was ready for showtime except pandemic restrictions suddenly sidelined the project and the art was tucked away for a time. Fast forward and here we are in 2023, with the art murals rediscovered, the project recovered and the art hanging for all to see. A big thanks goes to Tara Endres of Sign Art Studio and her team in Mount Horeb who chose to donate their time and expertise to install the art for free. Amazing.

Sign Art Studio joins the list of other collaborators that include the City of Madison, La Follette High School and MMSD, Warner Park Community Recreation Center, Hallman Lindsay Paints, DAMA and, of course, NPC.

So, as you can see, this has truly been a collaborative and community process and we are glad to celebrate and display the outcome for the whole Northside. Enjoy the art and thanks to all who had a part in this project through its history.