“It just really makes me proud,” Anstaett said of the project. “It brings such beauty to the community.”

Anstaett was one of about 50 people who gathered Saturday afternoon for the unveiling of the latest mural of the project, an artwork with an endangered creatures theme.

The mural, which was sponsored by the Chords and Oil artist collective, was started in late June and completed a week ago on the south side of what had been a city water reservoir near S.W. 20th and Western. It shows a variety of animals that have existed through the years in the Topeka area, some by water, others on land and still others in air.

Some of the animals on the new mural, like the woolly mammoth, haven’t been seen for centuries. Others, like the red-bellied snake and whooping crane, continue to make their home along the muddy, frequently polluted waters of the nearby Shunganunga Creek.

The latest mural joins others with Topeka themes that already have been completed on the side of the former water reservoir, which has 900 feet of wall space. To date, more than 450 feet of the gigantic white wall space has been covered with colorful murals.

The project was started in 2007 and was initiated by the Chesney Park Neighborhood Improvement Association, which wanted to instill pride in the Central Topeka community while at the same time beautifying the area and curtailing graffiti.

The project now has reached the halfway point.

Space exists for about six more murals, which will be painted as funds become available.The goal is for the project to be completed by 2012.

Artist K.T. Walsh, who has been involved in painting the murals, said ideas are solicited from the community before a group of artists comes up with a plan for a mural. Groups of volunteers then paint the murals, often sitting on scaffolding in blazing summertime heat.

Walsh said some ideas for future murals are the city’s Oakland neighborhood, “remarkable women” and the Latino tradition of Topeka.

Funding has come from a variety of sources, including the Security Benefit Group and Kansas Arts Commission, whose contributions were key to the completion of the most recent mural.

“This year, they were very important for us,” said Chesney Park Neighborhood Improvement Association president Tom Benaka. “We really appreciate them.”

The first murals were completed in the 1900 block of S.W. Western, just west across the street from the Kansas Expocentre. New ones are being painted around the corner on S.W. 20th, just west of S.W. Western. Future ones will wrap around the corner to the north in the 1900 block of S.W. Western, then along S.W. 19th just west of S.W. Western.

Previously finished murals depicted Topeka neighborhoods and community leaders. All of the murals will have Topeka themes, celebrating the city’s history and culture.

The project has been overseen by nationally known mural artist Dave Loewenstein, of Lawrence.

When completed, the mural will be the largest of its kind in Kansas and second-largest in the United States, organizers said.

Zach Snethen, 30, accompanied by his wife, Erin, 29, and son Oliver, 10 months, took an up-close look at the newest mural on Saturday afternoon.

“To take a blank wall like this and put art on it that represents the community is pretty amazing,” he said. “You can drive by it, but it’s really good to stop and study it, because they really do have aspects of the entire community on the wall.”

By Phil Anderson for The Capital-Journal

You may know that I am a founding member of Chords and Oil, so my choice was a bit selfish.  The community garden was an idea that many of us in the group had some months ago about affecting real lasting change in our community and I’m proud to announce we went through with it-unlike so many good ideas that are born of impassioned conversation and quickly die from the reality of the work it takes to make them materialize.

My friend and fellow founder of the group, Ashley Laird was responsible for finding us the land and helping to coordinate with the Chesney Park Neighborhood Improvement Association .  She has also guided much of the work done thus far.  Before this weekend, it had been a project supported by a few community activists.  Today, it is something larger.  The neighborhood opened their doors, came outside and got involved.  We got many smiles and waves from the folks driving by.  When I would tell people what we were up to their eyes lit up.  The excitement of taking a blighted corner and turning it into something productive was contagious.

But this is bigger than a singular weekend of community spirit.  Over the last few months I have become more and more interested in how we fix our communities.  The fix, as I see it, is easy.  We teach each other how to be communities again.  This garden is about feeding a neighborhood.  It is about showing others how to feed themselves including those that started the garden.

If we, as Kansans, are to survive and prosper in this world we live in we must start turning our focus back home.  We must look to what we eat, what we grow, what we produce, who our neighbors are, what their hardships are and how we can change.  Food is a good first step.  It feeds the soul.  It feeds the body.  And when it’s produced by community hands, it feeds the spirit.

My new focus has become how we can look at the resources that are available to us and make them produce returns that make us more reliant on ourselves.  In these caustic political times my advice to my friends is to look at your neighborhood, look at your city and look at your state.  These are things we can fix.  I cannot make President Obama do what I want.  I cannot make Glenn Beck be rational.  But I can make a difference with my hands, my muscles and my sweat in the place I call home.  These are brave and amazing times and we must harness what works without neglecting the most simple of ideas.

By Chad Manspeaker for Forward Kansas.

Chords and Oil and the Chesney Park NIA have been working together the past several months to establish a community garden, from which the produce goes to neighborhood residents.  The goals of this garden project are to foster a greater sense of community while promoting healthy eating.  Topeka can be a much better place to live when all of its residents come together for the betterment of the community.

Chords and Oil (C &O) has been active in Topeka, KS since its formation less than a year ago working to improve our community using artistic creativity as a common, underlying thread to achieve progressive goals.  These young professionals strive to: improve Topeka’s image, educate the public on art and community-building topics, work with schools to educate students, provide a greater number of quality options for connecting people socially and revitalize the downtown area.   The community garden represents only one public service initiative that Chords and Oil has taken on during the short time the collective has existed.

Here are some other examples of C & O’s dedication to community:-Members collaborated to beautify and re-vitalize neighborhoods by painting murals on the outer walls of  old buildings.

-In collaboration with ARTSConnect, oh!mr., Topeka Metropolitan Transit Authority (TMTA), Heartland Visioning, and the Heartland Healthy Neighborhoods group, Chords and Oil brought about the Metropolitan Murals project.  This was kicked off at the TMTA’s downtown station where artists painted panels to replace some of the square glass panels that comprised the central bus loading zone.  Metropolitan Murals will provide the opportunity for artists with volunteer groups to replace panels with art on bus waiting stations all around town.

-Members have guided and educated many students in camps and schools, sponsoring artistic initiatives for them while promoting diversity and unity.

-Organized and promoted many art shows highlighting the music, film, painting, drawing, poetry, photography, body art, and other media of local artists while promoting local businesses and aiming to re-vitalize downtown Topeka.

While working in the Chesney Park garden on Saturday, many neighbors stopped by excited about the improvements taking place in their neighborhood, and some even pitched in. Chords and Oil is helping to get the project started, and when the neighbors take it over for themselves a new garden will be started in another neighborhood.  It was a very productive morning and afternoon. We cleared huge amounts of brush, trimmed back overgrown trees, mowed the lots, edged the sidewalks, established a compost pile, maintained the existing garden, expanded the hand-tilled area of the garden, planted day lilies, irises, grasses, and other perennials, and created a circular, hand-tilled plot bordered by large limestone pieces donated by a neighbor.  ”This is what community looks like,” said Chad Manspeaker while clearing brush.

Our project on Saturday coincided with many community service events in Kansas and across the nation. Democrats Work has served to bring Democrats and community members together on a vast number of  occasions all across the country to put their “values into action.”  When everybody in a community chips in to make improvements, the entire community benefits across the board and not just the Chamber of Commerce.  As Forward Kansas previously reported, the Topeka service project was just one of many in our area.

The primary organizer of the Topeka event bringing together C & O and the Shawnee County Democrats was Chad Manspeaker, who is also one of the founding Chords and Oil members.  Chords and Oil leaders Karl Fundenberger, Ashley Laird and Justin Marable were part of this extraordinary effort, as were Kansas Democratic Party Executive Director Kenny Johnston and Kansas Young Democrats President Colin Curtis.

Republished from ForwardKansas.

The Dems cut down brush, mowed, cut back weeds, pulled weeds from the existing plot, planted a new flower bed, and started a compost pile.

Neighbors came out with mowers and rakes to help the effort.

Facebook photo Gallery

That means this Saturday, the garden will see dozens of able-bodied volunteers with tools and willpower!

Also, Doug Jones will be bringing daylilies, irises, grasses, and other perennials for us to plant.

So, if you’d like to be a part of it, come on out.

Lots to do! Hope you can join us any time from 9-11 a.m.

Join the event on Facebook.

(also published on Forward Kansas)

Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, radishes, spinach. We’ll be making some wicked-good salads in about 90 days.

Maybe we’ll landscape the garden – complete with xeriscaping, pathways between the plots, native wildflowers, and rainwater collection.

We have also updated the Gourds & Soil Google Map to include all of Topeka’s community gardens.  If you know of another, let us know!

View Gourds & Soil in a larger map

Republished from the TSCPL blog.

We’re really excited!  We have three lots at that corner — there is so much potential.  What if we had an urban community farm, complete with chickens and goats? Or a greenhouse? Or an orchard?

If you’ve got more ideas for us, share them in the comments section!

Dale Cushinberry has agreed to let us use his plot at 19th & Fillmore to plant a community garden. In the morning on Saturday, August 15, we’ll be digging a 100 square-foot patch. We’ll be back on Saturday, the 29th, to plant.

If you’re around the neighborhood on either of those days, we could use some help digging and planting — and it will be a great family event.

We’ll be planting:

We may be looking for donations of plants, seeds, soil, and other items. Please have a look at our garden plan here (1.3MB PDF). ]]> http://www.chordsandoil.org/2009/08/14/were-starting-a-community-garden/feed/ 1