Public & Community Mural Artist

Community Participation

A community mural is a professionally planned public artwork that reflects the people, history, culture, or identity of a place and can include opportunities for community members to participate in its creation.

Banks can incorporate residents, students, children, volunteers, and community organizations into the mural process when participation is appropriate for the project.

He has organized community paint days, youth workshops, and collaborative mural projects where participants paint designated portions of a professionally designed mural. Banks establishes the overall design, prepares the artwork for participation, guides volunteers through the painting process, and completes or refines the mural afterward.

This approach allows people of different ages and artistic experience levels to contribute directly to permanent public artwork while maintaining a cohesive professional finished piece.

Community participation can be incorporated into projects for cities, schools, nonprofits, civic organizations, downtown districts, festivals, and other community partners.

Community Paint Days

Banks can organize community paint days as part of a larger public mural project.

Before the event, the mural is professionally designed and prepared so participants can work within designated areas under Banks' direction. Depending on the project, community members may help paint colors, patterns, imagery, or other selected portions of the artwork.

After the community painting portion is complete, Banks finishes and refines the mural as needed.

Community paint days can provide residents with a tangible connection to a public artwork by allowing them to say, “I helped paint that.”

Youth & Student Participation

Children and students can participate in mural projects when the site, project structure, and organization make participation appropriate.

Banks has worked with young people through schools, community programs, and organizations including Strickland Youth Center in Mobile, where youth contributed original artwork and painted elements that were preserved within permanent finished murals.

Youth participation can take different forms depending on the project, including painting, drawing, collage, workshops, brainstorming, research, or contributing imagery and ideas to the final artwork.

The level of participation can be adapted to the age of the students, size of the group, location, and educational goals of the organization.

Murals Inspired by Local History & Culture

Public murals can incorporate local history, landmarks, architecture, wildlife, cultural traditions, historic figures, community stories, and other imagery connected to a specific place.

Research is often an important part of Banks' design process. Historical photographs, archives, community input, local organizations, and conversations with project stakeholders can help shape the imagery included in a mural.

Projects throughout Alabama have incorporated subjects ranging from railroad and aviation history to local landscapes, agriculture, architecture, wildlife, music, and community traditions.

Rather than applying the same imagery to different communities, Banks develops site-specific artwork intended to feel connected to the place where it will permanently exist.

Public Art for Cities & Municipalities

Banks works with cities, municipalities, public agencies, civic organizations, downtown programs, and other community partners to create permanent public artwork.

Municipal mural projects can transform downtown buildings, parks, public facilities, community centers, infrastructure, and other highly visible spaces while helping communicate the history and identity of a community.

For public projects involving multiple stakeholders, Banks can collaborate with municipal staff, arts organizations, committees, property owners, historians, community representatives, and other project partners throughout the research and design process.

Public Art for Tourism & Placemaking

Banks also works with tourism organizations, destination properties, chambers, downtown organizations, and communities to create murals designed around tourism and placemaking.

Murals can transform overlooked walls into recognizable destinations while giving residents and visitors another reason to explore a downtown district, attraction, park, or public space.

Projects can incorporate recognizable landmarks, local history, interactive elements, large-scale lettering, and photo opportunities that encourage visitors to stop, interact with the artwork, photograph their experience, and share the location online.

Banks' Foley Photo Mural at Downtown OWA, for example, was designed as a photo destination incorporating Foley landmarks, railroad and aviation history, Alabama camellias, and large “Foley Alabama” lettering where visitors can photograph themselves beneath the artwork.

The goal is not simply to create a colorful wall, but to create artwork that contributes to the identity, experience, and sense of place surrounding it.

Grant-Funded Public Art Projects

Public and community murals can be funded through arts grants, although eligibility and funding opportunities depend on the organization, location, and specific project.

Banks has experience working on grant-supported public art. The Strickland Youth Center Courtroom Mural and Children's Gallery Project in Mobile received a $7,000 grant from the Alabama State Council on the Arts to support a project combining permanent public artwork with youth participation.

Cities, nonprofits, schools, arts organizations, and other eligible organizations may be able to pursue local, state, federal, foundation, or private funding for public art and community-engagement projects.

Banks can provide project descriptions, artwork concepts, budgets, timelines, images, artist information, and other materials about the proposed mural when those materials are needed to support a client's grant application.

Public Mural Projects Can Include

• Downtown and municipal murals

• Community murals

• Tourism and destination murals

• Public art installations

• Community paint days

• Youth and student participation

• Historic and cultural murals

• Interactive photo murals

• Parks and recreation artwork

• Nonprofit and civic projects

• Educational murals

• Large-scale exterior murals

From Concept to Completed Mural

Banks can manage a public mural project from initial concept through completed installation.

Depending on the scope, the process can include site evaluation, research, stakeholder conversations, original design, renderings, revisions and approval, surface preparation, materials, equipment coordination, painting, community participation, and final protective coatings.

For city and community projects, designs can be developed in collaboration with municipal staff, committees, tourism organizations, community groups, property owners, and other stakeholders while maintaining a clear artistic direction throughout the project.

Community workshops, paint days, youth participation, unveiling events, and other engagement opportunities can also be incorporated into the project when appropriate.

About Banks Compton

Banks Compton is an Alabama mural artist and public artist based in Foley, Alabama. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), he creates large-scale, site-specific murals and public artwork throughout Alabama and across the United States.

His work combines local history, culture, nature, storytelling, community engagement, and site-specific design to create artwork connected to the people and places it represents.

Banks' public art experience includes projects for cities, tourism destinations, schools, libraries, courts, nonprofits, businesses, civic organizations, and other public and community spaces.

He travels throughout Alabama and beyond for public and community mural projects.