Tapestry murals go up in downtown Lakeland

LAKELAND (FOX 13) - Sixty-five murals, painted on canvas, are going up around downtown Lakeland; on the walls of businesses, restaurants, and boutiques.

The exhibition is called “Tapestries” and is the brainchild of well-known Lakeland artist David Collins.

“In each one that we put up, that’s the way I envisioned it,” Collins told FOX 13. “But now it’s actually happening.”

On Wednesday, Collins and crew hung a mural of a chimp wearing earphones across from 1026 So Flo Boutique and Gifts, on South Florida Avenue.

“He is cute,” commented Christine Boring, who works at the shop. “I think people are going to enjoy driving by and walking by and seeing that.”

Another mural - a seemingly 3-D dinosaur being held to a surface by tape - went up on the wall of Nathan’s Men’s Store on Kentucky Avenue.

Across the street, a painting of a mom, dad, brother and sister with the word “family,” in English and Spanish, was hung on the side of Harry’s Restaurant.

Along with presumably bringing more folks into area businesses, "Tapestries" is an effort to brand Lakeland as cooler than many people may think.

“It makes Lakeland a unique place that always has fun new things to explore,” said Julie Townsend, executive director of the Lakeland Downtown Development Authority.

The murals will hang for one year. After that, Collins plans to take the show to other communities that don’t have any murals.

“There is so much good art here,” he commented.

Weather permitting, all the murals are expected to be up by the end of the week. When they are, there will be an interactive Google map so that people can find them.

You will be able to access the map by going to DowntownLKLD.com.