“Pursuing Good Together” is a phrase we borrowed from our friends at Third Way Cafe, the mural site (3058 West Broad Street). Third Way Cafe co-owner Tim Rush was kind enough to let us use it, as it’s the perfect fit for what we were looking for. In fact, it was while meeting with Tim at Third Way Cafe to discuss mural plans that the phrase just hit us – we had been struggling for the right words for our theme, and there it was before us, quite literally!

This theme was a result of the many challenges we faced as a society during 2020. Rather than focus on what divides us, we wanted to focus on mending our social fabric, and how we can bring people together again, especially among people who don’t see eye-to-eye. It reflects our desire for collaboration, for unity, for equality, and for working together to solve problems big and small.

In that spirit, we encouraged collaboration among mural applicants for our 2021 mural. We were blown away by the response from the Columbus arts community! We received so many amazing concepts from so many talented artists. After some really difficult decisions, we selected the team of Lucie Shearer, Marcus Billingsley, and Thom Glick and we couldn’t be more pleased with the result. Their mural is stunning, and includes each artist’s style in a subtle, seamless fashion (fitting, given how effortlessly they worked together as a team).

Their design features three people of different colors (literally – green, purple, and orange) engaged in conversation while sharing food and drink. What we love about this is its simplicity – whether it’s three friends, or three people who don’t agree on anything, it’s about people coming together to engage with one another on a personal level, something that was sorely missing during the COVID-19 pandemic, and also often missing when it comes to the big, complicated issues of our day.

We’re honored to bring this beautiful mural to the Hilltop, and it was a pleasure to work with Lucie, Marcus, and Thom. We’re very grateful to Tim and John Rush for believing in us and allowing us to put a mural on their building. We’re also grateful to the entire Rush family for years of support of our organization.

Thanks also goes to the many volunteers who helped prepare the wall for public art, and for everyone who helped make this project a reality – there are too many to name!