A BELOVED MURAL in downtown Lake Worth Beach is about to disappear. A new work of art will replace it this summer.
For seven years, the larger-than-life painting of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has greeted passersby, tourists and photographers from the south wall of the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County building at 601 Lake Ave.
Rising 54 feet high and 36 feet wide, the colorful mural was spray painted by renowned Brazilian artist Eduardo Kobra during the 2017 CANVAS mural festival. It depicts King delivering his famous “I Have A Dream” speech at the 1963 March on Washington For Jobs and Freedom.
But a protective clear coating was never applied to the finished mural. Over the years, the mural’s colors have faded from sun exposure. It has had to be retouched by local artists to remove graffiti. And last year, cracks and other damage were discovered in the facade of the historic 1940 Art Deco building.
The mural will be painted over in May to allow construction crews to repair the cracks. The new mural will come to life this summer, with a scheduled completion date of Sept. 30.
“Outdoor public art, by its very nature, is temporary. Unfortunately, the wall’s current deterioration has made it impossible to preserve,” said Dave Lawrence, the council’s president and CEO, who for the past 12 months has had to put buckets under his office window to collect rain that seeps through the cracks.
The council, a private nonprofit, reached out to Kobra about returning to Lake Worth Beach to repaint the mural, but his proposal was cost prohibitive.
“It is beyond repair,’’ said Jennifer Sullivan, the council’s senior vice president of marketing and programs.
“(Kobra) said he would need to recreate the mural. We talked to him about that. He wanted upwards of six figures and that did not include accommodations and travel for him and a large crew of people he'd bring in from Brazil.’’
For the new mural, the council plans to choose a Palm Beach County-based artist by June 28 after a screening process that will include public input. The new mural has a commission budget of $40,000. April 19 was the deadline for artists to answer a request for qualifications.
“As much as we loved having Kobra as part of our headquarters, this is an opportunity to underscore our mission to support Palm Beach County artists,’’ Sullivan said. “The artists applying are excited about the opportunity — and the opportunity to paint on a wall that Kobra painted on.’’
The theme of the new mural will “celebrate the concept of community: healing, unity, connections, wellness and/or belonging,’’ the council said on its website. Since the mural will face the council’s new outdoor Art & Wellness space, themes highlighting nature and tranquility may be given preference.
For two weeks in June, the final mural concepts will be on display at the Cultural Council for public input.
Knowing the MLK mural was so special to the community, the council hosted three public meetings, including one in the predominantly African American Osborne community, to explain why it is being removed.
It also met with the city’s MLK Steering Committee, and the council’s website has a page dedicated to the mural replacement project.
Although Lawrence has received a few emails from residents upset about the mural’s removal, overall the feedback has been generally positive, Sullivan said.
“Public art becomes part of the neighborhood. It’s an emotional reaction when they go away,’’ she said. “Even having it up for seven years is longer than the original intent. We tried to keep it up as long as we could. But as you know that's the nature of public art. It evolves over time as new murals pop up.’’
Former City Commissioner Carla Blockson said residents she has spoken to in the African American community “reluctantly” agree the mural has to be removed.
“I think they are disappointed,’’ she said, “but I also know that if they go to see the wall they will understand the problems that they have. I have seen it up close. To have the leaking on the outside and inside through the cracks, its structural integrity is at stake. It was out of the question for them to keep the same mural.’’
Blockson, whose husband serves on the MLK Steering Committee, said the Cultural Council deserves credit for being proactive with the community about the mural replacement project.
“It was not something they entered into lightly,’’ she said. “I am going to miss it. I think it's a beautiful mural. I wish that at time they’d had the foresight to seal it properly so it would last. But it’s going to require extensive repairs to not only fix the walls on the outside but on the inside.’’
On April 27 at 10 a.m., the Cultural Council will host a celebration of the MLK mural behind its Lake Avenue office, honoring the work in its final days. Posters of the mural will be given away to the first 100 attendees.
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About the author
Joe Capozzi is an award-winning reporter based in Lake Worth Beach. He spent more than 30 years writing for newspapers, mostly at The Palm Beach Post, where he wrote about the opioid scourge, invasive pythons, the birth of the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches and Palm Beach County government. For 15 years, he covered the Miami Marlins baseball team. Joe left The Post in December 2020. View all posts by Joe Capozzi.