Young Lawrence artists unveil public art in downtown garage

A downtown parking garage that many drivers use without a second look will soon become a reason to stop and stay awhile. The Lawrence Arts Center’s Hang12 youth curatorial board is preparing to unveil a new installation in the New Hampshire Street garage, turning the first level into a public display of Kansas flora and fauna, from a box turtle and salamander to a bee and sunflower.

The unveiling is set for April 28, 2026, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. It will begin with refreshments and a meet-and-greet at 4:45 p.m. in the Lawrence Arts Center lobby at 940 New Hampshire St., then move across the street to 946 New Hampshire St. for the red-ribbon reveal. Featured speakers will include Alicia Kelly, Hang12 project facilitator; Matt Godinez of the Kansas Department of Commerce; City of Lawrence Parking Services staff; and artist Mona Cliff, whose mural already anchors the same garage.

Hang12 is more than a student art club. The group is an art entrepreneurship program for Lawrence high school students, giving them hands-on experience in curation, event planning, public presentation and the practical side of bringing an art project into the community. The new work will be installed above parking stalls on the garage’s first level, placing it directly in the path of daily downtown traffic rather than behind museum walls.

The project is funded by a TAPS, or Transformative Art for Public Spaces, grant from the Kansas Department of Commerce. City parking manager Brad Harrell has said the city spends about $5,000 each year removing crude graffiti from its parking structures, and he described garages as “dark and intimidating” spaces. He also said the Mona Cliff mural has already led to a “pretty drastic reduction” in graffiti, a result downtown leaders have been eager to build on.

That broader effort is visible in the scale of the Hang12 project. Local coverage has described the installation as 32 individual markers or panels, each depicting a different animal or plant. Hang12 presented concepts based on state birds and native plants to city staff in late 2025, tying the artwork to Kansas identity as well as downtown wayfinding.

For downtown Lawrence, the project does more than add color to concrete. It gives nine young artists a public platform, reinforces the arts district feel that defines New Hampshire Street, and turns a routine parking structure into a place people may actually come to see.