A dilapidated shopping cart return in a vacant parking lot has been replaced with a vibrant collection of public art in Cleveland’s AsiaTown district.
“For Those Who Call Here Home” is a new outdoor community space in the old Dave’s Supermarket parking lot at the corner of East 33rd Street and Payne Avenue.
Lead artist Jordan Wong partnered with the Sculpture Center and a group of local Asian American artists to transform this urban blight into colorful public art for the community.
The project is one of several funded by Cleveland’s Transformative Arts Fund and debuted in September as part of AsiaTown’s Mid-Autumn Festival.
“I have had the privilege to do several public art projects here in AsiaTown,” Wong said. “To be able to share some of the things that I grew up seeing as a kid that resonated with me … as far as cultural identity and belonging, to share that with the families and residents, especially the kids in AsiaTown, it's an honor.”
During a series of public conversations organized by urban designer Marika Shioiri-Clark, Wong heard from various community members about what could be done with the empty space and one comment stood out.
“This one parent [said] that if you build only things for adults, it really leaves out the children,” Wong said. “However, if you focus on creating things for children, it actually brings the family together and therefore unites the community.”
With that in mind, Wong and his team came up with five engaging design elements for the new space: a decorative light box, a signature archway, ping pong tables, playful seating arrangements and a trio of artistic planters.
The design of the planters was awarded to three Asian American artists with ties to AsiaTown: Lydia Guan, Nick Lee and Thao Nguyen. Each artist has a distinct style and a brilliant sense of color according to Wong.
“Thao, Lydia and Nick were incredible to work with. I knew that they would knock it out of the park,” Wong said.
Guan’s planter honors her mother’s Cantonese cooking while Nguyen’s celebrates the spirit of first-generation Americans with a flock of colorful birds.
Lee uses Japanese iconography of tigers and daruma dolls for his planter, located near where the old shopping corral used to be.
“I love the culture in AsiaTown and the history, and I think it's important that we get back to our community within Cleveland,” Lee said. “We really wanted to revamp the space and to make it more welcoming and friendly to our local community.”
After a year and a half of planning, the Sculpture Center's Executive Director Grace Chin said she’s happy people are using the space as organizers had intended.
“My hope is that this space will become a permanent park and that this asphalt will be replaced by more naturescape and green space,” Chin said.
