Cumberland Dispatch

It was two years in the making, but the Allegheny Arts Council came up with the resources to now have construction of a major piece of public outdoor art in the city of Cumberland. The $40,000 mural on the brick exterior of the CBiz building is an abstract piece by era artist Kay Wharton.

A very enthusiastic John Buchanan, of CBIZ, signed an art easement to allow the arts council to fund and install the mural on their building.

“So we wanted to have a large abstract piece that represented the city of Cumberland,” said   “Kat Wharton, the artist, is a local artist and arts educator, and her design uses subtle references to the city, then using geometric shapes that resemble kind of a map.”

The mural is designed to represent the historic city of Cumberland between the Potomac River, and the mountains.

“If you look at the what’s going up on the wall right now, all of that blue, when you look at the maps, it looks like an abstract version of that,” said. 

Wharton was chosen from 14 artists who submitted proposals for the mural. The last stages of installation have had her on the ground at the corner of Baltimore and Mechanic streets in Cumberland to oversee the installation of tiles by contractors.

The final additions to the mural are expected to be stained glass additions, representing the multiple churches that adorn the surrounding elevations of the city, with their spires reaching up toward the heavens. They may be the “cherry on top” of the installation, recognized.

“I think that this mural at the kind of the beginning of the street really just brings more attention to this already gorgeous downtown that we have,” said.

It is hoped the mural will be fully installed by Friday, August 7. A public dedication is expected within about a month.