6 bird murals finished in Hamilton’s parks thanks to anonymous backer

The artworks were all funded by an anonymous benefactor.

MORE ON MURALS: Joe Nuxhall mural in Hamilton: He would have loved it, family says

Acus-Smith designed all the murals, which are in a similar style, “but each one, I’ve worked with a different assistant (who is in college) — mostly, they’re art students who have never made murals,” she said. “So it’s mostly a training process to teach them how to make murals.”

That training gives them the type of expertise they need to produce murals for the StreetSpark program, a partnership between the city of Hamilton and the Fitton Center for Creative Arts that in recent years has created several murals, including one of the late Cincinnati Reds player and broadcaster, Joe Nuxhall, a Hamilton native.

Acus-Smith hopes to provide the opportunities for fun programming, such as scavenger hunts, involving the birds.

But: “We haven’t determined any kind of details with that,” Acus-Smith said. “Definitely, we want to do that. But that won’t happen until probably next year, when it gets warm again.”

“But hopefully we can create a map this year, to help people find everything,” she said.

Hamilton Parks Conservancy Director Steve Timmer said the birds have been creating joy among people at the parks.

“We’re getting just great responses, thanking us for adding art in the parks,” Acus-Smith said. “We talked to a lot of kids, who want to know what we’re doing, and why we’re doing it, and what bird that is, so it’s been fun talking to everybody as we work.”

Eventually each artwork will have signage explaining it, and identifying the bird, “so there’ll be a learning component there,” she said.

So far, she has no plans for next year, although, “I’d like to do more — there are more parks, and more buildings, so I’d love to,” Acus-Smith said.

Here are the locations of the birds. Most are near splash pads, where children play: