Five Points gets spruced up with new 100-foot-long mural

October 27,2017

Broad Street Plaza, running between Marietta Street and the entrance to Five Points MARTA station, got a whole lot cheerier this week with the unveiling of a 600-square-foot mural.

Created by artist Ryan Coleman, Don’t Forget to Dream spans 100 feet, brightening up a formerly banal, dirty concrete wall. Coleman was selected in a competition held this past summer, which had sought designs that would relate to the “community and character” of the downtown district.

The mural was designed to, in Coleman’s words: “Bring a sense of optimism, excitement, and wonder to the viewer. Inspired by colors and forms found in early Disney animated films, and the poetic obscurity found in Abstract Expressionist painting.”

The mural is part of a larger initiative to make over the city’s largest and busiest MARTA station.

A long list of small (and not-so-small) projects have brought new life to Five Points, including a mini soccer pitch, a community garden, new lighting in Broad Street Plaza, Food Truck Fridays, and a station art program.

As south downtown booms, thanks to numerous planned development projects, the upgraded Five Points MARTA station will be a more welcoming place for riders.