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Strip District Mural Pays Homage To Pittsburgh Jazz Legends

STRIP DISTRICT (KDKA) - You may notice some new artwork the next time you're in the Strip District.

An official ribbon-cutting to unveil a new mural in the Strip District was held last night.

It's painted on the side of Art's Tavern at the corner of 29th Street and Penn Avenue.

The bright, colorful artwork celebrates the jazz legends of Pittsburgh.

"Pittsburgh was really put on the map for music with the jazz scene and we really wanted to pay homage to all the great legends that came from here," Edward Rawson said.

Moving the Lives of Kids teamed up local artists and 10 teens with the Pittsburgh Summer Youth Employment Program to do all the work.

The project took about five weeks.

"It was really cool because some were really into art and some of them were sort of apprehensive at first, but after going through the curriculum, working with the artists, they got a lot of confidence. They all really chipped in," Rawson said.

"I helped with the composition and the design and I spent a lot of time on the scaffolding. I painted all the figures, the kids helped out with a lot of the other detail work," lead artist Berry Breene said.

In addition to the large mural, each teen painted one of the posts on the sidewalk.

Each contributed their very own mural within a mural.

"The fact that they make the City of Pittsburgh pop out more as a city, it makes more people want to come to the city and enjoy the history behind it," Charles Kirksey said.

Moving the Lives of Children has painted 250 murals in Allegheny County over the past 10 years.

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