The City of Norfolk and the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority (NRHA) have partnered to transform the former Tidewater Gardens public housing community in the St. Paul’s area into a mixed-use, mixed-income community of the future – an economically vibrant, environmentally resilient place where people of all incomes, backgrounds, ages, and cultures can live, learn, work, play, and thrive.
The St. Paul’s Art Planning Committee has created a pre-qualified list of artists/artist teams to create large-scale, place-making experiences and site-responsive public art as part of the new St. Paul’s Transformation Project over the next two years.
The 1st project will be a mosaic mural designed by local artist Poetry Jackson. A call to mosaic fabricators resulted in one submission. We are currently working to get the fabricator on contract. Together, they will create Poetry’s mural design along a retaining wall at the entrance to the neighborhood.
Several additional projects are in the works. A pre-qualified list was established through a call to artists in 2024.
Members of the community weighed in and voted for their (2) favorite artist out of (4) in June of 2025.
The next two projects will be created by Blessing Hancock and Wesley Clark. These artists rose to the top of this first round of voting.
In July 2025 the community was invited to cast their vote for (4) of (5) artists who will be creating artwork. Volkan Alkanoglu, Chris Fennel, Jim Gallucci, and Zachary Robinson rose to the top of this last round of voting.
Enjoy this video with Volkan Alkanoglu.
Enjoy this video by Chris Fennel.
Enjoy this video by Jim Gallucci.
