ROSEMARY CLOONEY, RENOWNED SINGER AND ACTRESS, CHOSEN FOR

ARTWORKS’ NEXT LEGENDS MURAL BY CINCINNATI ENQUIRER READERS

Sharpshooter Annie Oakley will also be honored in the Legends Mural Series

Cincinnati, OH, April 26, 2016… Today, ArtWorks’ Executive Director Tamara Harkavy announced that Rosemary Clooney, the celebrated singer and actress who began her career in Cincinnati, was the winner of the contest hosted by the Cincinnati Enquirer to choose the subject of the first woman to be commemorated in their Legends Murals series. The announcement was made at ArtWorks’ annual breakfast function attended by over 1,100 guests. An outsized tribute to sharpshooter sensation Annie Oakley had already been announced for ArtWorks’ 2016 murals program. The artists will be announced in May and designs for the murals will be unveiled in June. ArtWorks will have created 135 murals by the summer’s end, with 33 being realized this year.

Ms. Harkavy said, “We can’t wait to welcome these exceptional daughters of the greater Cincinnati region back into our midst with larger-than-life murals that befit their contributions to the City’s storied past and American culture. ArtWorks was delighted to partner with The Enquirer to enable the people to vote for their favorite from among five extraordinary women—historic figures with special connections to Cincinnati. Running this spring from March 28 to April 8, the contest attracted some 10,000 online votes. The murals will be completed this summer by our teen apprentices working with professional artists from the region.”

Carol Motsinger, Entertainment, Arts, and People Reporter for The Enquirer and Cincinnati.com (part of the USA TODAY Network), said, "It was an honor to create unique content about these local heroes and, with ArtWorks’ help, provide our readers a unique opportunity to influence the direction of an important public art project. Not only was it a huge success on our digital and print platforms, the partnership represents the type of journalism we prioritize: stories that educate, entertain, and engage."

Born in Maysville, KY, in 1928, Clooney broke into show business when she won a singing contest with her sister Betty and sang on Cincinnati’s WLW radio. She went on to become one of the most popular and enduring vocalists of her generation, appearing on television and in films and starring in the classic film “White Christmas” with Bing Crosby. Months before she died, she won a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002.

The mural celebrating Clooney will be located on a 3CDC property at the northeastern corner of Pleasant and Liberty Streets in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. The new mural will be within walking distance of other Legend murals and Findlay Market, Ohio’s oldest operating public market founded in 1852. The Rosemary Clooney mural is sponsored by School Outfitters.

On the slate with Rosemary Clooney were four other local luminaries with strong connections to Cincinnati, representing a diversity of accomplishments. These were:

Louise Beavers. This Cincinnati native was a ground-breaking African American actress who performed in more than 150 films in her 30-year career. Before her death in 1962, she was also a noted civil rights activist. 

Dorothy Kamenshek. Born in Norwood in 1925, this sports star was an All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player who joined the Rockford Peaches at the age of 17. She inspired Geena Davis's character in the winning 1992 film, "A League of Their Own."

Mamie Smith. This best-selling singer is believed to be the first African American artist to record blues vocals in 1920. The multi-talented Cincinnati native was also a beloved dancer, pianist, and actress before she retired from performing in 1931.

Harriet Beecher Stowe. An American abolitionist and author, Stowe moved to Cincinnati in 1832, at the age of 21. She is best known for her influential work "Uncle Tom's Cabin."

Born in Darke County, OH, Annie Oakley was one of the most famous sharpshooters of her time. Her mural will be fittingly located in the Oakley neighborhood at 3209 Madison Road, the home of Voltage Furniture, a sponsor of the project.Top of FormBottom of Form A popular celebrity who performed with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, she and others embellished her life story but it is acknowledged that, at fifteen years old, she beat her future professional sharpshooting husband in a shooting contest in suburban Cincinnati. The Enquirer has its own unusual tie to Oakley. In 1891, the newspaper reported that she had died in Buenos Aires. Ten days later, a correction read, "Miss Oakley is reported as being alive and well and completely satisfied with her obituary." She died in 1926, and is buried in Brock Cemetery north of Cincinnati. She was immortalized in Irving Berlin’s musical, “Annie Get Your Gun.”

Clooney and Oakley will join current members of the Legends series: strongman Henry Holtgrewe, “Mr. Dynamite” James Brown, and heavyweight boxing champion Ezzard Charles who was known as the “Cincinnati Cobra.”

ArtWorks

Founded in 1996, ArtWorks transforms people and places through investments in creativity. Our vision is to be the creative and economic engine that unites citizens to transform our region through public art, such as our award-winning mural program, art therapy, and creative enterprise initiatives. ArtWorks is the largest visual arts employer in the region, infusing nearly $1 million into the local economy annually. To date, ArtWorks has hired over 3,000 area youth and 2,000 professional artists, and has trained nearly 300 creative entrepreneurs. http://artworkscincinnati.org

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Media Contacts:

Libby Mark or Heather Meltzer, Bow Bridge Communications, LLC; 347-460-5566; info@bow-bridge.com

Destinee Thomas, Director of Communications, ArtWorks, (513) 333-0388; Destinee@artworkscincinnati.org