Downtown Franklin’s Kuji Alley, where work is expected to start this month to revitalize and improve the alley, expanding the mural, adding waves and cherry blossom trees, as well as adding Japanese lanterns and a bridge to make a more interactive experience.
RYAN TRARES | DAILY JOURNAL
By the end of the year, visitors to downtown Franklin will be surrounded by the beauty of Japanese culture.
Oversized koi fish will seemingly swim under and around you. Japanese lanterns will swing above you. Cherry blossoms will bloom in a flurry of pastel glory.
What used to be a simple alley emerges as something more — a destination.
Work has started to transform downtown Franklin’s Kuji Alley into an immersive, Instagram-able attraction for visitors and residents alike. Artist Greg Potter started work this week painting oversized murals throughout the passageway, and in incremental phases, features including a 12-foot-tall metal cherry tree, hanging lanterns and a Japanese footbridge are set to be added.
“It’s going to be a very visually engaging space,” said Potter, who is part of the Franklin Public Art Advisory Commission, which focuses on enriching the city with art installations. “Projects like this make people smile. People always send me photos of other people taking photos of these murals, so it makes you feel good that people are coming here and interacting with these things.”
The Kuji Alley project has been made possible through a collaboration of local government, nonprofits and arts organizations. Spearheaded by Festival County Indiana, the renovated alley is supported by the City of Franklin Board of Works, the city’s Economic Development Commission, the Franklin Public Art Advisory Commission, the Johnson County Community Foundation and the Branigin Foundation.
“People were wowed by what we could accomplish by bringing all the partners together to complete that project,” Kosky said. “All of those folks came together to make it more than just a mural. If you don’t have the funding, you can’t bring a vision like this to fruition.”
This will be the second alley transformation launched in downtown Franklin. In late 2022, Festival County Indiana unveiled its Bicentennial Stars project in the Artcraft Alley. Two hundred multi-colored stars were strung above the alleyway, creating a perfect photo opportunity for people passing by.
The addition of blacklights in the alley make the stars glow at night.
“From a tourism perspective, we saw that the large art installations have a ‘wow’ factor. They give you more bang for your buck. They’re all over social media and get a lot of media coverage. That was the original inspiration for the Artcraft Alley with the star,” Kosky said.
With the success of the Artcraft Alley, local leaders wanted to keep the momentum going.
“We realized that having one such attraction is good, but having multiple ones is even better,” Kosky said.
As planners decided what to do, they hoped to build on the existing mural gracing the alley currently.
A group of koi fish have already been painted on the south side of the alley wall. Potter is going to use that as a starting point, adding more fish and a background to simulate waves.
“I started reading about (Kuji), and it’s a coastal town, so fishing is one of their main sources of income. So I wanted to represent the coastal region of that and give the fish a little bit of a background and design,” Potter said.
The mural will be extended to the floor of the alley, depicted as a pond pedestrians look down on from above. On the north side wall of the alley, the mural will continue with more koi fish.
“I suggested that we add a little to make it more engaging for people — create some more interaction points,” Potter said.
Once Potter’s work is done, plans are in place to install five steel arches running the length of the alley. Seventy-two Japanese lanterns will hang above the alley, each emblazoned with “Kuji” written in Japanese — a tribute to Franklin’s sister city, Kosky said.
“With these being solar powered, they’ll look great during the day, but also be really cool at night,” he said. “After a concert at the amphitheater or a show at the Artcraft, people can get a picture taken, or get a cup of coffee and enjoy the experience.”
The final aspect of the project is a replica Japanese bridge to be created in the alley. Behind it, on the north wall, a 3-D 12-feet by 12-feet metal cherry blossom tree is planned, with about 800 metal blossoms attached to the tree and 600 more blossoms mounted on the wall.
All of it will come together for a stunning visual effect, Kosky said.
“It’s a source of pride for local residents. The younger generation will get their prom or homecoming photos taken in these alleys. People will just enjoy coming downtown, getting something to eat or seeing a concert and walking through these alleys,” he said.
Work is anticipated to be done by the end of November. The mural is part of the continuing efforts for Franklin to earn the distinction as a state-recognized art district, in the same vein as Bloomington, Columbus and Carmel. Cultural districts are defined as well-recognized and identifiable mixed-use areas of a community in which cultural assets serve as the anchor.
Public art projects such as this are a key part of the campaign.
And Franklin arts officials aren’t done with alley art projects. The next focus will be improving upon the existing tribute to those who have served in the military in the Veterans Alley, located next to Elks Lodge No. 1818.
“The veterans served our country, and put their lives on the line. It’d be nice to do something really dynamic and worthy in return for what they’ve done,” Kosky said.
