Bay Ridge residents gathered for the official unveiling of the new ‘Welcome to Bay Ridge’ mural on 86th Street. The mural, created by local artist Michael McLeer, known as Mr. Kaves, celebrates prominent neighborhood figures and the area’s cultural heritage.
Photos by Arthur de Gaeta
Bay Ridge residents officially welcomed the neighborhood’s newest street mural with a ribbon cutting and plaque unveiling on Wednesday.
The “Welcome to Bay Ridge” mural on 86th Street, near the corner of Gatling Place, memorializes some of the neighborhood’s most prominent figures, including Albert King, Chef Rawia of Tanoreen, Chuck Connors, John Travolta and Karen Lynn Gorney, Pee Wee Reese, and Lordz of Brooklyn, in a fresh and vibrant way.
Michael McLeer, the artist known locally as Mr. Kaves and the mastermind behind the piece, credits his Bay Ridge upbringing as the inspiration for the mural.
“My grandmother grew up here. Bay Ridge has always been an inspiration for me as a child. I fell in love with the Verrazzano Bridge. It became a beacon of hope for us as kids,” he said. “I picked up a spray can and found a voice; it all happened in Bay Ridge.”
Kaves and the other supporting artists wanted to honor various parts of Brooklyn culture and couldn’t do so without including nods to aspects that put Brooklyn on the map, like the film “Saturday Night Fever” and former sports giants, the Brooklyn Dodgers.
“My work is all about the landscape of Brooklyn and the struggle. In that struggle, we made something beautiful and that’s how I look at the mural,” he told Brooklyn Paper. “It’s a celebration of Bay Ridge — past, present and future.”
Community members, including Council Member Justin Brannan and former NBA player Albert King, who is featured in the graffiti, welcomed the mural with open arms on Wednesday.
Kaves said the warm reception fuels his plans to introduce more celebratory murals in Bay Ridge in the future.
Brannan, the Brooklyn Nets, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and Services, and Thrive Collective, a project-based arts group, teamed up in support of the project and helped it come to fruition.
Other designers behind the mural included collaborators Donna McLeer and Bella Kozyreva, and contributing artists Adam McLeer, Pelumi Khadijat Ayeni, Andrea Amanda and Anthony Cozzolino.
Kaves may have led the project, but all agreed: it’s the Bay Ridge neighborhood that benefits most from this celebration of local history.
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