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"Downtown Cats" Mural Dedication

30 Live Views 2 In Crowd Big Cats Take Over the Downtown Canton Ohio Arts District

The latest piece of public art in the Canton Ohio Arts District is is a four panel mural created by Artist BZTAT, (AKA Vicki Boatright) that hangs on a brick building at 201 Fifth St. NW… Big Cats Take Over the Downtown Canton Ohio Arts District

The latest piece of public art in the Canton Ohio Arts District is is a four panel mural created by Artist BZTAT, (AKA Vicki Boatright) that hangs on a brick building at 201 Fifth St. NW Canton.

The “Downtown Cats” mural will be officially dedicated during the First Friday festivities on August 6, 2010 at 7:30 pm, and will be broadcast live here on USTREAM.

The large scale mural depicts four felines who actually live in downtown Canton, OH. The cats named Noah, Slick, Who, and Brewskie Butt are the companions of the artist, who owns BZTAT Studios on Fourth Street in the Canton Arts District.

Speakers including: ArtsinStark President and C.E.O. Robb Hankins, Tim Belden, owner of the Joseph Saxton Gallery of Photography, and BZTAT will dedicate the mural to an audience filled with cats and dogs as well as human participants.

Pets available for adoption from Friends of the Pound and Second Chance for Animals, Inc. will be present to celebrate the event, and to hopefully find loving homes.


The mural was sponsored by the Timothy S. Belden Charitable Fund and was coordinated through ArtsinStark, the County Arts Council. http://www.artsinstark.com/

Vicki Boatright, known as “BZTAT” (pronounced bee-zee-tat), specializes in whimsical drawings, paintings and prints of cats, dogs and other companion animals. She creates colorful customized pet portraits, which are unique in their original contemporary style and are collected by people around the world. She creates murals that follow pet motifs and other themes.

Vicki uses the name BZTAT in homage to a feline companion of that name who was with her for 19 years. You can learn more about the artist and view her artwork at http://bztat.com/

Attendees for the Dedication will each receive a commemorative bookmark. Those who cannot attend but would like to watch online can view a live broadcast of the event on U-Stream. Tune in at 7:30 pm at:

Date: Friday, August 6, 2010
Time: 7:30 pm More