ArtsRevive to transform lot into garden

Published 4:40 pm Saturday, February 20, 2016

By Emily EnfingerThe Selma Times-Journal

On Church Street behind the old Cammak Building sits an empty lot with three walls and an open front.

Although this space may seem forgotten, ArtsRevive is planning to bring the lot back to life with the help of an old friend and Selma native.

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Originally from Selma, John Floyd has an extensive history in media, working as editor for Southern Living for 18 years. Now retired, he explores his passion of gardening through his blog, Birmingham Gardening Today.

He is working with ArtsRevive to install a garden in the open space.

“One thing about cities like Selma, you’ve got a lot of space and sometimes small spaces, especially for moms and people that live close, the small spaces really become important congregating spaces where people can visit and feel good about themselves,” Floyd said.

The garden will be in the third phase of ArtsRevive’s “The Time for Selma is Now” plan to revitalize Water Avenue.

Floyd and Arts Revive Executive Director Martha Lockett envision the space as a beautiful garden with space for art as well. The garden will include benches, trees and a fountain in the center. Floyd, however, said the main assets of the garden are the walls.

Each wall of the garden will be utilized. The left wall will display architectural fragments, both old and new, gathered from across the city. The fragments could range from stone, brickwork and ironwork to castings or old pottery.

“It would be a real collage, and we could start with a few and just add to them. So it’s not a one-time-do,” Floyd said. “It has potential to be the coolest part of the garden.”

The back wall will feature a trompe l’oeil mural, and the right wall will be painted with black chalkboard paint to be an area where people can create art with chalk.

“It becomes a park with an active focus versus just another little pocket park,” Floyd said. “There’s really nothing else, that I know of, like that in the whole Selma area.”

Other than the fountain, the garden will be constructed with local materials — everything from the gravel to the plants. “It’s truly going to be a Selma experience,” Floyd said.

He believes having the garden composed of mostly local elements will help extract a certain pride from the city.

“This will really show the beauty of a lot of things done in Selma,” he said.

For more information about the Cammak Garden, visit thetimeforselmaisnow.org.