Popular city basketball courts get new look

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - One of the capital city’s most popular places to play basketball has a whole new look and a lot of colors to go with it.

Wednesday, the city unveiled a new mural on the South Antelope Park basketball courts. A project that’s been years in the making.

At the beginning of September the city and a few other groups, including a nonprofit based in California, teamed up to bring new life to the courts at the intersection near Normal Boulevard and South Street.

“It was an overhaul of the courts,” said Maggie Stuckey-Ross, the director of Lincoln Parks and Recreation. “If you had been here, we had a lot of weeds growing in the cracks, the concrete was uneven.”

The nonprofit, Project Backboard, works to bring art into communities.

“Their mission is to expand art into public spaces like basketball courts all over the country,” Stuckey-Ross said. “So we actually had a team from California that traveled to Lincoln during the month of September, helped us prep the court, put the artwork on the court, and then also help with the lines.”

The mural on the courts is based on a painting called ‘Red Sea’ by an African American artist named Felrath Hines, which is also on display at the Sheldon Museum of Art on UNL’s campus.

“I think it’s an incredibly dynamic painting,” said Christian Wurst, Curator of Exhibitions at the museum. “It’s bright, you can easily see it from far away, it doesn’t have much detail. It’s just shapes and colors, and sort of planes of color.”

Sure to catch the eye, they’re some of the most-used courts in the city.

A slam dunk for all who see them and play on them.

“It just seems like a great opportunity to engage the art community in parks and recreation and really make a difference,” Stuckey-Ross said.

The mural was supposed to be unveiled in September but was delayed due to supply chain issues.

It was funded by donations raised by Public Art Lincoln.

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