The Wall Poems of Racine is an ArtRoot project in collaboration with University of Wisconsin-Parkside and other community partners. The project celebrates local literary talent by pairing an excerpt from a poem written by a Racine poet with a design created by a student from Carey Watters’ advanced graphic design class at UW-Parkside.

Each year, a poetry selection committee made up of local writers selects several poetry excerpts from Racine poets and provides them to the UW-Parkside graphic design students. Each student chooses an excerpt to incorporate into a design. Students visit the potential wall poem sites to meet the business owners, interview them about their business and ask how the design can help support their community.

Students present their initial designs to a design review committee that includes the building owners and community representatives, and the committee provides feedback to the students. Students modify their designs based on the feedback and present them a second time to the committee. The committee chooses one or two final designs based on the number of walls available that year.

The project is inspired by The Wall Poems of Charlotte in North Carolina. Unlike the Charlotte version, Racine’s project focuses exclusively on our rich and diverse local community of poets. The murals combine both visual and literary art, much like a poetry broadside.

In autumn 2021, ArtRoot collaborated with the Racine Public Library to produce the first indoor wall poem (Wall Poem #3.) This pilot project followed a somewhat different process, with a local artist selected to design and paint the wall poem.