Basketball
From ‘Slab’ to fab: Check out the mural designs coming to Pueblo’s popular hoops courts
Jazelle Bustos, Chloe Kelly, Anthony Marinucci and Tia Monson had their designs selected as part of the competition to redesign the Elizabeth Street Parkway basketball courts, 2709 N. Elizabeth St.
The courts, affectionately referred to in Pueblo as the “Slab,” began as the site of a veteran’s memorial in 1937 and emerged as the Steel City’s premier outdoor spot to shoot hoops in the 1950s.
Last summer, it was announced that Pueblo Parks and Recreation and the Colorado Lottery were teaming up to renovate the Slab with four courts featuring murals created by local artists. The four artists were announced by the city of Pueblo on July 10, and will receive $2,500 stipends from the Colorado Lottery for their artwork.
“The Slab is such an important part of our basketball community here in Pueblo, so updating the facility and incorporating art into the new courts will be an exciting new feature that brings in the next generation of basketball players,” Mike Sexton, the city’s assistant director of Parks and Recreation, said in a city news release.
Bustos is a Marymount Manhattan College alumna and artist “dedicated to community and cultural celebration,” according to a Colorado Lottery news release. Her court design features an outstretched arm, a basketball, and splashes of red, orange, yellow, greens, blues, purples, pink and brown.
Kelly’s abstract design also features an array of bright colors, a flaming basketball, the head of a basketball player and the phrase “Pueblo Slabs” in gold and blue graffiti-style lettering. She leverages her art as a “creative expression of the inspiration life offers through time, according to the city’s release.
Marinucci and Monson both feature the logo of the Colorado Lottery in their designs. The circular lottery logo on Monson’s design serves as a ball spun on the finger of a hoopster’s glowing green silhouette. Marinucci placed the lottery logo near one of the free throw lines while putting the Pueblo sun logo near the other charity stripe.
Monson is an experienced artist who has over 20 designs featured along the Arkansas River Levee Mural. Marinucci is a senior manager of financial planning and analysis at EVRAZ North America who also proudly displayed the steel mill and a mountain range in his design.
Renovations, which began June 24 of this year, are scheduled for September completion. In the meantime, Summer basketball events like “Summer Basketball at the Slabs” are being hosted at the Lake Minnequa Veterans Memorial Park, 3005 Lakeshore Drive 81004.
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Pueblo Chieftain reporter James Bartolo can be reached at JBartolo@gannett.com. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com
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