Hanna Kello’s art work was recently on display in downtown Oxford.
But you won’t find the 18-year-old Lake Orion resident’s drawings framed in an avant-garde gallery or hanging in a stuffy museum.
Kello’s art adorns the public sidewalks and lasts as long as the weather or the DPW workers permit it to.
During the wee morning hours of Friday, Aug. 1, Kello, armed with chalk and charcoal, left her tribute to the new Batman movie (The Dark Knight) on the sidewalk in front of the Oxford 7 Theater’s main entrance.
The 2008 Lake Orion High School graduate drew the famous bat symbol, at a friend’s suggestion, plus portraits of the Caped Crusader and his archenemy the Joker, otherwise known as the Clown Prince of Crime.
‘I originally only wanted to do the bat symbol,? Kello said. But once she got started, the project took on a life of its own.
Next, she drew the Joker, but decided her sidewalk mural looked ‘lopsided,? so she added the Dark Knight.
‘Batman took me the longest,? she said.
Kello started worked on this project at 2:30 a.m. and finished it up at 5:20 a.m. Like any good artist, she signed and dated her work.
At one point, some DPW workers who were cleaning the sidewalks and streets asked her what she was doing. When they found out, they couldn’t have been more courteous.
‘They specifically went around me so they wouldn’t blow it away,? said Kello, who works at Guido’s Pizza.
Kello enjoys doing ‘graffiti? as she called it, but never with spray cans or anything permanent. ‘I don’t want to vandalize anything,? she said. ‘I don’t want to get in trouble. That’s why I use chalk.?
Unfortunately, Friday night’s big rain storm washed Kello’s Batman mural away.
Her ‘graffiti? can frequently be seen on the floor of the gazebo in Centennial Park where she writes the names and nicknames of friends using funky lettering.
Kello is definitely an artist at heart. During her time at LOHS she took classes in drawing, ceramics, metal art, computer art, water colors and oil painting.
‘I took just about every art class over there,? she said.
Unfortunately, she’s not going into an artistic field. She’s currently studying corrections at Baker College in Auburn Hills. She hopes to one day attend the police academy and pursue a career in law enforcement.
‘It’s totally different from art, but art school’s $27,000 a year, so I’m not really gonna go to art school,? Kello explained.