Newport on the Levee

The brief

Newport on the Levee is an entertainment district on the Kentucky bank of the Ohio River, across the water from downtown Cincinnati. When Miami University's art department launched its first mural class, the Levee gave it a wall. Riley painted on the student team led by Professor Michael Stillion. The class spent the fall semester designing and painting the panels on polytab cloth, then installed the finished work along the Levee's walkway in the spring.

The design is a portal into the spirit of the Levee. One blue wave runs the length of the wall and carries everything with it: a glowing Newport on the Levee sign, an orange octopus reaching for a plug, a leaping tiger, and a skater dropping through a cosmic doorway. From the walkway the panels read as one continuous scene under the district's string lights, and each bay holds its own surprise up close.