The public will have a say in the design of a new mural that is coming to downtown Albany. Vitus Shell, a Louisiana artist whose work will be on exhibition this summer at the Albany Museum of Art, is designing and painting the mural that celebrates Albany musicians, composers, and singers.

An online poll opened today and will continue through Monday, April 27. It will allow people to vote for their favorite of three designs for the mural, which will be painted on the Broad Avenue wall of Blade Kings Barber Shop, 101 N. Jackson St. The mural is one of two that the Albany Museum of Art is commissioning this spring in downtown Albany.

“This mural is a celebration of Albany’s extraordinary cultural legacy and of the artists and performers who have helped shape the spirit of this city,” said Andrew James Wulf, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Albany Museum of Art. “We are delighted to give the community a direct voice in choosing the design that will become part of downtown’s visual landscape.”

Depicted on the mural will be a group of “Albany’s Own” entertainers—hip-hop duo Field Mob (Darion "Smoke" Crawford and Shawn Timothy "Shawn Jay" Johnson); singer, composer, and civil rights activist Bernice Johnson Reagon; blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter James Wheeler, and members of the Albany State University Marching Rams Show Band.

Shell has created three versions of the mural, images of which are posted on the Albany Museum of Art website (www.albanymuseum.com/mural-vote-2026) and on the museum’s Facebook and Instagram accounts. Voters can click the link on the website or Facebook to go to the online poll. Instagram users can click on the AMA bio for a link to the online poll. Voting will take place through Monday, April 27.

“Since community work is so integral to Vitus's art practice, it felt very timely to have him do a mural in the downtown Albany Area,” AMA Curator of African Collections and African Diasporic Art Sidney Pettice said. “Working with him has really brought about a spirit of community collaboration, especially with our design decision being made by the community.”

All of the performers in the mural have Albany ties.

Reagon, born in Dougherty County, was a member of the original SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee) Freedom Singers formed in 1962 by SNCC field secretary Cordell H. Reagon. During the Civil Rights Movement, she was expelled from Albany State College after she and others who participated in a demonstration were jailed.

In 1966, Reagon was a founding member of the Harambee Singers in Atlanta. While a graduate student of history at Howard University and vocal director of the D.C. Black Repertory Theater, she formed the internationally renowned African American women’s a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey In The Rock in 1973. She led the group until her retirement in 2004.

As Field Mob, Crawford and Johnson were a driving force in shaping Southern hip-hop in the early 2000s. They grew up a few blocks apart in a neighborhood on the outskirts of Albany known as "The Field." After signing with a small independent label in 1999, they caught the attention of MCA Records, which signed them to a deal.

When MCA moved away from rock, pop, and urban catalogs, Field Mob signed with Ludacris’ Disturbing tha Peace in 2005. Their third album, Light Poles and Pine Trees, reached No. 2 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. They left Ludacris’ label in 2011, and have not been actively releasing music together since.

Wheeler, an Albany native, was initially captivated by big band music by Louis Jordan, Duke Ellington, and Glenn Miller. He moved to Chicago, where his brother lived in the mid-1950s, and began playing guitar. As he became proficient with the instrument, he started backing Billy Boy Arnold, then formed his own band, the Jaguars, in 1963. His band backed performers including B.B. King, Otis Rush, Otis Clay, and Millie Jackson.

After the Jaguars dissolved in 1972, Wheeler played with the OCBs and the Impressions before leaving the music business for a decade. He returned and played with Otis Rush and then Mississippi Heat before releasing his first solo album in 1998. His second album, also with Delmark Records, was released in 2000. Wheeler died at age 77 in 2014.

Also represented on the mural will be the Albany State University Marching Rams Show Band, one of the premier HBCU marching ensembles. Under ASU Director of Bands William T. Brooks, III, since 2023, the band is known for the high energy of its performances, its precision movements, and its distinctive high-stepping style. The Marching Rams have appeared on national stages, including the Honda All-Star Battle of the Bands and the Pepsi National Battle of the Bands.

The mural will be located diagonally across the street from one that Atlanta artist Shanequa Gay is creating this spring. Her mural, funded with a $25,000 Celebrating America250 grant the AMA received from the National Endowment for the Arts, will include Albany native Ray Charles, along with music legends Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, and Aretha Franklin.

The AMA was one of two organizations in Georgia whose projects were chosen by the NEA for its nationwide Celebrating America250: Arts Projects Honoring the National Garden of American Heroes project. In all, 50 projects were selected across the United States.

Shell’s upcoming exhibition, Vitus Shell: Power of Sight, opens on May 21 in the Haley Gallery of the Albany Museum of Art.

AMA EXHIBITIONS

• Familiar Rhythm: Time, Nostalgia, and Memory, featuring works of Maiya Lea Hartman, Larry Cook, and Kimberly Anderson, is Jan 22-May 2, 2026, in the Haley Gallery.
• Wadsworth & Jae Jarrell: Art Making / World Making is Jan 22-May 2, 2026, in the East, Hodges and McCormack Galleries.
• Still Waters, works from the permanent collection, is Jan 22-April 25, 2026, in the West Gallery.