Graffiti News

A north wall will carry women’s basketball history

Alex Ann Allen has been selected to create a mural for the new Indiana Fever Sports Performance Center in Indianapolis. According to the South Bend Tribune’s September 10, 2026 report, the South Bend native will paint the building’s north wall with a work honoring the history of women’s basketball in the city. The commission connects an artist known in South Bend with a sports facility in Indiana’s capital.

The mural is titled “Unity, Legacy, Resilience” and will measure 40 by 60 feet. The Indiana Fever describes the project as a tribute to the team and to Indianapolis’s place in women’s professional basketball. Its subject gives the exterior wall a role beyond identifying the building: the artwork will carry a story about the sport associated with the facility.

For mural followers, that relationship between subject and setting is a useful starting point. A basketball history mural on a basketball facility invites viewers to consider how an institution presents its past to the wider city, as well as to the people working inside.

Allen brings a record of murals and festival work

Allen’s background combines large commissions with sustained involvement in South Bend’s mural scene. The Tribune, citing an Indiana Fever release, reports that she has worked full time as a traveling muralist for more than seven years and has completed over 200 murals across several states. Her experience includes both interior and exterior walls.

Her clients have included Bleacher Report, Zelle and Verizon Wireless, along with schools and community organizations. In South Bend, she is also the curator of Mural Mania, the city’s annual mural festival. Local points of reference include her work at Pier Park and a collaboration with artist Lauren Steinhofer at the South Bend Farmer’s Market. Her work has also been exhibited at the South Bend Museum of Art.

Those connections offer several ways to place the Indianapolis commission within her practice. Festival curation, a market collaboration and a sports center commission involve different settings and audiences. Looking across those settings can help viewers follow an artist’s use of color and form without assuming that every mural tells the same story.

A statewide call included paid concepts and public feedback

Allen was chosen through a statewide artist call that drew 65 applicants. Three finalists received payment to develop concept designs, and more than 2,200 community members contributed feedback through a public survey, according to the Tribune. The process brought both commissioned design work and public responses into the selection.

The Indiana Fever said Allen’s proposal received the strongest response, with participants favoring its color, movement and message. That account comes from the team; the article does not provide a detailed breakdown of survey results. The available figures describe the scale of participation and the route to selection.

For people following public-facing art, the paid concept stage is part of the commission’s context alongside the finished image. It identifies a stage at which finalists developed proposals for consideration. The survey adds another layer: people beyond the artist and commissioning organization were invited to respond to the proposed work before painting began.

Painting is planned before the center opens

The mural is scheduled to be painted in fall 2026, with a dedication planned before the performance center opens in spring 2027. As described in the September 10 report, the project is a selected design awaiting execution. The announcement does not establish an exact completion date or a public dedication date.

The Fever describes Allen’s design as using vivid colors and overlapping geometric forms to produce depth and movement. Her combination of geometric shapes and realism will be applied to the women’s basketball theme. The team expects the prominent north wall to become a visible downtown Indianapolis landmark. That is the commission’s intended presence in the city, rather than a report about an already finished work.

Visitors should distinguish visibility from access. The article identifies the wall but gives no street address, viewing hours or entry arrangements. Team president Kelly Krauskopf expressed the hope that the mural would add something meaningful for players, staff and people passing the facility. Until viewing details are available, the source supports following the project’s announced timeline. Explore other murals through the Wallscape map.

Source: South Bend Tribune