Coming down Market Street from Main Street there’s sign of a past art project along a retaining wall on the eastern side of the hill that did not stand the test of time.

However, upon an unanimous vote by Lockport’s Common Council, Wednesday night, that wall is due to become the site of a new mural in the city, to be completed by Lockportian Austin Hinton.

“My whole life I’ve always been drawing and painting. Ever since I was 10 or 11,” Hinton said in a brief interview before the city’s meeting.

Hinton didn’t go to school for art, instead focusing on business administration, but did start to paint murals in 2020 as part of a New Year’s resolution.

“From that it just snowballed to painting murals here and there,” Hinton continued.

The wall is approximately “80 paces” Hinton said. His design incorporates a “Lockport pride” aesthetic in blue and gold. It includes a top-side view of the Flight of Five Locks and the Lockport skyline and horizon.

The project was spearheaded by Alderman at-large Lisa Swanson-Gellerson who’d seen Hinton’s work in the past.

“I think that art murals can tell us a story and Lockport has a lot of stories to tell, that I think will help bring us together,” Swanson-Gellerson said. “We come together when we share our stories. Community art can do that. It can educate and unite us.”

Questions from the rest of the Common Council were laced with encouragement for the artist and future projects.

“Do you know the one (mural) that’s all faded is of (the late Gord Downie) from the Tragically Hip?” 4th Ward Alderman Kitty Fogle asked Hinton. “We need to redo that one!”

While Hinton will be accepting private donations for the artwork, no taxpayer funds will spent on the project.