Artist will paint portraits of beloved canines for mural at Medina Dog Park

Photo by Tom Rivers: Brandi Zavitz, left, and Cindy Davis, vice president of Friends of Medina Dog Park, are shown next to a gazebo at the Medina Dog Park. Zavitz will be painting a mural to be displayed on the wall at the park. She will paint about 50 dogs on the mural at $100 apiece with the proceeds going to the Dog Park.

MEDINA – The Medina Dog Park opened in September 2020 at a fenced-in area on North Gravel Road, next to the village’s former compost plant, just south of Boxwood Cemetery.

The site has been a big success, drawing hundreds of regular users, with many form outside Medina, said Cindy Davis, vice president of Friends of Medina Dog Park.

Zavitz made this portrait of her brother’s Bassett Hound, Hazel, in a tutu. This dog would tap her feet when she walked.

The site has added features since its opening, with agility equipment, a water station and a gazebo.

Soon the park will add  large mural of local beloved dogs. Brandi Zavitz, a retired art teacher, will paint 50 portraits of dogs on the mural. She wants to show them with personalities, wearing super-hero capes, princess crowns, and other accessories to help shown when they are so loved.

Zavitz is backed by a grant from GO Art! to create the mural. She also painted the mural under the Glenwood Avenue canal bridge. She is teaming with the Friends of the Dog Park for an additional $100 fee to have a dog painted on the mural. Those proceeds will go towards the Dog Park which would like to add another water station, a second gazebo, another fenced-in area for smaller dogs and include more agility equipment, Davis said.

The mural will make a popular place even more special, she said, with all the portraits of dogs.

“In Medina you see so many people walking their dogs,” Zavitz said. “They love them like they are their children.”

She welcomes people interested in having their dogs in the mural to email her two photos of the dogs. She wants details about the dog’s personality (affectionate, goofy, etc.), whether or not it is living, if it is male or female, and some of the activities the dog enjoys.

If a dog has passed away, Zavitz will paint angel wings on that portrait.

For more information, contact Zavitz at brandizavitz@gmail.com or by text (585) 798-9780, or Davis at (585) 590-6543. Click here to see the Facebook page for the Friends of Medina Dog Park.

The mural will be 24 feet long. Zavitz said she will paint the portraits on site and expects the project to be done in the summer.

A retired Holley art teacher, Zavitz said she has been painting dog portraits for many years.

“This will be very spontaneous,” she said about the mural. “It’s going to be very exciting with a lot of movement.”