MAC Selects Swiger To Create Franklin Mural

The Mobile Arts Council (MAC), in partnership with the family of Melvin Franklin, has selected artist John-David Swiger to create a tribute mural honoring the founder and bass singer of The Temptations. The mural will celebrate Franklin’s impact on American music and his Alabama roots; he was born in Montgomery and raised on Congress Street in Mobile. Selected through a competitive process, Swiger is a multidisciplinary artist originally from Gulf Shores. He is a co-owner of Swiger Studio in Gulf Shores and has worked extensively in mural painting, photography and fine art since 2017. Over the past year, he has focused much of his creative practice in Mobile County with a goal of contributing to the region’s growing public art landscape. The mural will be installed on the northwestern wall of the International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1410 building on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue in Mobile.