One of my favorite parts of Fort Wayne. Beautiful at night to check out the 77 steps and during the…read moreday you can appreciate all the wall art and beautiful paintings. Very Instagrammable spot and lots of cool areas to take photos.

If you travel down the alley by the 100 block of West Berry Street, you'll see a public art piece…read moretitled 77 Steps, a sculpture that features hundreds of programmable lights (around 300, to be exact) that are suspended above a pathway. It's named after the 77 steps it takes to get from one end of the art piece to the other. 77 Steps was created by Kelty Tappy, a Fort Wayne architecture firm. I love this sculpture because it looks like a bunch of chandeliers hanging out in an alley. (Be sure to smash that "like" button to get more insightful art criticism like that from me.) It's actually really neat to just walk through the alley and look up at multiple lights suspended above your head. When I visited, it was daytime and the lights weren't on. But I've seen picture of 77 Steps during the nighttime, and I think that's when you should visit, because then you'll see it in all its lit-up glory. 77 Steps is in an alley that also houses some other street art, so you are basically surrounded by beautiful artwork in this area, which is awesome.

How can I give a mural anything less than five stars? All murals and public art are great,…read moreespecially when they are cool and slightly trippy, like Guitar Experiment by artists Alexandra Hall and Alex Mendes. This huge guitar is painted on the side of a brick building in downtown Fort Wayne. It looks like a warped and colorful guitar, with a kind of 3-D aspect to it. It's located near the "Hello, Fort Wayne" mural, as well as a few other pieces of public art. The painting is about 16 feet tall. Fort Wayne kills it with the public art, and Guitar Experiment is just another example of the city's focus on art for everyone.

Another great mural in downtown Fort Wayne! This one is located in the Visit Fort Wayne alley, off…read moreof Harrison Street between W. Wayne Street and W. Washington Blvd. This mural is titled The Blue Birds, and I think you can see why. It's a 60-foot mural full of cyclops birds (18 birds, if I counted correctly) looking at you disinterestedly. But the viewer (you) can't help but be interested looking at this bright, blue wall of apathetic birds. It's a wonderful surprise to come upon it in this alley in downtown Fort Wayne. The mural was created by Bryan Ballinger, an artist who works in the Midwest, I believe. He has a lot of other murals around Indiana and the Midwest, so I'm going to have to check them out sometime soon.

This mural depicts a big peony -- the state flower of Indiana -- and wouldn't you know: the title…read moreof this mural is Big Peony. It was created in 2021 by an artist named Louise Jones (aka Ouizi), a person from Southern California who works in Detroit. You'll find this public art on a building next to Mercado, a Mexican restaurant. If you sit in their outdoor patio, you'll be right there by this mural, and can enjoy it in all its glory. It really is a beautiful mural, and it's so big that it's difficult to take a photo of it. Fort Wayne has a lot of cool murals throughout the city, and this is another great one.

I mean, how are you not going to love a mural that features a cute panda trying to lick a green ice…read morecream cone off of its head? Come on! This is an adorable mural in downtown Fort Wayne, and you need to see it. This mural is titled "Panda Oops," and it is located on a wall that houses the STAR Financial Group on west Berry Street. It was created by Tammy Davis in 2018. I don't know much about this mural beyond those facts, but it's one of the many street art pieces that you need to see in the alleys of downtown Fort Wayne.

I saw this mural as I was leaving Rune, after finishing one of the best meals I've ever had in Fort…read moreWayne. This public art piece is painted on a brick wall of the Rune building, and it was created by Indiana artist America Carrillo, who has painted many murals all around the state. The colors and swirls are what initially drew me in, but it's the words -- "What are you waiting for?" -- that I keep thinking about. These past couple of years, I've embraced not waiting, but just doing the thing. This ranges from using the "good" lip balms that I've been saving for a special occasion (why?) to bigger things. Why wait? Don't wait -- because what are you waiting for? Make that leap. Say the thing. Try something new. I am typically a delayed gratification sort of person, and in some ways I always will be, but that is slowly melting away as the years go on and speed up. That question -- "What are you waiting for?" -- is always in the back of my head lately. I don't always act on it, but it's always a thought that's there. So it was timely to see a mural that reflected my thoughts back at me on a random wall in Fort Wayne. Wow! Big thoughts about a mural! But that's the great thing about art, including public art. It makes you think about things. Sometimes it shines a spotlight, and sometimes it reflects a mirror image.

My husband and I had a really fun time at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art. They had a large and varied…read morecollection of art. My favorite exhibit was the glass art collection. I'm amazed at the intricate details that these artists are able to create. They had several permanent and rotating exhibitions worth exploring. Their gift shop supports local artists and is worth a look. I highly recommend the For Wayne Museum of Art!

I love this museum as it has one of the nicest glass exhibits. Going from different decades and…read morestyles. Every year I come i see new glass exhibits. When they have the day of the deaths exhibit, they give away the traditional bread! Yummy!

This mural, titled Conquer Above, is huge and takes up the entire side of a brick building and then…read moresome, because it wraps around to the other side. It was created by local artist Mitchell Egly, who has created many murals around the Midwest. In the Conquer Above mural, you can see Fort Wayne's 122nd Fighter Wing aircraft, and it serves as a tribute to all veterans. The project was funded by Downtown Fort Wayne and Warrior Breed Motorcycle Club, a nonprofit, veteran-based motorcycle club, which focuses on veteran issues, like traumatic brain injury and veteran suicide prevention. This piece of public art in downtown Fort Wayne symbolizes heavy topics, but the mural itself is pastel-colored and fun to look at. Fort Wayne does it again with the cool murals.

This might be one of my favorite murals in the city. "HELLO, Fort Wayne" is a piece of pubic art…read morecreated by Shawn Dunwoody, an artist and muralist from New York. It is bright and colorful, and spans an entire side of a wall, plus wraps around another part of a wall. It's a huge mural, and it's difficult to get the entire thing in one photo! There is a "hello" on either side of a "Fort Wayne," and in between are lots of flowers. The place where this mural is located is overflowing with art. That's what's cool about downtown Fort Wayne: it is filled with little pockets and nooks of artwork everywhere. The mural is located in one of the pedestrian alleyways, and there are some tables and chairs set up in this area. I suppose, if you worked or lived in the area, you could have lunch at one of these tables and take in the beauty that is this art. That would be nice!