A new committee has been forged to begin putting the “art” in the $2.8 million downtown art park.

Dubbed the “Art Park at Catfish Row,” the nearly finished park on Mulberry Street near City Front includes decorative smoke stacks, steamboat relics and a splash fountain for children, but no art work.

Mayor Laurence Leyens met with representatives of the Vicksburg Art Association and the Southern Cultural Heritage Foundation Friday to begin the process of fitting art into the park and on concrete walls built through the park for educational works and depictions of river life.

“I want you to think of the park as a raw canvas,” Leyens told five members of the new committee. “Come up with what you think is the most wild, interactive park that you can.”

At the meeting were Vicksburg Art Association member and local artist Daniel Boone; VAA member Lesley Silver, who is also the owner of the Attic Gallery on Washington Street; Bess Averett, executive director of the Southern Cultural Heritage Center; and city employees Christi Kilroy and Barry Graham, who also is a member of VAA and the city’s Main Street Program.

Boone, who was nominated to be the leader of the new committee, said other members including other local artists would be added. He also planned to have the committee meet at the park as soon as possible to get a firsthand look at the work that is needed.

“Those walls are what people are seeing right now, but the main reason they are seeing them is because they’re unfinished,” Boone said.

Some ideas mentioned include putting replica store fronts from the early 1900s on one wall with working doors and windows. Another suggests using a wall to illustrate different aspects and techniques used in art.

The park opened July 4, but the $300,000 splash fountain was shut down after a filter became clogged and was sucked into the mechanical parts. Graham said Wednesday the fountain would be off for at least a week.

Leyens said the fountain is under warranty and the city will not have to pay for any needed repairs.