Archive for March, 2011

Nashville Billboard Project

Monday, March 28th, 2011

I was one of 21 nationally picked artists to participate in The Billboard Project, hosted on April 2nd in Nashville, TN.

http://www.billboardartproject.com

Excerpt from The Tennesean

By Chris Echegaray

Digital Billboard Art
The Billboard Art Project is taking over roadside digital LED billboards to turn them into free public art venues for 24 hours.  Those in-your-face and colorful canvasses that you see as you sit stuck in traffic are turned over to local and international artists for a little break from everyday advertising, larger-than-life art in glowing colors.  Catch a snippet in your car as you drive by, or pull over for a tailgate party with new friends as you join the fun of discovery and discussion.  You won’t know what is coming next as different artists explore this medium, with the electronic canvas morphing every 10 seconds.

David Morrison passed billboard after billboard during a drive to Virginia and wondered what it would be like to turn those roadside advertising panels into canvases featuring local art.

Today, Middle Tennessee motorists can see what that looks like, but only until midnight tonight.

The Billboard Art Project will display 1,440 images of art from 22 artists, including local talent, on four digital billboards. The 24-hour event began this morning.

The art can be seen at these locations:

• 2809 Gallatin Pike near Burchwood Avenue, under Brown’s Automotive and across from McDonald’s.

• 1274 Murfreesboro Pike near Briley Parkway.

• Dickerson Pike, south of Due West Avenue and just north of Mulberry Downs Circle.

• 3813 Nolensville Pike, under Precision Tune Auto Care, near the Windlands Shopping Center.

Nashville is the second city to have the Billboard Art Project, which Morrison originated in Richmond, Va.

Morrison, the project founder and curator, says the billboards are a good way to bring art to people who might not have the time or the money to visit art galleries.

“They may have never been exposed to some of this art,” Morrison, of Richmond, said. “Or it’s out of their cultural circle, but to put it there and see it, it’s free to all. It also gets people to look at the billboards differently, giving them art, philosophy, thoughtful images.”

Morrison wants to have the art project in cities that wouldn’t normally be considered centers of the art world. He said he wouldn’t do it in major metropolitan areas, including New York and Miami, because “there is more than enough art already there.”

“Why not do something like this in Scranton, Pa., St. Cloud, Minn., or Columbus, Ohio?” Morrison said.

Morrison, who owns a tile business, funds this project on his own, with the help of private donors. He hopes the project will evolve into a nonprofit organization. Right now, he rents the billboards from Lamar Advertising, which owns them.

Middle Tennessee artist Charles Clary of Murfreesboro will have his art on the billboards today.

“People feel intimidated in a gallery setting, not super comfortable, and this will be engaging people on their own turf,” Clary said. “Art is … not utilitarian. It’s more of an escape.”

Clary and other artists found out about the project by word of mouth, emails and social networking.

Below are the pieces picked for exhibition

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  • (click on image for closer view)

Edmonds Mural Society

Sunday, March 13th, 2011

 I was comissioned to paint a mural for The Edmonds Mural Society in Edmonds, WA. The mural can be seen on the side of The Waterfront Coffee company building right before getting on the Edmonds ferry.

The Edmonds Mural Society is at it again.

    • The nonprofit has just announced the five murals that the society will create this summer.  The new murals will add to the existing six murals painted in Edmonds in the past two years.  This year’s project includes a wide range of images, including a skyscape, mountainscape, marinescape and two more abstract images.  The images were chosen according to this year’s theme of celebrating the city’s natural hidden treasures.   Each year, the society’s membership chooses the theme.  Selecting the designs involved an arduous six month, three-step process.  I know, because I helped found the Mural Society and continue its work all year-round.
    • Muralist Andy Eccleshall was chosen for the second year in a row.  Last year, his “Steam Mills 1893” was painted on the west wall of 214 Main St.This year, his mountainscape “The Brothers” will be painted on the east wall of the Beeson Building, alongside The Papery.  “I’m honored,” Eccleshall said.  He added, “One of the most enjoyable aspects for me was all the people I met painting the mural.  I’m looking forward to that again.”
    • Local developer Joel Patience’s skyscape “Edmonds to Starboard” was chosen to be painted on the side of the store Running In Motion.  Patience still considers himself a novice at painting.  Nevertheless, he is “thrilled to have one of my paintings selected as a mural.”
    • The five murals will be painted in the weeks from July 5 to September 1, the only reliably dry period in Edmonds. The city’s existing collection of murals continues to elicit praise for its diversity, which is unusual among cities who mount murals.  With the addition of this summer’s five, Edmonds will sport two historical, two contemporary, two realistic and five abstracted murals.  “There’s something for everyone,” said Edmonds Mural Society Municipal Liaison Manya Vee, who is also my wife.  The murals are widely expected to generate more tourist traffic among the downtown merchants.  “We owe a great deal to the Mural Society,”
    • Downtown Merchant Association President Frank Yamamoto said. “The murals bring a sense of community and interest to our town.  “Yamamoto owns Running In Motion, one of the sites for next summer’s murals.  Patience agrees.  The Mural Society, he said, “sends a regional message that Edmonds is a place to source quality art and meet sincere, level-headed artists.” “I really enjoy being part of that type of effort,” he added.
    • (Excerpt from My Edmonds News)

 

Dakota Art 20th Anniversary Show

Tuesday, March 8th, 2011

I showed two of my pieces as part of the 20th Anniversary of Dakota Art Store, where I work. The event was held at Smith and Vallee Gallery (www.smithandvalleegallery.com) Here are the two.

 

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Stars On Broadway

Saturday, March 5th, 2011

I was commissioned to paint an already constructed star to decorate the site where the future transit station will be installed. I was partnered with Rosehedge and Multifaith Works, two of Seattle’s premier AIDS care organizations.

 

Capitol Hill Chamber and Sound Transit present “Stars on Broadway”

 

The Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce and Sound Transit are partnering on “Stars on Broadway,” a program that shines some light on a few of the non-profit organizations that make life brighter for everyone on Capitol Hill throughout the year.

In the program’s first edition, the Capitol Hill Chamber has selected five recipients to honor with a lighted star, each created by artists from the Sound Transit Art Program (STart) Wall Project.  The stars will hang throughout the holiday season on the red construction wall on Broadway just south of John.  The public is invited to attend a short dedication that will be held at 6 p.m., Saturday, December 11th at the site, with a blessing by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

 

 

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