With the end of the school year comes the start of summer. Here are some images that I came across recently that had me thinking of summer. This one is in sunny La Jolla.
Here’s a follow up to the post I did about La Jolla’s interactive community mural called “Favorite Color” where passerbys would select the next color they wanted painted.
La Jolla now hosts 11 different public murals that help to beautify their community. They are bright and colorful and make you smile.
I just like saying the word “Favela” but there is a lot to what is going on in this hillside town in Brazil.
I’ve mentioned this public art project before and I show it is referenced in a Speed Painting video but this documentary is so worth watching to understand the creative process and the very methodical measures taken by Haas and Hahn to get results of a fully painted town. They have to take the architecture, the hillside perspective and the turmoil — literally gunfire in the streets — into account. Smart of them to start small and build awareness and commitment with community involvement. This helped to give the town and its residents a sense of ownership of the project and suspend some of the difficulty that initially was there.
All Images via Favela Painting Project via YouTube
This is the second project, Rio Cruzeiro, they did in 2008 before painting the whole town. What a beautiful Japanese inspired scene, complete with bridge (actually staircase) and all.
Click here to learn more about this project on their website and on their Facebook page.
Liu Bolin, known as the “disappearing” Chinese artist, has done it again, but this time in the USA.
Having claimed his fame by previously painting himself into scenes as painterly demonstrations against his Chinese government, in response, the government demolished his studio. Sarah Schiller of the Wooster Collective along with Eli Klein Fine Art brought Liu to America where he made his debut in New York City by painting himself into Kenny Scharf’s recognizable comedic faces mural on Houston Street.
Liu Bolin in Scharf Mural via DNAinfo.com
Kenny Sharf Mural via DNAinfo.com
And here are some scenes of Liu Bolin in his home country, equally as fascinating.
Follow this link thread to previous posts about Liu Bolin.
I have over 100 mural items to post, so I’m starting a regular feature to highlight them and this will allow me to mention other aspects of art in the process. Baltimore, Maryland has a Mural Painting Program that I did not know about. Evidently, this has been ongoing for 30 years! In 2008, through the program, CityPaint, there was a push to get 20 murals painted. Interesting to note that the average commission for an exterior mural of this size is $10,000. I think that’s a good deal, considering the time and materials and expansive area to cover. Click the CityPaint link for artist opportunities.
One of many Baltimore Murals, Photo by Katie Falkenberg, Washington Times
A lot more murals, including this one that I like, Pigtown, can be seen on Scott Wycoff’s blog.
Pigtown Mural. Photo via Scott Wykoff_WBAL blog
I don’t want to limit murals to exterior building or cities for that matter. Here’s a post on InsideToronto.com featuring, Art on the Move — murals painted on moving vehicles, like vans and a 32 foot sailboat. The effort is to create “moving canvases” to inspire others to paint.
Art on the Move boat. Photo by Nick Perry via InsideToronto.com
Art on the Move, a Mural Arts Program in Toronto
One more opportunity that’s fleeting fast for muralists. Verizon is gathering applications for How Sweet the Sound, public art murals based on the African American life regarding music, community and church. Deadline is June 27.
Verizon's How Sweet the Sound, Mural Contest
