Tattoo shops have the best graffiti

Hi friends! Long time no see. Thought I'd update a bit with some of the great art I've seen popping up around the city lately, plus some stuff I've overlooked in the past. As always, if you see something that hasn't been featured here yet, drop a line with a photo (and how you want to be credited): madstreetart@gmail.com

(click for bigger image) Mural on the back of Rockwell Tattoo Company on Monona Drive.

Never lost

Mural (in progress still, I think) on the back side of Plan B / behind Cha Cha Beauty Parlor on Willy St.

Building better neighborhoods with art

This press release just arrived in my inbox. I'm super stoked to see projects like this taking off in Madison, and especially being utilized by traditionally under-served neighborhoods and communities. Check it, and help out if you can:

Sustain Dane Paints a Sustainable Future with Darbo-Worthington Neighbors

September 9, Madison, WI – Community Paint Days for smART [sustainability + Madison + art] in Darbo-Worthington.

Fall 2014:
Friday September 12th 4-7PM
Friday September 26th 4-7PM 

Weekly paint days on Tuesdays and Thursdays 3-6PM; Starting 9/16
Salvation Army, 3030 Darbo Dr (Meeting at front of Salvation Army or in Annex)

Neighbors of Darbo-Worthington present Sustain Dane’s smART [sustainability + madison + art]: in partnership with the Madison Mural Program. smART is a major community-based art initiative designed to engage Madison neighborhoods in envisioning a sustainable, just, and healthy future for their own communities.

On July 29th, Sustain Dane, along with neighborhood organizations, brought residents of Madison's Darbo-Worthington neighborhood together around a simple question: what does a healthy, happy neighborhood look like?

We couldn't have anticipated the response. Dozens of community members of all ages, ethnicities, genders and socio-economic backgrounds came out to work together to envision a sustainable neighborhood.

Led by lead artist Sharon Kilfoy of the Madison Mural Program, the neighborhood design team has created a visual representation of the neighborhood's ideas from July 29th.

This week - we're starting to paint this design on panels for a larger-than-life mural. Let's paint our vision of a sustainable future. We invite you to join us and grab a paint brush, cover this important event, or call us to learn more.

Contact: Lauren Beriont, Sustain Dane Lauren@sustaindane.org 608.819.0689
Communtiy Liasons for this important project include but are not limited to: The Salvation Army, Mentoring Positives, WOW (Women of Worthington), The Worthington Park Neighborhood Association and Edgewood College Sustainability Leadership Program. Thank you to Dane Arts, The Madison Arts Commission, and the WI Arts Board for supporting this project in 2014.

About Sustain Dane:  Sustain Dane believes that the Greater Madison Region can become national model for sustainability and sustainability innovation. Sustain Dane works towards this vision by fostering and supporting a rich and diverse community of sustainability champions across many sectors of society. To learn more about our current programs and initiatives, please visit www.sustaindane.org. Sustain Dane is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

Community Mural Love

A much-needed splash of color just got added to the (formerly) big white wall on the side of the Plan B nightclub on Williamson St.

Let the Willy Street Blog tell you all about it. The work was done by Baltimore-based artist Michael Owen, and brought about by lots of community effort:

The Baltimore Love Mural is the second mural to go up on a wall in the neighborhood in as many years as part of the Marquette Neighborhood Association’s (MNA) Murals on Private Property initiative. Michael Owen, who stayed with MNA Arts & Culture Committee Co-Chair Sharon Kilfoy while in town, said he knew he was in the right place when he saw Panmela Castro’s “The Siamese Twins” on Willy Street Co-op East.

Girls Rising

Photo by Catherine Capellaro

This is so ridiculously cool:

It looks so awesome, I'd never guess it was painted by a group of sixth graders. 

A bright new mural gracing the graffiti wall at Mother Fool's Coffeehouse on Willy Street pays tribute to the kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls and the Bring Back Our Girls movement, and is part of a global awareness campaign in support of girls' right to education. 

Six middle schoolers from O'Keeffe -- Adeline Geary, Skye Lukas, Odessa Chusid, Anabelle Poore, Ruby Sutherlin-Sovern, and Amelia Hoffman -- are involved in a group called Girl Generation (modeled on the Mother-Daughter Project) that has been meeting over the last five years. Over the last year, these moms and daughters have organized community service and fundraising projects while also considering a public art project.

Read the full article at Isthmus.

Two new murals approved for Willy Street

Progress! Super stoked to see these go up:

Two new murals have been approved for the Willy Street corridor on the near east side, adding to the street's already vibrant collection of artwork. 

Michael Owen, a muralist and painter from Baltimore, has been tapped to create a new mural on the side of Plan B at 924 Williamson St. The building is owned by Chuck Chvala, who has donated money toward the project. (Other funds will come from the Madison Community Foundation, Plan B itself and a fundraiser.) 

Owen started the Baltimore Love Project several years ago, in 2008, spelling out the word "LOVE" in sign language on some 20 walls all over the city. 

The murals, according to the project's Facebook page, are "identical in regards to content, only ranging in size." Madison's mural will have the same design. 

On the back of the building, near Cha Cha Beauty & Barber, local artist Craig Grabhorn is designing another mural. Muralist Sharon Kilfoy, who went to the Marquette Neighborhood Association Art and Culture Committee meeting where both were approved, said it may have a "broken heart" or "heart with wings" theme.

Graffiti artists take over an abandoned warehouse

Moar like this, please.

Literal street art is coming to Madison!

So this is really effing cool. Per the Capital Times:

Madison's buildings are already used as blank slates for murals, and poetry has sprung up on east side sidewalks. Now the streets, too, will become a canvas, with a newly passed ordinance allowing paint and chalk drawing.

According to the new rule, images must be nonpartisan and noncommercial, and the artist is responsible for maintaining them...

...The ordinance approved at Monday's Common Council meeting would allow for chalk and painted designs on streets "with a speed limit of 25 miles per hour or less."

The ordinance was approved at last Monday's meeting of the Common Council, and though there's not yet an official process for artists to submit ideas, there should be something soon. Read the full article above for details, and get to brainstorming!

Help Prairie Phoenix Academy finish their mural

Wanna help some kids in Sun Prairie finish a mural project at their school? Hook it up:

Thanks to all of you who are helping the Friends of Williamson Street Art Center raise funds to finish the mural at Prairie Phoenix Academy in Sun Prairie. We have only 2 weeks left!

We are raising funds to complete the mural this fall. For every $1 contributed, Dane Arts has secured an additional 50 cents. If you contribute $10, Dane Arts will contribute $5. A small donation of $10 or $20 would help a lot!

Please go to the following link for more information and to contribute.

http://www.power2give.org/go/p/858

Thank you!

Sharon Kilfoy

A very curious mural

A graffiti wall to honor the Mars rover Curiosity. Science + art = the best.

Spectacular new mural at the Willy St. Co-op

This gorgeous new mural is being painted (in the midst of a serious heat wave, by the way) at the Willy St. Co-op by Brazilian street artist Panmela Castro. The wall had been a blank white slate for years, threatening blindness and heat stroke to passing pedestrians (well, that's what it felt like, anyway).

I'm so happy to see a business recognizing the value of covering bare wall space with beautiful art. I hope we see more places follow suit.

There will be a dedication of this mural on Friday, July 6 from 6 to 9 p.m. at the co-op, 1221 Williamson St.: "The Friends of Williamson Street Art Center together with Marquette Neighborhood Association and the Willy St Coop announce the dedication of a mural celebrating the unity of women. Panmela’s work, sponsored by Vital Voices around the globe, reminds us that women in many parts of the world suffer oppression."

Grafiteira from Rio de Janeiro in Madison

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From madison.com:

Brazilian artist Panmela Castro painted the graffiti wall at Mother Fool's Coffeehouse Tuesday. Castro, also known as Anarkia, is a grafiteira from Rio de Janeiro known for calling attention to domestic violence and for working to empower women. The rotating graffiti wall at Mother Fool's, 1101 Williamson St., has been in use since fall 2001.

The mural is stunning, by the way.

Warriors of the setting sun

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At the corner of North and Hoard Streets. Sent in by Satya Rhodes-Conway (and by the way I love that an alder is contributing to this site - street art for all!).

The Jade Monkey

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Over at the corner of Cottage Grove Dr. and Monona Dr., on the city's northeast side, the Jade Monkey Cocktail Bar sports this pretty epic mural on the back wall of its building. I've passed it a few times before but never had my camera handy, until today. When it was cloudy and the light was awful. But hell, it's still some (presumably commissioned) beautiful work!

Details:

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Mushroomland mural

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Not entirely sure when this went up - it's possible I just haven't been as observant as I think I am - but I didn't notice the piece/mural until today. Along E. Paterson, near the intersection with E. Washington. Pretty sure it's a sanctioned work, since it's on the side of a business and quite big/intricate. Nicely done!

Scott the Snake

Great new mural on the side of Mother Fools, in honor of the several weeks long protest happening in Madison against the governor's budget bill that, among other things, strips collective bargaining rights from public employees. I've been all over the action, if you're interested in getting caught up.

Cafe mural (with a dash of Solve)

A lovely photo of a charming mural on the side of a cafe just off State Street downtown. Dig the addition of the Solve tag via word bubble. This picture comes courtesy of Neos Design on Flickr.

Wall flowers and promo

Oh hey! This is cool - the Badger Herald came out and interviewed yours truly for a short but sweet piece about this very blog. Unexpected, for sure, but always nice. Check out the article here - and please, if you see any great art around town (or even the county) send it my way! I need all the help I can get with this thing.

In the meantime, here's a great painted piece I spotted along Johnson where it turns into Packers Ave. I believe it's an officially sanctioned work for a gardening business located in the same warehouse space.

 (click images for full-size)

Centro Hispano murals in the news

There's been some great local coverage of the beautiful Centro Hispano murals in recent days. Check out the coverage at 77 Square and the full page spread in Capitol City Hues.

This has all been in conjunction with the official celebration of the completion of the works.

The Williamson Street Art Center, in partnership with the center and the Overture Center for the Performing Arts, celebrated the series of murals created during a two-year artist-in-residency program under the direction of Sharon Kilfoy.

The hands of hundreds of children and adults helped to see the project through to completion; the end result is a lively, vibrant interior of the building at 801 W. Badger Road.

Be sure to check them out for yourself!

(P.S. I realize that these aren't technically "street art" because they're not outside, but heck, I still think it's a cool project)

Spirit of the '70s

I'd been meaning to get out and take photos of the bright new murals that popped up on the corner of Williamson and Few St. just a short while ago, but thankfully muralist and community artist Sharon Kilfoy beat me to it. She was also kind enough to provide information about the work.

This panel includes the Amazement Company playing at the first Willy St Fair, Mona and her Way House Gallery of Light, Dan Yopack, founder of Gallery 853 and the Unicorn Forest and Wildlife Preserve, and the St Vincent de Paul Fashion Show.
The death of DADA / birth of MAMA represented a paradigm shift in consciousness that came to fruition in the 70's. Women, blacks, gays, and other minorities were to be no longer disenfranchised as in the past. Also shown in this panel are theater groups from Broom St Theater and Gallery 853.
This panel pays homage to WORT radio and its early days on Willy St, Nature's Bakery, Peter and Lou Berryman, and Bob Linn, the "Day-Glow Sheriff" who was part of the Natures Bakery collective until he was thrown out for painting their entire parking lot one night after everyone else had gone home.