You turn me on

Wind power is sexy. So is this stencil. Spotted and photographed by ritch97x on Flickr.

No graffiti, please

Can't help but chuckle at this one. On the side of Cork n' Bottle liquor store, and submitted by reader Jen.

wRONg

Oh this is so good. Nice, effective piece of political stenciling. I have a feeling Madison is going to see a big uptick in this sort of thing now that the Republicans have taken over the state government. Call it a small silver lining.

Photo taken by A.M. in the area of the Humanities Building down on Library Mall.

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)

At the fruit market

Looks like a few folks have been working on the back wall of Brennan's on University Ave. Thanks to tipster N for this spotting.

Knitta, please

I took a quick walk down State Street today and what did my eyes spy but some seriously garish colors where once there had only been the cold modernism of the city's "fancy" new bus stops.

I approached the friendly girl still putting the finishing touches on some of the knit work inside the shelter, and she explained that the "yarn bombing" was part of the Madison fall Gallery Night, which is happening again this weekend. The UW's Department of Design Studies' Design Gallery is responsible for this very cool piece of street art. And you can get your knit on, too, if so inclined - check here for more.

Edit to add: Turns out this "Cozy Shelter" was purchased by the City of Madison from the UW Design Gallery as a BLINK temporary art project. Points to the city for supporting such a cool program.

Street art side trip to NYC

I had the great good fortune to take my first (and, frankly, long overdue) trip to New York City last week and snapped a few shots of the street art in the East Village. Granted, I didn't even scratch the surface because that shit's everywhere. I am, quite honestly, insanely jealous. C'mon, Madison, step it up! :)

Technicolor octopus

This colorful guy was spotted and photographed by Josh back in April (so I suspect it's no longer there) in the bicycle path tunnel under E. Johnson St.

Dance Your Troubles Away

Dance Your Troubles Away, SWIV
Originally uploaded by claredickerson

Another fantastic work by SWIV. It can also be seen on the side of Mother Fool's at the moment.

(It's also another photo by intrepid street art reporter Clare D.)

Another (beautiful) ode to Solve

SOLVE Y❤U, Nice-One
Originally uploaded by claredickerson

This is currently wheat-pasted to the side of Mother Fools on Willy St. - an excellent piece by artist Nice-One. Photo by Clare D. on Flickr.

Seems like some of the best street art in town is SOLVE related.

Johnny 5 x 3

He's alive!

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.