Help a new mural come to life on Willy St!

From Sharon Kilfoy, who runs the Williamson Street Art Center:

The mural will be a celebration of life on Willy Street. It will honor the life of Tony Robinson and others with connections to the Willy St neighborhood who have died through violence.  It will depict no violence, no guns, no 'RIP.' It will show people in happy moments - skateboarding, sitting on the front porch, playing the guitar - activities anyone in the neighborhood would do. 

You can read about the mural in an article in Madison’s Capital Times here:

http://m.host.madison.com/ct/entertainment/arts_and_theatre/visual/article_2ddb661d-d874-521c-9fcf-f0fba48722c7.html?mobile_touch=true

You can donate to the mural here:  http://www.gofundme.com/willyart

Funds are needed for stipends for the 2 lead artists, for supplies and for snacks for the neighborhood youth who will be helping with the mural.

Please contact Sharon Kilfoy  - sharon@willyart.net – or 608-658-3736 for questions, if you would like to volunteer or if you would like your loved one included in the mural.

Thanks for your support.

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.

Blue dog blues

Blue and pink corgi sticker (?) on Willy St. - really brightens/adorables up the neighborhood.

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."

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.

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.