Artist Spotlight: Tad Lauritzen Wright

Tad Lauritzen Wright is a Memphis-based artist whose work will be featured at the upcoming MEMFix event at Film Row on Saturday, September 24th from 11-5. Ride your bike to the event and test out his movie camera bike rack!

About Tad:

Movie Camera Bike Rack on Butler Ave

Tad Lauritzen Wright was born in 1972 in San Angelo, Texas. He now lives and works in Memphis,Tennessee. Lauritzen Wright is best known for his collage paintings, single line drawings, and word puzzle paintings. However, he works in a wide range of styles – using a variety of painting techniques, including collage, spray painting, traditional brushwork, and experimental applications of paint. Lauritzen Wright’s work has been shown extensively throughout the United States including venues like the Katonah Museum of Art in New York, the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock, the Brooks Museum of Art in Memphis, Scope Miami, Art LA, Bridge Chicago, and Pulse NYC. He has had recent exhibitions with the Cheryl Hazan Gallery in New York, David Lusk Gallery in Memphis, and at ACME Gallery in Los Angeles.

About his Film Row icons:

One of Tad's Icons found @ Makeda's Cookies on 2nd St.

For the Film Row MemFix event I created film reel icons and antique camera icons to create identification markers for the area. Originally, a sculpture of a large camera was planned as a temporary element of the MemFix event. That sculpture was reconsidered and redesigned into a permanent installation of a movie camera that is also a bike rack.

Details about the event are available on Facebook. 

Read more about Tad's work on his website.

Artist Spotlight: Lawrence Matthews III

Lawrence Matthews III is a Memphis-based artist whose work will be featured at the upcoming MEMFix event at Film Row on Saturday, September 24th from 11-5. See his murals in person at the event!

About Lawrence:

The murals are found along Butler Ave, behind Central BBQ/the Civil Rights Museum.

Born in Memphis, TN in 1991, Lawrence Matthews III came from a family who encouraged him to be an artist from a young age. Being raised in a racially tense environment, his experiences and interests manifested themselves in his visual art. Matthews graduated from Germantown High School in 2009. After experimenting with different styles and influences, Matthews came into his own creating art combining Post Modernist, Pop Art, and contemporary influences to tell the story of the African Descendant living in America. His work ranges from oil paintings, to collage, photography, and ready-made sculpture, to music and film. A recent recipient of a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Memphis, he has shown work in multiple group exhibitions around the mid-south. He was awarded “Best of Show” in the University’s 31st Annual Juried Student Exhibition in 2014. He also was awarded the Deans Creative Achievement Award and Department of Art Creative Achievement Award in 2015. In 2016 he was awarded the Arts Accelerator Grant from Arts Memphis. Matthews has also had many solo exhibitions spanning painting, photography, and installation.

About his Film Row Murals:

The murals are layered, reflecting the layered history of Memphis film.

"All of my visual art deals with history, more specifically black and southern history. When asked to create art for Film Row, I knew a little but not enough I felt to create something special. I began to ask my more informed friends about the film history here and I was directed toward King Vidor’s film Hallelujah. What drew me to use material from the film in my work was the fact it was the first film to have an all black cast without the use of Blackface. It was also the second “talkie” ever, the first being Al Jolson’s The Jazz Singer. I was also drawn to the fact it was actually shot here in Memphis. Hallelujah is one of the only films of the time period to not portray African Americans in racist, stereotypical fashion. I felt like it was a crime that in all my time in Memphis I had never heard anything about the existence of this film. I strove to make something that not only honored this film and its historical significance to history but its creation in black communities in Memphis. I collaged book pages containing images and information from the Memphis Massacre in 1866 and as well as Memphis’s film and theatre history creating layers of history for the paintings to sit on. Ultimately I wanted to create something positive and beautiful that also told multiple layers of Memphis Film history in a way that reflects the communities surrounding Film Row."

Details about the event are available on Facebook. 

Read more about Lawrence's work on his website.

Artist Spotlight: Khara Woods

Khara Woods is a Memphis-based graphic designer whose work will be featured at the upcoming MEMFix event at Film Row on Saturday, September 24th from 11-5. Attend the event to take a stroll down Khara's crosswalks!

About Khara:

"I work as a freelance graphic designer designing logos and developing brands for a variety of clients. This year, for the first time ever, I rented a studio in the historic Edge district in downtown Memphis. I’m experimenting with paint and lettering. I have a keen interest in public art and I’d like to apply what I’m learning to projects that transform and reactivate spaces around my city to make living here, a little cooler."

Khara's Design:

"Inspired by the history of Film Row, I searched for iconic symbols and images associated with the film industry. I collected a bank of images like SMPTE color bars, clapperboards, film reel tins, which I felt would be easiest to translate into a design for a crosswalk. I was drawn to the simple geometric shapes found in these images. I chose bright shades of blue, orange and pink as my main colors. The recognizable shapes, patterns and bright colors should make the set of 5 crosswalks I've designed, the most fun and 'walkable' crosswalks in Film Row."

Khara's crosswalks in process--you'll be able to walk down the finished product at MEMFix this Saturday.

Details about the event are available on Facebook. Read more about Khara's work on her website.

Blight Out Summer Party: A Party With a Purpose

The Memphis UrbanArt Commission recently partnered with Advance Memphis and Innovate Memphis (also known as the Innovation Delivery Team) for a Blight Out Summer Party to celebrate recent efforts to address blight (neglected or rundown areas) in the Vance Avenue corridor in Memphis, Tenn.

Community residents and potential project donors were on hand for the celebration, which included music, face painting, arts and crafts and the unveiling of three artist proposals for addressing blight in the area. The proposals resulted from neighborhood meetings and design charrettes (intense design or planning activities) to identify the needs and desires of the community, as well as ways to transform or activate blighted areas through public art.

“We met with three age groups—school-age children, working adults and retired senior citizens,” said Kate Lareau, director of communications for Advance Memphis. “With each, we discussed how public art can work in a neighborhood and the different forms that it can take.”

During the party, attendees had the opportunity to vote on three proposals, which also will be posted on Advance Memphis’ website for viewing. Voting will continue throughout the week. Advance Memphis also plans to share the proposals with the Senior Living Center at Cleaborn Pointe to involve those residents in the selection process.

“By inviting them to give input about art and location, participants begin to feel a sense of ownership and see the potential for art to affect their space,” said Lareau.

Once the winning proposal is selected, UAC will work with the artist to develop and install the project. UAC also will share the process with interested residents and community organizations throughout Memphis, as well as develop a toolkit as a best-practice model that other local and national communities can use to engage their communities and effectively combat blight in their neighborhoods.

“People are learning that they can change what they see around them—that it's not a mystical process, but something they can make happen,” said Lareau.

For more information, please contact Allison Hennie at ahennie@urbanartcommission.org or visit advancememphis.org.

My Experience at the Americans for the Arts Conference by Lauren Kennedy

I recently attended my second annual Americans for the Arts conference, which is preceded by a smaller conference focused on public art. Last year, I had only been at the UrbanArt Commission for five months and was very much still learning my role as Executive Director while also trying to absorb all of the conversations and information at the conference. (Reading between the lines, I was pretty overwhelmed and very awkward.) I was particularly looking forward to this year’s conference in Boston with a better grasp of my role, the organization and the vision we are working towards. Also, people watching at an art conference is always fascinating.

A growing focus for me and the UAC team has been how can the work we do overlap with other disciplines and industries in a way that creates more buy-in and support for the arts. Feel free to read a previous blog post or view a presentation where I go on a bit more about this… I was heartened to see so many sessions and conversations popping up at the conference that focused on the intersection of the arts and engaged citizenship, innovative communities and equity. Keynote and plenary session speakers all touched on the recent (hate-fueled) tragedy in Orlando and the contentious upcoming election, grappling with how art can interact with and react to these very real and heavy situations playing out around us. One session leader demanded that more and different people need to be responsible for how our cities and experiences are shaped. That artists and art organizers should be part of that process. Donna Brazile, Vice Chairwoman of the Democratic National Convention, counseled that in demanding a seat at the table, you may have to bring your own folding chair.

And in the midst of all of this energy and call to action, Memphis earned some main stage spotlight. The ArtsMemphis’ Community Engagement Fellows Program, led by the fearless Linda Steele, won the first ever Robert E. Gard Award for the intersection of arts and community life. I had the great privilege of participating in this program while working for Ballet Memphis and was invited to help accept the award with a number of other current and past fellows in attendance. What a beautiful and proud moment for a room of 1,500 some odd people to hear about and applaud a program here in Memphis.

You may be able to tell at this point that I came home from this experience fully charged and eager to keep Memphis in the mix of this broader, national conversation. We are working hard to inject these ideas into the work we do and are looking forward to continue sharing that with all of you.

Learn more about the Memphis UrbanArt Commission by visiting our website or following us on Facebook or Instagram. 

Poetry Slam to Kick Off South Memphis Board-up Project

Students from Freedom Preparatory Academy, Booker T. Washington High School, G.W. Carver High School and Central High School will compete to have their poetry included on public art that will cover an abandoned property located at 952 McLemore.

Three local judges will select the winning poetry to be included on the boards, and local artist Darlene Newman will lead the painting of the boards that will cover the property.

This project, sponsored by Renasant Bank, is part of UAC’s Public Art Outreach program, which provides disadvantaged communities an opportunity to enhance and revitalize their neighborhoods through public art.

This free event will be held at Memphis Slim Collaboratory House on Saturday, May 21, 2016, at 1130 College Street from 1 to 3 p.m. The boards will be painted from 4 to 7 p.m. 

For more information or to volunteer to paint the boards, please contact Siphne Sylve.

UAC Artist Spotlight | Birdcap

 

"Reinventing Memphis pride is Important to Us." 

#Birdcap #ArtistSpotlight #UAC

By: Hope Hudson & Grace John

When I was asked to interview Michael Roy (aka Birdcap), I was star-struck. He is one of the most prolific public artists in Memphis, and his crisply, whimsical figures stand out among all the other awe-inspiring murals in the city. My nerves were immediately frayed when I met him; his personality matches his warm, goofy murals. I got to talk with him at Phuong Long Vietnamese Diner, where his newest mural is underway. (I also brought my friend and coworker Grace John, because she is possibly his number one fan.)

Hope: How’d you get the job to paint this mural?

Michael: I’ve always enjoyed eating here a lot. Over time, Scott [an employee at Phuong Long] figured out that I paint and started talking about having me do a mural here.  I think I said something like, “Ah, yeah, I’d do it for some more food!”  We joked about it for about six months, half-serious, and then Scott went over to the Brooks Museum and saw the installation we [Roy, Brandon Marshall, and Lance Turner] did.  I got a phone call from him that same day saying the mural was a go. So, I’m being paid in spring rolls and bubble teas… I’m homeless, but I drink really nice milkshakes.

Grace: How did y’all [Roy and Marshall] meet?

M: Well, Brandon already told the story on Creative Memphis.  It’s a bummer because I was wanting to make up some, like, real superb story about how we met…

H: Well, you can make it up now.

M: No, haha, my mom would cross-reference, and I’d be in some trouble… We met on Facebook. I was posting a lot of graffiti pics from Korea, and I guess he saw it through mutual friends. When I got back stateside he sent me a message asking if I wanted to go painting. He picked me up one day, and his truck was just absolutely covered with mud on the inside from playing with his dog that day, but I didn’t ask about it .  Later he said, “That’s when I knew we’d be friends; you never mentioned the mud.” We’ve been working together on most projects since.

G: How long had you been making art before you realized you wanted to get into street art?

M: I went to an arts high school, and that’s when I really started doing art seriously.  I went to MCA [Memphis College of Art]… but it wasn’t until I went to Korea about five years ago, and I was living in a small, Asian-style apartment. When you have that small of a space, you realize exactly how large each of your paintings are. So I went to sketchbooks and I made really bad art. I was post-college, doing mostly academic narratives, referencing art history. But the thing about that art is that it isn’t fun or interesting or entertaining if you’re not around other people playing the same game. So I had to workshop my art and make it a thing that I could enjoy without that academic community. That eventually led to street art.

H: What are some of your favorite pieces you’ve made in Memphis?

M: I’m really proud of the newest piece I did at Eclectic Eye. The owner gave me full flex, so I really got to map out something, and it wasn’t wrapped around a previous idea. It’s fun to do the things that people want, but just selfishly I guess, that one was the most fun. I also did a rooftop piece on Broad Avenue I had a good time making. 

H: What advice do you have for Memphis about public art?

M: The thing with doing public art in Memphis is that so many people who are willing to invest in it want the artwork to quote Memphis.  It’s pretty redundant to be in Memphis and look up at a mural that’s basically prompting Memphis tourism. That’s cool and it has its place, but the only time artists are in national radar is when they are given more free range. No matter how good a piece is, if it only relates to one city’s interests it has a limited power. I think the best way to make Memphis relevant is to make it compelling to the international community. The Eclectic Eye piece got a lot of national attention compared to my other pieces, but by far the most well-known piece I have in Memphis to Memphis is the Marc Gasol piece on Airways.  We basically just took that image from a photographer; it was for a commercial. But it’s the most famous here. It’s understandable I think, but maybe not super fulfilling. I think reinventing Memphis pride is important to us.

"Clip Art Sunstrokin" by Lance Turner X Birdcap | Chelsea Ave

"Bait" by Birdcap | Eclectic Eye

Michael Roy’s newest work includes the piece at Eclectic Eye on Cooper, the work he’s doing at Phuong Long on Cleveland, and a collaborative piece for the Brooks Museum’s “Art of Video Games” exhibit. UAC collaborations inclue the “I Love Memphis” mural on Broad Ave.

MAP's Public Art Challenge

Memphis Art Project

 

The Memphis Art Project (www.memphisart.org) is a beautifully designed, mobile-friendly, way-finding device that provides photos, descriptions, and locations for a growing number of public art pieces in Memphis. MAP is managed by staff and students in the Rhodes College Visual Resources Center, and is funded by grants from the Center for Outreach and Development in the Arts at Rhodes. After years of development, MAP launched in 2014 and is ready to help the people of Memphis explore the creative landmarks that the city has to offer.

The crew in the Rhodes College Visual Resource Center is working on a campaign to raise awareness for the Memphis Art Project, including promoting the website on Instagram and Twitter. On Saturday, April 25^th, the Memphis Art Project will host a city-wide Instagram Public Art Challenge. Instagram users that post the most/best/funniest photos of public art in Memphis throughout the day with the tags @memphisartproject and #memphisartproject in the description will win prizes. MAP will have a booth at the Vollintine-Evergreen art walk   to promote the event.

Check out the website at http://www.memphisart.org/

Follow MAP on Instagram @memphisartproject and Twitter @memphisartprjct

#memphisartproject