Celebrate heritage with art!

One of the many Mexicantown murals. Photo by jm3 on Flickr at https://flic.kr/p/8yRRcj 

Anyone who enjoys murals would surely enjoy paying a visit to Detroit, specifically Mexicantown. The Detroit News recently published an article regarding Mexicantown celebrating Cinco de Mayo through the use of public art. While Detroit is becoming known for their murals, it is no surprise that they went above and beyond to celebrate this holiday. Michael H. Hodges, a news and fine arts writer, attended the event and described how the, artwork consisted of murals up, “along West Vernor and Springwells, Lisa Luevanos’ viaduct mosaics, and ordinary wrought-iron gates of unusual delicacy and detail throughout the district.”Every year on May 5th Mexicantown, Detroit, celebrates annually to act as a constant reminder of how magnificent Mexican culture is.

While this years Cinco de Mayo celebrations included a creative contest which acted as a way of encouraging and motivating guests to come out and see the murals and other beautiful artwork, like Mary Herbeck’s whimsical, inlaid-ceramic chairs on Vernor near Casper. While I keep mentioning celebrating this holiday, it is importat to know what exactly the Mexican are celebrating. Cinco de Mayo is celebrated both here in the US and in Mexico because of when the Mexican army fought and won against the French army back in 1862 on none other than May 5th. To show off Mexican culture, what better way to celebrate than with art?

While Mexicantown celebrates with their many murals and festivities, Baltimore also partakes in celebration each year. The Creative Alliance program sets up a celebration annually which consists of music, food and of course, artwork! This year they celebrated by inviting people to come out and create beautifully crafted piñatas that represent Mexican culture. They also had food tasting of different types of Mexican food to celebrate their culture and introduce Americans who may not be familiar with the culture.

Aside from celebrating this holiday, the Creative Alliance is a program that brings forth people with artists from different cultural backgrounds to show off their art and participate in the events. They also include education programs that help individuals to engage in the creative process. They support and encourage local artists, and even try to promote these artists in Baltimore and hope that they will act as positive role models. The Creative Alliance is great for finding a sense of community and they always try to include anyone in the general public to come out and celebrate different heritages and cultures through the wonder of art.

The Creative Alliance partakes in exhibitions, music festivals, film festivals, art and workshops events, residency programs, community outreach programs, youth education and of course special events such as the celebration of Cinco de Mayo. The existence of this program is such an important part of Baltimore as it is created to inform and teach others about art in all forms.

The festivities and celebrations of the Creative Alliance are located at the Patterson, 3134 Eastern Ave., Baltimore MD 21224. This program also has an internship program which is quite handy especially for local artists trying to get their name out there and make a career of themselves, this is a great place to start. Or even if you are just a fan of art, you can check out their website to find out when they will be hosting more events.

Light up your night at Light City!

Baltimore’s Inner Harbor is a well known spot for tourists because of the events that take place now and again. Recently, Baltimore started a new tradition, called the City of Lights. Devin Bartolotta, a reporter for WJZ’s radio station, went to report about the event to give more insight about this new tradition.

The City of Lights started three years ago and is booming with more than 470,000 people  in attendance. What is it you ask? Light City, in my own words, is a place to walk around and view beautiful and abstract art sculptures, creations, music and more all for the public to see for free. Bartolotta explained how Light City brings thousands upon thousands of people together to celebrate art, innovation and creation as there is always something cool to look at every time you turn your head.

 

There are so many different attractions, specifically 21 new light installations. Each attraction is created by a different artist, and each artist that was able to show off their work was hand-picked by the staff who run this event themselves. All you have to do is apply online to see if you can present something interesting to get selected to show off your art. The event’s theme this year was called, “More Love, More Lights” which spreads such a positive message to inspire everyone to attend and appreciate the art and light displays.

This annual event happens every year in April, so in case you missed this years weekend of lights, there’s always next year! As I mentioned, this years show started April 14 and ended the 21st. Of course I just had to go to experience it myself and I can tell you first hand that this is an event you’ll want to check out, no matter your age. It would be a great place to visit if you are travelling or coming from out of state because there is just so much to do with different food venues and art attractions as well as the bands that make appearances to perform and the merchandise you can purchase to promote the event and show you attended.

Baltimore’s Office of Promotion and The Arts (BOPA) produces Light City each year. BOPA is a non-profit organization that takes part in Baltimore’s art council, film office and events agency and on behalf of all the attendees of Light City, I speak for them when I say they really put together something special here.

BOPA has awarded more than $2 million back to local Baltimore artists since the festival’s inception and last year created $44 million in economic impact with one billion media impressions for Baltimore. They give local and not-so-well-known artists a chance to be heard and for so many to see their hard work and creations. To show support of the event and be a part of the excitment, more than 60 buildings surrounding the Inner Harbor participated by putting up different lights on the outside of their windows and walls which you can see from miles away. Every year the event gets bigger and better, so make sure you don’t miss the next one!

Graffiti Alley or Rally?

It’s no surprise that graffiti can be seen in one of two ways; street art, or vandalism. Everyone interprets it in a different way. Now obviously since spray painting curse words on a work building is not what most would consider art, laws have been established of where it is legal and illegal to do so. For example, Byron Bay (Australia) is known for their overwhelming amount of street art and murals. However, Byron Shire News indicates the graffiti is currently on lock down as the Council’s Public Art Panel created a new Draft Public Art Policy . This policy basically says they are now banning street art in mural form and only accepting art in sculpture form. Banning graffiti art raises much controversy because it is close minded to the fact that some people wish to express their art abilities through murals on walls for the public eye to see.

Similarly, Baltimore, MD holds laws against graffiti and murals on walls as it is considered vandalism. You can get up to three years in prison and receive a $2,500 fine for spray painting on basically every corner of the city. Except one. Graffiti Alley is the only place in Baltimore where graffiti is legal and encouraged. As a result of allowing one corner of the city to be “vandalized”, Graffiti Alley has turned into one of the best hotspots of Baltimore where many people go to take artsy pictures with colorful backgrounds.

Many local photographers will use this location as their setting due to the overwhelming amount of art that has been created on the walls by a plethora of people. In fact, when I was there for just a short time of 10 minutes or so, several people were out taking professional pictures, and three people were in the makings of creating more graffiti art. It is a place to express yourself and show off your art abilities without worrying about getting in trouble with the law.

When visiting Graffiti Alley, the colors were so vibrant that it creates a warm and welcoming environment. If you actually take the time to look at the paintings, it is so much easier to appreciate the work that went into it and the creative ideas behind it. Even just visiting the alley for a few minutes will open your mind to new ideas and get your creativity juices flowing. It is perfect for taking awesome pictures with such a fun background.

Before the alley was created with such amazing art work, the alley was known as one of the most dangerous alleys in Baltimore with many shootings and scandals. However, when graffiti became legal in this alley, the entire atmosphere completely changed and there has not been any recent crimes in the alley since. This just proves the power art has over people and places.

The best thing about the alley is that if you are planning a trip to walk around Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, Graffiti Alley is just 10 minutes out! The location of Graffiti Alley can be found on Google Maps here. The best way to describe the location is across from Baltimore’s Motel 6 and next to the United Sanitary. It’s a great spot to appreciate some free art and take perfect pictures.

 

 

Spread the Unity by Spreading Your Wings

Looking for your next Instagram picture backdrop? Maybe you want a new profile picture for Facebook? Maybe you simply appreciate art and are looking for a beautiful public art display? It seems as though nowadays the amount of “likes” you receive on a photo determines your self-worth and your photos define and capture who you are as an individual. Why not put your social media power to good use? Allow me to introduce to you a global trend that has taken over the web called The Global Angel Wings Project. Colette Miller started this project in Los Angeles, known as the “City of Angels”, back in 2012 and the trend has continued to shine on. When scrolling through Instagram just yesterday, a friend posted a selfie with hashtags, “The Museum of Selfies” and “Global Angel Wings Project”. I soon discovered after following the links that a new museum is opening up in Los Angeles titled The Museum of Selfies, where people go to take amazing pictures with great backdrops. The art in the museum is meant to be a fun place to take selfies with illusions as their backdrops, much like one of the art pieces that is featured within the museum known as Colette Miller’s Angel Wings. Although the art piece in the museum is 3-D addition, you might recognize the famous angel wings as pictured below: (these wings are located in California where the idea originated and the first pair of wings was born). 

This is the original wing art created in Los Angeles, California. Photo by: altiemae on https://flic.kr/p/U6jgmW

 

Colette Miller has gone across the world painting angel wing murals on walls for people to pose in front of and spread the message behind the wings. What is this underlying meaning you ask? I am excited to inform you that the message behind this trend is quite beautiful and inspirational. Miller started this project as a way of reminding the world that we are all angels of the Earth and each person who poses in front of the wings will have come from different backgrounds, cultures, ethnicities, etc. Each individual is different, but we are all united as we spread peace, and spread our wings! Isn’t that the most inspirational thing you have ever heard? I wanted to take part of this global trend and participate in taking a photo in front of wings but I know I’m not alone when I say that I don’t exactly have the money to book a flight to California. Curiosity struck, so I took it upon myself to do some research about the other locations of the public art wings that Miller created. You will be glad to hear that there is in fact a marking of Colette Miller’s angel wings within the streets of Baltimore, Maryland! While driving to the location of the wings, I noticed that the public art display was painted up on a wall of an old movie theater that has unfortunately burned down…but the good news is, the wings remain! No fire was able to burn out the beauty of these wings.

Miller placed her signature and logo (located in the bottom right corner of the above photo) beside the wings to let people know they should continue spreading the trend. The location in Baltimore is not in the nicest part of the city, but I believe it was worth the quick drive to see the global project being projected onto the world. These markings are located in Australia, Kenya, Taiwan, France, Cuba, Juarez Mexico, etc., so the fact that one of them was thoughtfully placed in Baltimore is quite special. The address of the location in Baltimore is: 320 North Eutlaw Street, Baltimore, MD

Spread peace and quality selfies by visiting this public art and uploading a photo of yourself or your friends standing in front of it. Keep the positivity flowing with this mesmerizing angel wing display. 
Click here to check out Colette Miller’s short film to find out more about The Global Angel Wings Project!