What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1364938
what he hopes to keep building on. "I'm not trying to take over a space, I'm just trying to enhance what's already here," Colorusso says outside the tunnel as a bird trills noticeably nearby. "I think some art needs to be behind bulletproof glass. But I don't want to make anything that's ever going to be there. I want to make something that anyone can come and see it. You don't need a degree in art history; just come." SPRINGDALE Seven new murals in Springdale are at different stages of completion thanks to a new grant allocated by the Downtown Springdale Alliance. The Walton Family Foundation and the Arts Center of the Ozarks both contributed to the grant, which matched artists with property owners interested in displaying a mural, following an application process for both. "One of our leading goals for downtown Springdale is to build a vibrant, diverse downtown that is reflective of our community and the people that live here," Dabbs says. With no specific restrictions or set theme, the review committee — made up of artists and non-artists — couldn't have anticipated what the submissions would look like. The pool of candidates, and the ultimate grant recipients, more than rose to the occasion with murals that include Springdale's history, touches of Marshallese culture, whimsical animals, life's emotional journey and more. "It's going to really show how much this downtown and community is loved," Dabbs adds. "And it's just going to give a lot of hope for all that is to come in the future, as well." Once the murals are all completed, the DSA is working toward establishing a mural tour, Dabbs shares. The tour will be hosted on a virtual platform, either through the DSA website or through a phone app, and will include all new and already existing murals in Springdale. The digital format will allow participants to scan a QR code with their phone at each mural that will provide information about the artist or the piece. Two artists on the tour are Mary Beth Breshears and Roxy Erickson. MARy BEth BREShEARS City where you live: Fayetteville Location of your artwork: On the shipping container behind the Community Clinic, near The Jones Center Mary Beth Breshears' artistic journey originally saw her in ceramics. She did take painting in college, but the hands- on nature of ceramics drew her in, and she focused on the medium during her undergraduate studies. It was her time in graduate school, teaching at an alternative school in Illinois, that opened her eyes to the possibilities of mural work. Through student involvement, Breshears remembers, she and a friend were tasked with the "beautification of the campus." Murals ended up being the perfect solution. "We got to teach students about Impressionist artists and how to make big expressive paint strokes across the walls," she shares. "It was incredible to see the students open up and connect with one another. I learned that it was more than just painting a wall; it was about the community we created, the stories that were shared between brush strokes and paint mixing. The students that were hesitant and shy at first began to work together and understand each other in ways they may have not had the opportunity to before." For her Springdale mural, students from both Springdale High School and the Teen Action and Support Center, helped design and inspire the piece, which ultimately came to incorporate imagery representative of many of the students' April 25-MAy 1, 2021 WhAt's up! 9 See Art Page 10 the symbolic images that evoke healing, strength, renewal and community were designed and inspired by students from springdale high school and the teen Action and support Center, who helped Fayetteville artist Mary Beth Breshears create her new mural at the Jones Center in springdale. (Courtesy photo/Meredith Mashburn photography)