After 10 days of frenzied activity, logistical maneuvering, creative expression, and many laughs, group dinners, and companionable conversation at our home base at The Yards, WALL\THERAPY 2015 has come to an end. In its fifth year, the project continued to evolve, most significantly this year through its new partnership with URBAN NATION, which co-curated roughly half of the project’s artists and contributed to the continued realization of our primary goals: transforming Rochester’s urban landscape, providing healing inspiration, and building community.
WALL\THERAPY 2015 was punctuated by three open-to-the-public events. It kicked off with its first ever art exhibition in support of IMPACT! – IMProving Access to Care by Teleradiology, featuring studio work from all of the participating artists. A portion of all sales from the show will go directly to The Synthesis Collaborative to support the IMPACT! project. You can view available work here: http://shop.1975ish.com/category/impact-wt15
IMPACT! seeks to provide easier access to better care in underdeveloped and underserved regions through cloud-based x-ray services and a network of volunteer radiologists supporting IMPACT! sites. Both WALL\THERAPY and IMPACT! are projects of The Synthesis Collaborative. The Synthesis Collaborative is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the health status of communities in the developing world using the tools of teleradiology and cloud computing.
Photo by Jason Wilder
Photo by @markdeffphoto
On Thursday, partners, artists, staff, volunteers and visitors enjoyed the FLOOR\THERAPY dance party hosted by The Lobbyist at Rochester’s Bug Jar to celebrate the week’s work.
Finally, on Friday, media partners Brooklyn Street Art hosted their popular BSA Film Friday—Live from WALL\THERAPY at the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester.
Photo by Jason Wilder
Photo by Jason Wilder
You can view a short trailer of our upcoming artist spotlight videos that we’ll be releasing every Monday in August below:
(or you can view it on Vimeo if you prefer.)
THE MURALS
Focused on a theme of surrealism and the fantastic, the artists’ work did not disappoint, with subjects ranging from a whale of melting ice, a young girl with a blooming mind to a retaliating beaver and a battle royale between monsters and robots.
Click on any of the images to open a larger version in a new window.
Prior to the official start of WALL\THERAPY 2015, Dutch artist Handiedan completed a wheatpaste mural in Rochester’s South Wedge/Swillburg neighborhood entitled “Bollywood Sugar.”
820 South Clinton Avenue – Photo by @markdeffphoto
New York City-based artist Daze completed three murals during his time in Rochester, “Rochester Dream” on Rochester’s north side, a collaboration with the city’s local FUA Krew and a final wall on Atlantic Avenue.
646 Joseph Ave – Photo by @markdeffphoto
646 Joseph Ave – Photo by @markdeffphoto
FUA KREW production wall with DAZE – Photo by @markdeffphoto
From L – R: Daze, Range FUA, Zoner FUA, Snoe FUA, Mas, Bones FUA
430 Atlantic Ave – Photo by Jason Wilder
Daze’s third mural merged into clouds emanating from Nate Hodge’s mural just around the corner on the same building.
430 Atlantic Ave – Photo by Tomas Flint
Continuing to round the building, visitors will encounter Brazilian artist Eder Muniz’s mural of vibrant animals and mythological creatures dancing across a saturated blue background.
430 Atlantic Ave – Photo by Erich Lehman
The final mural located on the building belongs to Vexta, a Brooklyn-based artist, whose mural of fluorescent cosmic shards is anchored by the face of a masked woman.
430 Atlantic Ave – Photo by Tomas Flint
Just down Atlantic Avenue, artist Li-Hill completed a large, three-story mural in just over three days.
400 Atlantic Ave – Photo courtesy of ©Ian Cox
Prior to tackling his giant wall, Li-Hill first created an installation piece in an undisclosed location in the Northwest side of the city.
Detail Shot Photo by Lisa Barker
Nearby on Greenleaf Street, Swedish artist Andreas Englund wrapped up his second ever mural of a resting superhero entitled “Pebbles.”
40 Greenleaf Street – Photo by Jason Wilder
Just around the corner on an eastern wall at Fedder Industrial Park, which is also populated with work from 2014 WALL\THERAPY artists Addison Karl, Omen, Jarus and Troy Lovegates, local artists Joe Guy Allard and Matthew Roberts created a giant blockbuster mural of a battle between monsters and robots.
1237 East Main Street – Photo by Jason Wilder
Early in the week, California-based artists Jeff Soto and Maxx242 quickly completed a massive mural in Rochester’s Public Market and then promptly headed to another on which Maxx completed a scripted mural with the words “Love and Sacrifice.”
43 Public Market – Photo by @markdeffphoto
912 Hudson Ave – Photo by @markdeffphoto
Near Daze’s first mural on Joseph Avenue, Rochester artist Brittany Williams lay down a striking portrait of a young woman in profile, whose mind splits open to reveal flower petals flowing from her mind.
488 Joseph Avenue – Photo by Jason Wilder
Swiss artists NEVERCREW created a stunning wall downtown, already popular among WALL\THERAPY followers, that shows a small whale inside a larger whale made of melting ice with the city skyline reflecting back, intersected by a burning ombré ray of sunlight.
14 Capron Street – Photo by Jason Wilder
Also hailing from Switzerland, artists Onur and Wes21 created a masterpiece of the natural world’s retaliation against human incursion on Main Street.
880 East Main StreetV-VPhoto by Jason Wilder
Year after year, it becomes more evident that WALL\THERAPY’s mission of inspiration has caught on among its supporters—artists, staff, volunteers, sponsors and community partners alike—and has created an undercurrent of passion in action that makes a project such as this possible. With just 15 artists, our event was an intimate one that allowed the artists time to appreciate the city they are helping to heal, and gave volunteers and staff time to meet those artists whose work will grace 14 of its walls.
THANK YOU!
The WALL\THERAPY team is sincerely grateful for the support we receive, without which it would be impossible to deliver inspirational mural art throughout Rochester.
To the Rochester community, your support is integral to our continued work. You’ve helped us to raise more than $35,000 on our Indiegogo campaign, without which we would not have gotten the project off the ground. Community sponsors provided meals and beverages that fueled artists, staff and volunteers throughout a busy week. And the donation of time and sharing of links and photos help us to reach more and more community members.
To our major partners — URBAN NATION, Brooklyn Street Art and Montana Cans — your involvement helped us to raise our 2015 event to even greater heights through increased outreach and support.
To business owners who donated walls now graced with WALL\THERAPY murals, thank you for the opportunity and trust you have granted us. You have helped us to continue the work of positive change and healing throughout Rochester.
To our contributing artists, who have honored us with their incredible creations and helped us to continue to heal our city, and whose appreciation for our city is reflected in their dedication to the work, and kind regard for our community members and volunteers, we thank you.
To our volunteers and staff, many of whom took time from their jobs to work long hours in support of our project, managing the complicated logistics of artists and volunteers spread throughout the city, providing hospitality to our artists, ensuring they had the cans of paint and supplies they needed when they needed them, and delivering much needed refreshment and shade during the long hot days of the past week, you are the heart and soul of WALL\THERAPY.
To our photographers and videographers, who often worked long into the night alongside artists to ensure we documented the images of the work, and but also captured the sense of community and enjoyment that surrounds the work, we are enormously grateful.
Please visit our Facebook page to see even more galleries of this year’s event!
Photo courtesy of ©Ian Cox
(First image at top: Eder Muniz – Photo by Jenn Poggi)