News

WALL\THERAPY 2022 – Ten Year Anniversary Roster!

admin June 23, 2022July 19, 2022 Uncategorized

$WALL\THERAPY Ten year Logo$

It is with great pleasure that we announce our roster for the WALL\THERAPY 2022 Ten Year Anniversary Festival!

To celebrate the last ten years, we’ve invited six artists from our past to rejoin us, as well as welcoming six new artists to the WALL\THERAPY Family.

The festival will begin on Saturday, July 23 and run through Sunday July 31, 2022.

We’ll be announcing more programming (and the locations!) in upcoming weeks, including several workshops with our visiting artist throughout the week and a free-to-the-public screening of Martha: A Picture Story with a Q&A with Martha Cooper afterwards at the Little Theatre on Tuesday, July 26. (Registration required, link here!)

We cannot wait to see you back in the streets again this July!

WALL\THERAPY 2022 muralists:

Nani Chacon
Ephraim Gebre
Conor Harrington
Sydney G. James
Jarus
Ian Kuali’i
Daniel Jesse Lewis
Elléna Lourens
Faring Purth
Luvon Shepard
Keya Tama
Brittany Williams
with Martha Cooper

To learn more about each artists, click on their name to visit their artist page.

Stay tuned!

WT x URMC – Better Together project

admin March 2, 2022July 19, 2022 Artist, Event

WT x URMC Better Together Mural installed on a brick wall at U of R Medicine

WALL\THERAPY Brightens the Bricks at the University of Rochester Medical Center
The ‘Better Together’ mural is now on display as part of continued campaign of thanks for URMC staff

As the second anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic in Rochester approaches, the University of Rochester Medical Center has commissioned a community art project through WALL\THERAPY that celebrates the unwavering commitment to patient care and collaboration embodied by URMC’s staff.

“The WALL\THERAPY artwork paints a picture of how our teams have worked together to care for the community,” said Kathy Parrinello, executive vice president and chief operating officer for Strong Memorial Hospital. “This pandemic has been challenging for everyone, from our environmental services team to the department of surgery, the nursing staff to the hospital greeters and ambassadors. We have made it through these difficult times without sacrificing high quality patient care because we’ve all worked together.”

Two local WALL\THERAPY artists, Joanna Eberts and Jon Finlayson, worked with the URMC team to create a statement piece that would reflect very simply that we are all better when we work together. The neon-colored portraits and the unique lettering treatment create an eye-catching and inclusive piece of artwork that will shine brightly on the medical center. The ‘Better Together’ mural was installed this week on the south side of the Golisano Children’s Hospital. The five-foot-by-25-foot installation is visible to staff who enter the medical center from Crittenden Boulevard and will be on display for the public to enjoy as well.

“Our Medical Center staff have worked tirelessly for the past two years and deserve our thanks,” said URMC Chief Medical Officer Michael Apostolakos, M.D., F.C.C.P. “The WALL\THERAPY mural is one of the ways leadership can publicly acknowledge the hard work and team spirit of our people in a way that invites the entire community to share in our appreciation.”

WALL\THERAPY will celebrate its 10-year anniversary this year and the Rochester community can expect to see new projects on walls around town in the months to come. The organization was founded by Ian Wilson, M.D., a 1999 graduate of the University of Rochester’s School of Medicine and Dentistry, as a way to give back to Rochester. The manifestation of that thank you became WALL\THERAPY, a community-level intervention using mural art as a vehicle to address our collective need for inspiration.

“We (WALL\THERAPY) were so honored to be approached to work with URMC to create a tribute to their health care workers. With our founder’s roots in healthcare, this project was close to our hearts, and offered us an opportunity to express our own gratitude to all of the health care workers who have endeavored tirelessly to keep us safe and care for us when we need it most,” said Erich S. Lehman, co-curator, lead organizer for WALL\THERAPY. “We were excited to bring together two regional artists, Joanna Eberts and Jon Finlayson, to create a dynamic, custom artwork for URMC that celebrates ALL of our frontline healthcare workers.”

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About WALL\THERAPY
WALL\THERAPY is an art and community intervention project, using public murals as a means to transform the urban landscape, inspire, and build community. WALL\THERAPY murals have transformed walls, buildings, and neighborhoods. This transformation has sparked inspiration in individuals and communities alike. The murals have become part of the local conversation, the local identity, and the fabric of the city. Local art classes and schools tour the murals as part of the curriculum. Local professionals change their route to the murals as part of their drive home. Local artists, young and old, find inspiration in the works. WALL\THERAPY mural project is now recognized worldwide. People from 2000+ cities in 104+ countries have visited the WALL\THERAPY site to learn more. New mural artists from around the world ask about painting Rochester, for the first time or for another time. For more information, visit www.wall-therapy.com.

About the University of Rochester Medical Center
One of the nation’s leading academic medical centers, URMC – comprised of Strong Memorial Hospital, Eastman Institute for Oral Health, the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and its faculty practice (University of Rochester Medical Faculty Group), and the University of Rochester School of Nursing – forms the centerpiece of the University of Rochester’s health research, teaching and patient care missions. Under the UR Medicine clinical brand, URMC serves as upstate New York’s premier health care delivery network, anchored by Strong Memorial, an 886-bed, University-owned teaching hospital designated by the New York State Department of Health as a Level One Regional Trauma and Burn Center and home to Western New York’s only cardiac transplant program. With more than 26,000 part- and full-time employees, the Medical Center is the largest single component of the Rochester region’s leading employer.

LABOR DAY 2021 with Maxx242 and Nico Cathcart

admin December 24, 2021June 6, 2022 Artist, Event

We were fortunate to welcome back former muralists Nico Cathcart and Maxx242 over Labor Day Weekend 2021! It was great to get together with old friends and get back to making large scale murals!

Nico Cathcart Mural - Cosmos — *Nico Cathcart – Cosmos*

Nico Cathcart’s finished mural is named “Cosmos,” and is part of her Symbiotic series, focusing on the interconnected relationship between humans and the earth. We share a symbiotic relationship, and our day to day actions have an effect on the environment, whether it be the disappearance of pollinators, greenspace in urban neighborhoods or the temperature rise affecting our sea ice. Nico uses a contemporary take on the traditional memento mori genre, the focus on human skulls, surrounded by flora and fauna begs the viewer to consider their own mortality, while highlighting the fragile connection between ourselves and the environment. She asks the viewer to empathize with the earth and realize that survival depends on actions taken to address climate change.

This mural can be viewed at 40 Greenleaf St., Rochester, NY 14609. As it is on a business roll-door, the optimal viewing hours are after 5pm during the week and anytime on the weekends.

Maxx242’s mural is named “Mother.” Maxx had this to say . . .

“A tribute to all women and their ability to create and support life. I grew up in a Hispanic household. My mother was the foundation and the backbone of the family and the home. My father was never around and left completely my first year of high school. My mother just kept going. Working and taking care of the house. It wasn’t easy for her. When she passed away, I realized that if the shoe was on the other foot, my father would never, and could never do what my mother did. Women have this fierce strength inside of them, as a mother, a daughter, as family, and in our community. Thank you for everything you do, for having the strength to keep it together when the world around you was falling apart. For fighting and winning when you were told you couldn’t. It is your time, today, and tomorrow. Even if today is cloudy, the future is bright. Thank you mom, for making me the man I am today.”

This mural can be viewed at the corner of 40 Greenleaf St., Rochester, NY 14609 and Atlantic Avenue.

Labor Day Weekend with Old Friends

admin September 2, 2021April 3, 2023 Artist, Event

10 years ago, Dr. Ian Wilson brought together a small group of artists from South Africa to Rochester as an idea he had to make a difference in our city, a Visual Intervention.

In that spirit, we’ll be joined by two of our old friends from previous WALL\THERAPY festivals over Labor Day weekend to once again make some murals.

MAXX242 (WT15) and Nico Cathcart (WT18) will be painting at 40 Greenleaf St. 14609 starting Saturday 9/4. We invite you all to swing by and take in the creation over the weekend!

We’ll also be having a little “garage sale” of older merchandise in random leftover sizes! And who knows what else we’ll think of by the weekend!

Thank you for being a part of our journey, and we’ll see you next weekend!

You can follow along for updates at https://www.facebook.com/events/392804298887543

Announcing the 2020 WALL\THERAPY mini-grant award winners!

admin July 17, 2020June 6, 2022 Artist, Event, News

WALL\THERAPY is proud to announce the winners of our inaugural Summer Mini-grants! The recipients will be working on ten projects around the city between now and August 18th, and we’ll be sharing progress on all of these projects during the next month and a half.

Congratulations go to (in alphabetical order):

Athesia Benjamin @tisha.b.art – Rachel DeGuzman @artandjusticeroc – Rachel DeVona – Kat Donahue @kat.a.dog – Alexa Guzman @AirTheProject – Carla Halstead @littlewingarts – Jessica Lieberman @jess_liebray – Sophia McRae – Narionna Nunez @Kahzmirh – Delores Jackson Radney

We want to thank EVERYONE who applied, they showed the best of what Rochester can be, and we are stoked you all are a part of our community.

Project Descriptions

Athesia Benjamin is receiving a grant to support the realization of a mural. Inspired by the aesthetics of protest signs, and building on the momentum of the current Black Lives Matter protests, the design of Athesia’s wall will center on a handwritten rendering of the sentence “Black Lives built this country.”

Rachel DeGuzman received a grant to support “Black Lives Still Matter: An Outdoor Long Table Installation.” The 43rd event in a series of public conversation staged by the DeGuzman’s initiative 21st Century Arts: Activating the Intersection of Art and Justice, “Black Lives Still Matter” took place on July 4, in front of a Black Lives Matter mural painted by Nzinga Muhammad, Etana Browne, and Kaori-Mei Stephens for WALL\THERAPY in 2017.

Rachel DeVona will use her grant to populate Little Library’s around the city with books written by BIWOC authors. The books themselves will be embellished with author portraits, painted by Rachel on the cover. This summer project will inaugurate a larger endeavor during which Rachel aims to read, paint, and distribute one hundred books authored by Black/Indigenous/Women of Color.

Kat Donahue will be using her grant toward continuing an ongoing project. While living in the 19th Ward, Kat began making small oil lamps to distribute to her neighbors and area families who were grieving the loss of a loved one. In this current moment, with so many people experiencing loss, Kat is expanding this project to a larger scale. The first part of the project will be creating 100’s of little jar lamps. Once completed, as she describes, “the longer portion of the project would actually be spreading them throughout the city in a meaningful way and I’d like them to spread like COVID-19, from person to person.” Kat will of course be maintaining safe social distancing protocols for the entirety of the project!

Alexa Guzman’s grant will go toward creating a mural that she will invite the community to contribute to, while adhering to safe social distancing practices. This mural will build upon the recent work Alexa has done with her “Project A.I.R.” initiative, and will add to the community conversations around racial justice and policing.

Carla Halstead’s grant will support her #RochesterPeaceCrane project, a participatory effort to create and distribute 1000 cranes in the city of Rochester. Different iterations of the peace cranes (traditional folded origami, wheat paste designs, stencils) will be given to volunteer community members throughout the summer and collectively displayed in a city-wide installation on August 15th.

Jessica Lieberman will be receiving a grant to support her creation of a mural downtown. in honor of the centennial of the 19th Amendment, Jessica will work with youth muralists in painting a sepia toned photographic style image of an 1890’s woman cyclist.

Sophia McRae is receiving a grant to support the commissioning of a garden shed mural for an urban garden in the Beechwood neighborhood: the Denver Street Training Garden, part of St. Mark’s and St. John’s EDEN Gardens. The mural will be painted by Rochester artist, urban farmer, and Beechwood resident Chloe Smith.

Narionna Nuñez is receiving a grant to support her transformation of a BLM photo project into a mural. Narionna will be using photos she has taken of her peers, combined with her own prose, to paint a mural that represents her community and friends, and promotes a more nuanced contemplation of black excellence.

Delores Jackson Radney is receiving a grant to support her live performances of a 1st person narrative of the life of freedom fighter Anna Murray Douglass. In preparation for the centennial of the 19th Amendment, Delores has done a year of extensive research on AMD and written a 20 minute monologue depicting her life, which she plans to memorize. She will also be creating a costume for her performances, which will take place at various locations in Rochester throughout 2020.

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These mini-grants are made possibe thanks to The Avangrid Foundation $5000 grant to support WALL\THERAPY (a Synthesis Collaborative Project), in partnership with RG&E.

Overview of #AVANGIVES

AVANGIVES is the Foundation’s flagship open call for employee-nominated grants, and one of its most uniformly engaging community initiatives. Launched in 2019, the program sought to recognize outstanding organizations our employees dedicate their time and talent to, or are personally touched by, that are making a real difference in our communities. The focus in its inaugural year was on youth, with 10 organizations chosen for $5,000 grants. You can view their stories – and those of the 2019 nominees – here: https://www.avanewsblog.com/avangives.

This year in 2020-2021 series called for nominations of qualified nonprofits working for women, diversity and inclusion – and received response from employees at all levels of the company and across all geographies. In March, the Foundation announced expansion to include 12 nonprofits. Each will each receive a $5,000 gift to further their work to advance equality and serve women, girls, and diverse groups in our communities – spanning from Portland, ME to Portland, OR.

Their stories, which will be told throughout the year, will speak to female leadership, advocacy for women’s rights, health & safety, empowerment – and so much more.

You can find a list of all the AVANGives 2020 grantees (including WALL\THERAPY!) here: https://www.avanewsblog.com/agrfoundation/womens-history-voting-anniversary

WALL\THERAPY 2020 – Summer Mini-Grant Application

admin May 27, 2020June 6, 2022 Artist, News

In critical dialogue with the celebration of the 2020 Women’s Suffrage Centennial, this year’s edition of WALL\THERAPY was going to invite a group of female, femme, and non-binary artists to bring their work to Rochester. Given the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which have made safe travel and in-person interactions practically impossible, we have had to rethink how we can utilize our resources to make a positive impact in our local community.

We were recently awarded a $5000 grant from the Avangrid Foundation to support this year’s festival. Together with the Avangrid Foundation, we have decided to break these funds up into 10 mini-grants of $500 each, available to artists in the Rochester, NY region. (We’ll have a separate post about that Avangrid award!)

In keeping with our intended curation for the year, we will only be considering applications from artists who self-identify as female, femme, and non-binary for these grants.

We are using this opportunity to move beyond our traditional focus on mural making, embracing ALL manner of creativity. We are looking for local artists to create little pockets of impact throughout the city using the tools you know best. This call is open to ALL qualifying artists across all the creative fields—visual, auditory, performance, etc—who meet the eligibility requirements! You don’t have to consider yourself a professional artist, either; we want to hear what you would create to inspire/improve your local area!

Rules and Eligibility Requirements

1. The application period begins on Wednesday, May 27, 2020 and ends on Wednesday, June 24, 2020 at 11:59pm.

2. Qualified applicants must self-identify as female, femme, or non-binary, as we wish to stay true to our intended curation for 2020.

3. The artist must reside and actively make work in the Rochester, NY region (focusing on Monroe County, but closely neighboring counties will also be considered.)

4. Applicants are asked to propose projects that positively impact/inspire/help a Rochester, NY neighborhood/community, working creatively within the restraints of social distancing. Keep it local, keep it safe!

5. The project can be of any creative discipline.

6. The project should be completed by August 15, 2020.

7. Applicants may submit up to three (3) different project proposals, but they must be submitted either as separate PDF files or links to self-hosted videos through your single application.

8. We ask that grant recipients document their project so that we can share the word of what you are creating. We have a team who can help safely document your project.

9. A total of 10 projects (no more than 1 per artist) will be selected for a $500 grant.

10. The grant will be disbursed in two payments:
a) 1x initial award of $350 to be disbursed by July 1, 2020.* This money is to be used toward the project.
b) 1x final award of $150 after the project is completed and documented. This money is for the artist as a stipend.

11. Grant recipients will be selected by a committee of our year-round WALL\THERAPY staff members.

12. Artists retain all rights to the idea/proposals presented, whether they are selected for a grant or not.

13. To expand opportunities to new artists, proposals by artists who have participated as part of a previous WALL\THERAPY festival will not be considered.

*Assuming recipient has submitted all necessary contact information after being notified of their award.

Proposal Requirements

We aren’t asking you to overthink this one! We’ve filled out grants before and know how much of a pain they can be!

We’re just looking for a 1 to 2 page document that gives us a sense of what you’d like to do. You can always fine-tune the details as long as you stay true to the intent of the original proposal—we’re focused on the ideas first! Please include all the requested details and photos in one single PDF per project idea. You can submit up to three separate proposals simultaneously.

Alternatively, we’ll also accept proposals submitted as 1 to 2 minute videos. You can share a private video link (via YouTube or Vimeo) through our online application.

Details we’re looking for:
• Summary of the project
• Approximate supply list (if we have something in our current supply stock, we may be able to help with some of your supplies)
• Approximate timeline for completion. Show us that you’ve thought about what it would take to pull off your idea!
• Got sketches? Include those! They can even be rough thumbnails as they help get your idea across to us.
• Samples of your own work that might help show what you are trying to do.

NOTE: While we welcome proposals that have taken inspiration from other people’s projects or ideas, we want these projects to be your own creative expression. Proposals that are direct copies of another project will be deemed ineligible.

Please feel free to contact us at WALLTHERAPYNY@GMAIL.COM if you have questions about the application or your project! Otherwise, click the button below to apply!

These mini-grants are made possibe thanks to The Avangrid Foundation $5000 grant to support WALL\THERAPY (a Synthesis Collaborative Project), in partnership with RG&E.

Overview of #AVANGIVES

AVANGives is the Foundation’s flagship open call for employee-nominated grants, and one of its most uniformly engaging community initiatives. Launched in 2019, the program sought to recognize outstanding organizations our employees dedicate their time and talent to, or are personally touched by, that are making a real difference in our communities. The focus in its inaugural year was on youth, with 10 organizations chosen for $5,000 grants. You can view their stories – and those of the 2019 nominees – here: https://www.avanewsblog.com/avangives.

Their stories, which will be told throughout the year, will speak to female leadership, advocacy for women’s rights, health & safety, empowerment – and so much more.

You can find a list of all the AVANGives 2020 grantees (including WALL\THERAPY!) here: https://www.avanewsblog.com/agrfoundation/womens-history-voting-anniversary