Asheville Mural Project (AMP)
The Asheville Mural Project, a branch of the Arts2People 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, exists to beautify and diversify Asheville’s urban landscape, providing artists and local community members with the opportunity to design and implement their own public art. We believe that murals enhance quality of life and create artful metropolitan experience through the transformation of conventional architecture. Our murals are both the testimony and celebration of a lively local arts culture.
We are working to complete a section featuring two chess players engaged in play. The inspiration for this work comes from two gentleman that play in Pritchard Park daily in the warm months. The idea is to celebrate and sort of deify these two fellows for being a fundamental but potentially overlooked aspect of Asheville’s Downtown culture . It is a goal of our artist designers to accentuate things that are defining elements of Asheville. The large format of our public works is a great way to magnify important things that normal passersby might miss. The opposing mural on Merrimon’s west side will celebrate our agricultural importance, viability, and how sustainability is an important part of Asheville culture. This mural designed by Trish Tripp , and Melissa Glaze is underway in our studio in the River Arts District. Recently the mural project as a whole has switched mural techniques . The first half of the project was completed using a more traditional approach of painting directly on the surface of the bridge. Now we have adopted an old technique called marouflage. This method of painting murals on canvas like materials and laminating to a prepared surface has been improved greatly with the advent of modern materials. It creates a strong, long lasting mural and allows artist to work continuously through months when weather wouldn’t usually permit. There are numerous benefits to this technique and it has greatly improved the production and efficiency of our work. The Mural Project artists are too many to list because we employ the help of many different groups; from graffiti artist, to volunteers, Warren Wilson students and local “at risk” youth groups etcetera. Above is a list of our core artist that can be accredited not only with designing and painting for this project, but really giving their hearts and souls to this endeavor.
The Lexington Gateway muralists are Trish Tripp, Kurt Thaesler (www.flickr.com/kurtpaints), Harper Leich (www.harperleich.com), Josh Spiceland (www.flicker.com/spiceland), Melissa Glaze, Steve Lister, Daniel Beck (www.danieltbeck.com), Molly Must (www.mollymust.wordpress.com), and Ian Wilkinson (www.ianthepainter.com).
Contact molly@arts2people.org for more info.
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