Symbolically, walls stand to divide space, to enclose people and property. But for Dr. Ian Wilson and the network of medical professionals, artists, and volunteers he has organized around Rochester’s annual Wall\Therapy street-art festival, and the medical-philanthropy organization Impact, walls stand for something other than themselves. Through those initiatives, walls have the capability to unite communities on local and global scales.
Wall\Therapy efforts officially started in 2011. Since then more than a dozen local murals have been created by more than 20 international and local artists. These works grace the largely empty walls of Rochester; you can currently see murals from the project in the areas surrounding the Rochester Public Market and the St. Paul Quarter.
Leading up to this year’s Wall\Therapy event, which will see artists painting July 19-28, City caught up with Wilson and Erich Lehman of 1975 Gallery, who has taken a stronger organizing role in the effort this year. They reflected on the endeavor so far, previewed the festival line-up of artists, and discussed how they are preparing to shift the medical-philanthropy side of the endeavor to the forefront. For information on and photos of the existing murals, search “Wall Therapy” at rochestercitynewspaper.com. To learn more about what’s coming up, read on.
In addition to adding imagery to our Image City, the impact of Wall\Therapy artwork has been massive and varied. School and other group tours still take place, locals and out-of-towners pose in front of the murals for amateur and professional photos shoots. The images are becoming as iconic to Rochester as other visible aspects of the city, including the buildings upon which they are painted. For example, Faith47’s Railroad Street painting of a girl with sparrows swirling around her face is the background for a promotional photo of the Rochester musical group, Gibbs & Main.
But the images weren’t immediately welcomed by all. Last year, two murals in particular — Belgian artist ROA’s slumbering bears, and South African artist Faith47’s mural of a bare-breasted religious icon, both in the St. Paul corridor — created a bit of controversial buzz. Wilson describes the few negative responses in medical terms: “acute inflammation followed by quiescence. In other words, there was a vigorous reaction at first, which eventually healed. Some members of the community hadn’t seen art on this scale, so accessible and visible. And all art is a mirror. What people see in it says a lot about themselves, and I’ll continue to say that forever.”
But by and large, the artwork has been well received. Lehman says: “There were people within the municipality who just enjoyed the energy that was brought to the city. Not just the art, but the fact that people were in the community having a dialogue about art, for about a month.” Lehman argues that the art has brought people into neighborhoods that they might not otherwise visit, creating connections that might not have otherwise happened.
This year, the Wall\Therapy initiative will take place in two locations: along the El Camino Trail in the north part of the city, and through the South Wedge neighborhood in the south. Just as Wall\Therapy broke ground in the 2012 festival focal point, the Public Market area, with the Faith47, DALeast, and Freddy Sam paintings created in the summer of 2011 on Railroad Street, the organization introduced its presence to the El Camino Trail in 2012 with murals painted on the side of the Avenue D Recreation Center by San Francisco artist Siloette and New York City artist Cern.
“The El Camino Trail is an area of town we wanted to work in last year,” says Wilson. “But it turns out that there was kind of a natural gravitation toward the Market area, since there were so many walls concentrated in that area. It just seemed fitting to kind of focus our efforts mostly on the Market, and then offer an idea of things to come with the Avenue D Rec Center.” This year, Wilson and Lehman partnered with The Genesee Land Trust, in addition to Commissioner Luis Burgos and the Department of Recreation and Youth Services, in locating walls to paint and organizing the event’s presence in that area.
The inclusion of the South Wedge in this year’s festival grew out of casual conversations between property owners the Wall\Therapy organization, says Wilson. The Business Association of the South Wedge Area and the South Wedge Planning Committee, specifically Chris Jones of Historic House Parts and Duane Girdner of St. John’s Living, reached out to Lehman and Wilson independently of each other, and almost simultaneously.
In addition to the main two sites, property owners Dan and Randy Morgenstern will offer walls again in the St. Paul corridor, and Foodlink has offered walls on its building on Exchange Street. There will also likely be some work created on West Main, in the Susan B. Anthony neighborhood, and on the side of Ethiopian eatery, Natural Oasis, on Monroe Avenue.
Additional sites could be added, contingent upon a variety of factors. But the team is still interested in more walls for this year and to amass an inventory for the future, says Wilson. “We can never have too many walls.” (For an updated list of this year’s Wall/Therapy site locations visit wall-therapy.com.)
“The idea is to have some of the artists swap locations mid-week, depending on how long they’ll be here in the city and depending on how fast they paint,” says Wilson. “They may be able to paint in two different sections of our city, which have two completely different personalities.” That not only gives artists the opportunity to vary the location in which they are painting, but also for the city to have a significant amount of public art created in about a week.
In addition to the added imagery, it’s an “invitation for [residents] to explore the rest of the city they live in, and to see how the two neighborhoods, north and south, are linked by this art project,” says Wilson. Even though Rochester is a relatively small city, people tend to keep to their own quadrants for the most part. The festival provides a way of bridging communities within our greater community that need connections, he says.
The scope of the endeavor doubles not only in location this year, but also in the number of artists who will paint the town. The 2013 line-up will include more than 25 artists, one-third of whom are locally based. Returning out-of-towners include South African-based artists Faith47 and DALeast, who have participated each year, and Freddy Sam, who came to Rochester in 2011 but not last summer. Also returning are Cern (NYC), and Siloette (San Francisco). German artist Case is also scheduled to return, but a conflict will keep him away until later in the year; organizers anticipate he’ll visit in August.
New to this year are Binho (Brazil), DAZE (NYC), Ever (Argentina), Gaia (NYC/Baltimore), Conor Harrington (London), Lady Pink (NYC), Jessie and Katey (Jessie Unterhalter and Katey Truhn of Baltimore), Mike Ming (NYC), Chris Stain (NYC), and Wise Two (Kenya). Freedom (NYC) came to town earlier in July and painted murals in a secret location.
“One of the biggest changes this year is, whereas the 2012 year was really focused on what can be termed ‘street art,’ on an incredibly large scale, this year is back to the initial intended mix of what could be considered traditional graffiti, the roots of America graffiti, and modern street art,” says Lehman. Lady Pink, Freedom, and DAZE “are some of the original progenitors of New York City graffiti, coming to our city to paint with our local artists, to learn about our culture and our city and our crews,” he says.
Baltimore-based artist Gaia will arrive a few days prior to the official festival to do a bit of Rochester research. “He’s going to do a very city-specific mural. His work tends to be very much rooted in the neighborhoods and communities he’s painting in, with a lot of historical context,” says Lehman.
Some of the non-local artists being brought in have been huge inspirations for some of our artists here in town, such as Chris Stain, who is a pioneer in stencil work. Lehman is particularly excited to about the inclusion of London-based painter Conor Harrington, whose grand-scale murals blend historic and contemporary elements in a kinetic, cinematic staging, and Mike Ming of Barnstormers crew, who attended school at RIT and was a huge eye-opener for Lehman regarding “what creativity is. He was a huge, huge personal influence,” he says.
Legendary street-art and graffiti photographer Martha Cooper, who helped Wall\Therapy gain international attention last year, will return this year, Lehman says. “In the last year just seeing the world’s response to what we are doing here, and how well-received it is, is humbling and mind-blowing,” he says. “The rest of the world is seeing what we’re seeing, and why we love this place.” Cooper’s images of Rochester’s 2012 Wall\Therapy works were posted on her blog, which is hosted at 12ozprophet.com, and were subsequently picked up by blogs and street art culture sites around the world.
“We have some established artists locally whose work was so well received that it just made sense to have them participate again,” says Wilson of stencil artists Thievin’ Stephen and Mr. Prvrt (FUA Krew), as well as shifting-shapes painter St. Monci. Other local artists to be included this year are Bile (FFL crew), Change (FUA Krew), Range (FUA Krew), Adam Francey, Lea Rizzo, and Sarah Rutherford.
The latter two artists together run collaborative art space The Yards, which again functions as the “mission control” center for Wall\Therapy. Because both Yards organizers are painting in the festival this year, they plan to begin painting a bit in advance of the other artists, and extra volunteer support will be needed at The Yards.
“We need as many volunteers as possible to commit for the duration of the project,” say Wilson. Organizers are still in search of people to support the artists and to provide logistic support in both the Wedge and the El Camino Trail. That includes tasks like driving artists to their mural sites, bringing them food and water, and bringing them to various eateries and areas of local interest in their free time. “To be taken under the wing of a local person just makes the experience all the more genuine and less structured,” says Wilson.
Because of the more ambitious scope of the festival this year, Wilson and his team launched an Indiegogo community crowd-sourced funding endeavor for $30,000, and reached their goal. “Two things pushed me toward crowd-funding this year,” says Wilson. “A lot of resources have been spent personally, and I always say I couldn’t have spent that money in a better way. But it is still a significant amount that I can’t sustain year-to-year. The other bit is that last year we saw how many people supported our efforts…I think we were nominated for five categories [for City Newspaper’s Best of Rochester survey]. It really makes sense to share ownership of something this significant with a larger group of people. I think that’s the way to sustain something like this going forward — to continuously offer people who identify with the mission of this project the opportunity to support” as much as they comfortably can, he says.
“With so many worthy causes vying for support, it says a lot that people are choosing to support us,” says Wilson, adding that it speaks to the Rochester community’s progressive thinking regarding patronage of the arts, and specifically the non-traditional arts.
In addition to watching the artists’ progress, the community is invited to special events during the festival that will include two block parties (one in each of the main neighborhoods where the festival will take place) with music, dancing, and food on Saturday, July 20, and Thievin’ Stephen’s dance party, “Floor Therapy,” held at Skylark Lounge on Thursday, July 25. An artists’ talk at School of the Arts will be held again this year on Wednesday, July 24.
The medical philanthropy endeavor, Impact, for which Wall\Therapy is a promotional tool and fundraiser, will soon take center stage, as Wilson seeks to achieve the organization’s goal of implementing medical diagnostic technology in specific third-world communities by the end of this year.
Wilson traveled to Borgne, Haiti, in December 2012 as part of a delegation led by Dr. Rose-Marie Chierici, who is the founder of H.O.P.E. Haiti, a Rochester-based charity. “What I saw by putting my feet on the ground in Haiti was an amazing level of dedication by a very young staff of people to care for the community using whatever resources they have,” says Wilson. “I asked the physicians how the addition of x-ray technology would enhance their ability to care for the community,” he says, “and they said it would be like night and day, what they would be able to do diagnostically, and therapeutically.”
During his trip, the difficulty of travel in Haiti became apparent to Wilson. “Outside of Port-au-Prince, infrastructure is significantly lacking in many areas,” he says. Roads to connect larger cities often times aren’t paved, and depending on the weather, can be impassible because of rock slides and other hazards. Wilson says that he traveled for hours at about 3 miles per hour over rocks and boulders to get to a cholera clinic. They crossed about three rivers in a vehicle equipped with a snorkel, as well as precarious mountain passes.
“And then you realize that people actually walk that distance to get to the clinic,” he says. Wilson says he has seen sick and injured people carried by others on the doors to their houses to get to a clinic. The staff members “are already doing as much as they can, and their needs are much greater. They can’t do any more without the support of an initiative like ours,” he says. The journey emboldened Wilson to try to get the needed medical facilities funded in this calendar year.
Impact will assume a larger presence in the group’s promotional efforts after this summer’s Wall\Therapy festival is done. “We want to weave a stronger link between the medical philanthropy and the mural art this year,” he says. “The goal is to give Impact more of a presence nationally, internationally, and to get support for it. Development is the major hurdle — it’s a lot of money to raise, especially when you’re talking about two sites in conjunction.” (The other Impact site is Cox’s Bazar, in Bangladesh.) In all, the goal is to raise nearly $500,000.
“Projects like Wall\Therapy continually allow us to sit down face-to-face with people who actually want to support medical philanthropy in a significant way. And those meetings are happening now,” says Wilson. “There are folks in the community who have expressed interest in helping with the, frankly, more important work of all of this,” he says. “Helping to preserve human life is infinitely more important.”
Wall\Therapy seeks not only to create connections through the celebration of art, but also to expose the community to Impact, and its mission of improving the healthcare of communities in the developing world. “Every opportunity that we had to tell that story has come about because of Wall\Therapy. So Wall\Therapy is a tremendous vehicle, a catapult for telling that story,” he says. “We are going to continue to do so in a more robust way for the balance of the year and into 2014.”
To that end, Wilson is planning some endeavors and events for the fall, which will include a globalgiving.org campaign. “I realized that my development strategies for Impact were a little too provincial, too small, too short-sighted,” Wilson says. “It makes sense that support for Wall\Therapy comes from this community because it’s something that benefits this community, is visible by this community, and is something based here in Rochester.” Wilson believes it makes more sense to have a similar but more widespread approach with regard to Impact, “which from its inception, by definition, is an international project.”
“The idea with the Global Giving campaign is to have the Haitian diaspora and the Bengali diaspora be able to support projects that are a benefit to their own communities from wherever they are, be they in the United States, in the United Kingdom, Asia, wherever,” says Wilson. The goal is to get one of the projects funded, if not both of them, by the end of this year. In preparation, Impact will establish a digital presence, “so that people can learn more about what we’re doing and spread the word about what we are trying to accomplish,” he says. “All the pieces of the puzzle are in place, it’s just a matter of funding.”
Learn more at wall-therapy.com. If you’re interested in volunteering during the festival, email walltherapyny@gmail.com. City Newspaper will post blogs and Tweet updates during the course of the festival. Watch rochestercitynewspaper.com for updates and follow us on Twitter: @roccitynews.
Wall/Therapy events
Public events for Wall\Therapy will be updated at facebook.com/walltherapyny/events.
All events are free unless otherwise specified.
Friday, July 19: Kickoff at 1975 Gallery (89 Charlotte St.) 7-10 p.m. Welcome the participating artists to town and learn more about the project from organizers.
Saturday, July 20: Block Party at El Camino Trail area. Details TBA.
Sunday, July 21: Block Party in the South Wedge neighborhood. Details TBA.
Wednesday, July 24: Artists’ Talk at School of the Arts (45 Prince St.) 6-7:30 p.m.
Thursday, July 25: “Floor Therapy” Dance Party presented by Thievin’ Stephen at Skylark Lounge (40 S. Union St.). 10 p.m. $5 cover.
This article appears in Jul 10-16, 2013.
so why isn’t Spaceman, Ax, or Gingerbeard a part of this?
Though I can’t speak for the festival organizers regarding why some artists are chosen to participate and others are not, it’s worth mentioning that the artists you speak of specialize in wheatpaste, not murals.
I just want to say the I love this. I really appreciate the fact that somebody is paying these world class muralists to make our city a more beautiful place. There are far too many blank walls around here, far too much ugliness.
While this is only a small element, it is a net positive for the city and makes it a more attractive place to be. Given our historical trend of declining population, and fewer people coming downtown, this can only help.
I think everyone who thinks this wall therapy is fun should read Paul Goldberg’s letter of 7/24 in which he relates the experience of having to see a particularly (to him — and to many others) unappealing mural every day. To me that would be aesthetic hell, and for every individual of very particular taste who gushes about the mural artists there may be countless ( and, shamefully, uncounted) others who have to live with the results for some indefinite term. A lot of this art is exciting, inventive, alive…but a lot of it, even “the best”, is jarring, unsettling, and not at all what a lot of people going about their lives want to have to look at routinely. As far as I can tell, this initiative did not arise from any community need or interest and was, rather, imposed — maybe with good intentions but not with true regard for or respect for anyone who wasn’t on board. Public art needs to respect the public and serve the public. And when artists and art boosters have an idea to put out there for the supposed greater good, it does a disservice to the creative spirit to replace real dialogue with one-sided, self-righteous bullying.
Dear Mr. Jack Russell (and anyone else who cares to comment):
It’s unfortunate to hear that you view these art endeavors (which are very much attempting to unite different communities within Rochester and to promote a grassroots, honest, medical philanthropic endeavor in third world locations) as mere “self-righteous bullying,” as you called them. The project is still in its infancy, is making attempts to encourage Rochesterians to become more aware of their surroundings, for better or worse, and ultimately is driven toward promoting the charity that Dr. Ian Wilson and colleagues have founded.
I wonder what you would point toward as an example of a genuine open dialogue. I don’t recall being consulted about many of the public artworks which have gone up in Rochester. I am not impressed by many of them, and if there was a committee involved in putting them up, those committees certainly doesn’t represent the majority of the city’s tastes by any means. This is hardly democratic, and hardly a dialogue with the citizens.
I am tempted to say “Not everyone will like everything in the public realm. Too bad.” And also add that I have personally noticed that quite a few of the most outspoken people critical of the murals are themselves local artists, and many have used this opportunity to promote their own work. That will happen. But this discussion is complex, and extends beyond art.
Art just happens to be the thing that we seem to pick on the most ferociously, likely because art is the most powerful and artists themselves are the least. By this I mean art has the potential to have a greater impact than most things do, and, save a very few, artists don’t tend to have a lot of personal political clout or resource.
Speaking of citizenry not being consulted when the aesthetics of their cities shift:
What have you to say about the thousands of billboards, or even the selection of particularly hideous newer architecture, or the vulturous chain stores not owned by locals, which are all imposed upon the residents of Rochester?
It would be fascinating to have a dialogue with the community regarding this matter.
So:
Is this so-called imposition limited to art? Are your aesthetic tastes offended when it comes to these billboards and predatory stores, or just when the projects are specifically labeled “art?”
Are these murals really egotistic impositions or could they be construed as an offering, or an attempt to open a dialogue within a city?
If you insist upon labeling the paintings egotistic impositions, are they worse than the abundance of shameless and greedy advertisements of things that are physically/morally/spiritually bad for us?
Do we feel motivated/empowered to protest and call out the corporate offenders, or is it just easier to pick on the efforts of not-so-wealthy little guys?
Is it possible to be offended by something and then moved to examine the self, i.e. what about this is offensive to me? Is the factor that I find offensive present in the art, or did I interpret it a certain way? (we all bring something of ourselves to the table when looking at art) Is it possible to have another look? Is there a possibility for dialogue and growth?
My point in writing this and all art articles is not to stand on a pedestal and tell people what to revere, but rather to provide a space for conversation about art and culture within our city. I am most delighted when we are able to approach these matters in a levelheaded, open, and civil manner, and least pleased when emotions and stubbornness reign. That gets us nowhere.
Jack Russell – What’s great about this project is that it has started from the bottom up rather than top down. The community itself is what organized the project rather than “art by committee.” There were planning meetings that the public were invited to attend. There have been many opportunities for voices to be heard in planning and during the week-long festival. Just last night there was an incredible and free artist roundtable at School of the Arts where some of your questions could have been answered by the artists themselves. There have been so many opportunities for voices and opinions to be heard in this project, whereas if it had been dictated by the city or the county, the art most likely would have been dictated by city leaders and project funders.
We also would likely not have gotten such world class artists to do the paintings as they appreciate being able to choose their own subjects rather than having the content dictated to them. By doing the project in this way, Rochester has attracted world renowned artists who have varied backgrounds and artistic styles, turning our city into an amazing canvas. All art will not appeal to everybody, but with such diverse artists, there’s bound to be something for everybody.
If you had come to the artist discussion last night, you may have been surprised by the artists’ knowledge of their work as possibly temporary and their openness (though not desire) to have their work taken down if deemed by the community to be too problematic.
I just can’t believe that any of the amazing murals that are part of this project could be deemed “aesthetic hell” when compared to the blank walls, nearby alleys and dumpsters, and in some cases abandoned and condemned properties.
WallTherapy is an incredible asset to this community and is meant to bring together the community and encourage people to see the beauty in some unappreciated parts of the city.
Trigger Warning: Art.
Don’t let one lap dog ruin the success of this project . I found this statement most telling ” but a lot of it, even “the best”, is jarring, unsettling, and not at all what a lot of people going about their lives want to have to look at routinely.” I translate this as “I only want to see pretty things” Art by it’s nature is created to challenge us. Using the jack Russell’s argument we should not have to see abandoned buildings. Homelessness illness etc. All these things exist in our city. Ignoring/marginalizing these things neither cures them nor addresses root causes. Enjoy you Disneyland while Rome burns. I loathe seeing the architecture wegmans uses and that was created after years of wrangling. .. it to me represents a larger detriment to the city than any art could ever cause. And this guy represents “a lot of people” what’dehe do take a poll? Own your opinion and don’t hide behind the masses…
I walked down part of the El Camino Trail from Irondequoit this morning. My intention was to see the art, which I did. But what really made me feel good were the three different people also wandering around who engaged me, happy to see the artists in their neighborhood.
Oh my, I guess I’m glad to have stirred up some discussion. The odd thing is that in most matters I’d probably be on the side of the people who dislike my comment. At any rate, real discussion seems healthy. I’ll certainly reconsider my views and where they are coming from. But I would ask those who don’t like what I’m saying to examine yourself (as some are saying I should do with the murals) to see why objections like mine bother you. And if you can imagine these views that disturb or irritate you being distilled into a slogan that you didn’t just get to think about briefly but had to see scrolling across your screen on a regular basis, you might get an idea of how someone could have trouble living with challenging art on their once soothing blank walls.
Unlike provocative books, movies and museum art, murals are out there. Some of the people who are bothered by them (or who LIKE seeing them but not living with them on a daily basis!!) have had their choice about when and how frequently they encounter the art taken away. This is a serious issue for all public art.
The starting point for my comment was Paul Goldberg’s letter, published in the 7/24 City. And the fact that I love blank walls — which are seldom really blank but full of character, and history, and evidence of random elemental processes, etc. But let’s consider Goldberg and, yes, the many residents I expect he represents. Were they really brought into the process? Did they really have an opportunity to choose? Or was it a done-deal that just needed a certain amount of going through the motions?
At any rate, isn’t there a temptation toward personal imperialism whenever one thinks one knows what’s best to put up in someone else’s environment, whether it’s billboards or art or security forces (I am not saying these are equivalents). The arrogance I referred to was not the art or the artists but in the project sponsor’s ridiculing those who legitimately objected. It’s perhaps spiritually useful but nonetheless truly patronizing to tell people that if they don’t enjoy seeing something they should examine themselves. I don’t like seeing a Walmart, or even an art museum, being built on a former farm or natural area. I can examine myself to see why, I can acknowledge my own destructive tendencies and so on, but the development is still going to strike me as wrong.
Here we have murals that some love and some hate. Not to recognize the validity of the objections from people like Mr. Goldberg, to see objections as inherently small-minded or anti-creativity or on the other side… to have no compassionate awareness of the negative aspect of this — even if you know in your bones celebration is the larger, greater response — that seems as limited a mindset as the other side supposedly displays.
But, yeah, discussion is good, and dialogue, and developing a porosity of mind that can truly consider all sides. I’m always learning. I do not know Mr. Goldberg, but I imagine he would find common cause with and be able to have fun with many of the mural proponents and artists, and I expect he could be a strong ally in the fight against the cultural, political, and moral decay some comments refer to… But one’s visual environment can be important, and some great people value calm and simplicity more than provocation in their everyday surroundings. I think he’s legitimately pissed off, and not for stupid reasons. That doesn’t mean the mural project is all wrong; however, I think people who back it should be aware of the negative side and be more prepared to accommodate those who feel adversely affected — not simply vilify those who are not happy with what’s going on.
p.s. I agree that a lot of by-committee public art — most of it! — is horrible and at least some of the mural art is wonderful. There’s no easy truth here about what’s right and wrong, good and bad.
p.s. 2 The implication — made by one writer — that not accepting a potentially disturbing large artwork in your neighborhood has anything to do with one’s awareness of cultural disintegration and corporate take-over, or one’s personal efforts to face and fight what’s happening in the world… is preposterous. And highly counter productive if you really want to make the world more democratic and humane.
I’d personally like to thank all that have taken the time to respond and discuss this matter further. From Rebecca Rafferty who has written an amazing article and an equally well written response. To Mr. Jack Russell for vocalizing his concerns over the project and what it’s impact could be on the Rochester area. We as a community can never hope to improve if we don’t hear all the sides of a discussion, and willing to understand others views. So thank you to all for taking the time to write in.
If it helps, I’d just like to take a moment to address the point that Jack Russell made in his last message: “That doesn’t mean the mural project is all wrong; however, I think people who back it should be aware of the negative side and be more prepared to accommodate those who feel adversely affected — not simply vilify those who are not happy with what’s going on.”
The crew and supporters of this endeavor have taken that into account and have brought in some very talented people to handle all aspects of the public relations for the entire week (and beyond if necessary). They literally have a small team of people busily working away answering questions, in person and online, and listening to any and all concerns regarding the murals being created and the artists creating them. Rest assured that there will not be any vilification or negative/libelous statements directed at anyone from our crew, we respect those who have different opinions than us, with the understanding that we wish to be offered the exact same respect when offering our own opinion.
For instance, I myself have been out in the community at all the mural locations taking time to talk with onlookers to get their opinions and to listen to any concerns they might have. I’m happy to say that the number of individuals upset or worried were practically non-existent. The few that were worried not only were happy to discuss the matter, but were shocked when the artists themselves took time from their murals to discuss the matter. The WallTherapy team and the artists have the utmost respect for Rochester and it’s citizens, and we hope that this shows through to any and all who wish to discuss the matter any further.
Should you wish to discuss anything over with the crew you can find the contact information via the website, or send them a message on any of the social media outlets like twitter or Facebook.
In the Spirit of conversation Gingerbeard did propose an Idea for a Mural to be done in Wheatpaste or Paint. The Idea was Fredrick Douglas with one of his famous quotes .” It is easier to build strong children then to repair broken men.” This Idea was proposed to be done in the south wedge being that Fredrick Douglas himself lived right on south avenue.
Having the privilege of seeing artists create…watching bare and barren spaces be transformed into vibrant surfaces…encouraging the public to explore and participate…Two thumbs up, Wall Therapy. Thanks, Rebecca.
I would like to thank the folks responsible for Wall Therapy. Some of the most respected and well-known wall muralists in the world now have traveled to our city and shared their work. They see Rochester as a destination to meet their peers from around the world and share ideas and fellowship, as evidenced by the fact that many have made repeat visits from very distant places to participate. They have purposefully chosen some of the most challenged neighborhoods in our city to beautify and create inspiration. They have given many of our city’s most talented local artists an opportunity to both share their work in highly visible venues, and to be included in the global media attention that the event has achieved. They have encouraged an atmosphere of diversity and free expression, of joy and community. They achieved this through grassroots support and hard work, and financed it through the contributions of folks who understand Wall Therapy’s value. The barking of a small handful of critics cannot change these facts.