Arts in the Alley Greater Fulton – Part II!

We’re excited to host the second Arts in the Alley in Greater Fulton April 14-15! More details to follow soon… for now, mark your calendars!

The next date…. and photos!

The past year we have had two amazing Arts in the Alley projects – one in Church Hill and one in Fulton Hill. We’re currently planning three for 2012 – the first one on April 14-15, back in Greater Fulton. More to follow soon, but for now…. a few pictures of the mural painting last October!

doughnuts and paint

What do doughnuts and paint have in common? Selling yummy Krispy Kreme Doughnuts helps Offering raise money to beautify a part of Church Hill with murals at Arts in the Alley!

Arts in the Alley aims to revitalize inner-city and downtown neighborhoods by cleaning up and revitalizing alleys and streets that are currently in disarray, making them into safer places for residents, schools, and businesses and transform the alleys into a bright, outdoor mural gallery.

We’re taking orders between now and Monday February 28, and your doughnuts will be available for pick up Wednesday March 2! To order: send $8 per box via paypal to info@offeringband.com (with a note: doughnuts)! Of course, you can also send a good old-fashioned check for the amount to Offering, P.O. Box 35423, Richmond VA 23235, but paypal is preferred :).

And of course, help us spread the word! We need to sell 100 boxes to get the best price, and if we sell those 100 boxes we make $500 for paint – about a third of what we need, so that will be a big help!

Changing our world, one alley at a time. Will you help us raise the money for the paint to do that?

arts in the alley goes to church hill

It has taken a while, but we’re ready for the next Arts in the Alley in Richmond! Offering is teaming up with Embrace Richmond, Mount Olivet Church, and NAWIC to organize an Arts in the Alley event in Church Hill (Richmond’s East End) on March 12-13, 2011. Stay tuned….

arts in the alley – beijing pictures

This past Summer, Offering went to Beijing and helped put on an Arts in the Alley there in a migrant workers’ community. Here are a few impressions:

under the sea…. and in the trees….

At Common Groundz last week a group of young artists – Rebecca Holt, Hannah Mayhew, and Erika Wenrich – painted three booths in a “small creature” theme: octopi, jellyfish, and tree frogs.

Tree frogs!

one octopus, two octopi....

pretty jellyfish

pictures from last week!

Last week’s Arts in Action was a huge success – here are a few pictures to show the transformation of Common Groundz! Thank you to Greg and Wendy Collins of Arts in the Alley for coordinating all the paintings and painters (and painting…. a LOT!), and to Rebecca Holt, Hannah Mayhew, Erika Wenrich, Rebecca Oliver, Brandon Mayer, Andrew Cothern, Rebeckah Moran, Claire Collins, and Martha Catherine for making this amazing Richmond coffeeshop even more amazing!

Looking from the outside in - three of the booth-paintings.

View from the other side - with marvelous art by Rebecca Oliver

The center mural: tropical paradise!

Arts in Action: Music and Murals

OK, this blog is getting a late start – I still have a lot of reporting to do on the first Arts in the Alley, and we have another one happening tonight – well, except that this one will not take place in an alley, but instead in a downtown coffee shop – Common Groundz – where we will be painting murals on their walls and booths, as well as playing music (music, in this case, by my band, Offering). I’ll post more reports as the evening goes on…. as well as hopefully some pictures!

Jeanine

Arts in the Alley

The Idea is Simple. Take a downtown alley. You know, one of those that runs behind things and tends to collect weeds, and trash, and graffiti. Spend a day cleaning it up (removing weeds, and trash, and graffiti), and the next day throw an arts festival in the same alley, with live music, art on display, and mural painting. We did our first one this past August, cleaned up two downtown Richmond alleys, and painted no fewer than 26 murals in those alleys. Who “we” are? A group of Richmond artists – musicians, graphic designers, photographers, painters – and residents who want to make a small but tangible difference in this city. Some of us were born and raised here – some came from other parts of the country or even different countries. We live in the city, in the counties, north and south of the River. We all love Richmond and want to do our part to make it an even better place.

Jeanine

Here are a few pictures:

Maya painting Walnut Alley

Wendy Collins, one of the coordinators, hard at work.

Pretty paints!