Items

• 
  2020-04-17

  Coronavirus Kindness: Bay Area Artists Create Murals on Boarded Storefronts to Uplift Local Communities

  Businesses across the San Francisco Bay Area have closed, some temporary and some permanently, as a result of California's COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders. Those that hope to re-open have boarded up their windows to try to protect their stores and inventory. As a result of the crushing economic blow of the COVID-19 pandemic, the vibrancy of San Francisco streets has vanished. In response, local arts are turning boarded storefronts into beautiful murals with messages of hope. Local artists are "bringing life and beauty to our streets, sending messages of love to people in their community." Two local art agencies, Building 180 and Art for Civil Discourse, have teamed up and created Paint the Void. Paint the Void pairs local artists with boarded up businesses in an attempt to beautify the city and "to bring hope into the community and inspire people." Artists hope to eventually auction their murals and donate the funds raised to those in need.
• 
  2020-08-16

  Paint the Void

  Artists around the world have faced insurmountable challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. San Francisco Bay Area artists are turning public spaces into canvases to inspire hope. In the turbulence of the COVID-19 pandemic, Paint the Void emerged. This organization's mission is "to match local artists with boarded up businesses to create murals as a response to the void left behind in the wake of COVID-19." The group is raising money to grant artists stipends "for their hard work as guardians of hope and beauty in these unprecedented times." To date, the organization has helped 91 local artists create 100 murals across 84 storefront in the San Francisco Bay Area.
• 
  2020-07-06

  Vancouver is honouring its health-care heroes with these public works of art

  "And as B.C. settles into Phase 3 of its economic recovery plan, with businesses reopening and residents getting out in the summer weather to meet one another and enjoy the city, the boards — no longer needed to protect shuttered storefronts — live on as an open-air gallery in the same neighbourhood that inspired them." A gallery of photos depicting an exhibit of works of art on wooden panels, some of which previously boarded up businesses during the total shut-down, dedicated to health care workers and hope during the pandemic. The exhibit was organized by the Vancouver Museum and is located in the popular Gastown neighbourhood.