Category: Murals

Artville Residency (2022)

 

(2022) Artville Residency, CT Walk, Library Mural

 

I returned to Leadville again this year to spend September at Artville. This time my intention was to do some good solid thinking, and walk the Colorado Trail as much as could be accomplished given how my body coped with the task. Walking from Copper Mountain to Cottonwood Pass, approximately 90 miles, over the course of nine days, with a total ascent of 16,700 ft, and descent of 13,800 ft, was as much as I could handle. I was accompanied and guided by my friend and experienced through hiker Groucho, and the dog Bo Jackson. Along the walk there were many moments of peace, beauty, extremes, time in a geologic sense, stars, and the ache of my IT bands which I learned I need to stretch out quite a lot more if I’m going to go on longer walks like this in the future. I have known for some time that I very much love walking, and I am slowly learning that I very much like walking long trails in nature. As always the tiny community of Leadville is a joy in its weird beauty, the more time I spend there the more I feel a part of the community, and I’m thankful for this.

 

 

In between walking on the CT and resting, I had the opportunity to paint a mural at the Leadville Library with my walking companion Groucho. We chose an apt quote from Groucho Marx, “Outside of a dog a book is man’s best friend, inside of a dog it’s too dark to read”, it’s always an honor to leave art works in locations far from one’s usual stomping grounds.

 

I always try to do a few drawings of the places I find myself at, here is a drawing of the main street in Leadville.

State of emergence (2021) film

(2021) film 

STATE OF EMERGENCE VIDEO
This is a short film created by Austin Wilson, produced with Overall Creative during the summer of 2020. Features John Richards, Kathleen Warren and the creation of murals by Barry Johnson and Ezra Dickinson. It is a look at the thoughts and messages behind the works, during the summer when everything was boarded up and artists began to paint in the streets.
Additionally works shown by Amaris O. Hamer, Vivid Matter Collective, Paulina Cholewinski, Crystal Barbre, Casey Weldon, Zach Rockstad, Anne Siems, Baso Fibonacci, Zach Takasawa, Robert Tardiff, Connor McPherson, Evann Strathern, Billie Avery. Music by the Polyrhythmics.

 

 

Photos Austin Wilson

YOU ARE NOT ALONE (2020)

(2020) Commissioned public art mural. Life on Mars, Seattle WA. 

 

This mural was organized by Overall Creative, who sourced five muralists that worked to paint one of four walls on the facade of record store and eatery, Life on Mars. This work was a response to both the smashing of Life on Mars’ window and a public service message of support during the covid crisis. Part owner of Life on Mars/KEXP DJ John Richards spoke the words “you are not alone” while broadcasting during Covid-19. Photography by Austin Wilson.

 

This mural was also featured in Viral Murals. Published by Chatwin Books, 2020.

Stories (2020-present)

Stories from the Streets or Being Seen (working titles) (2020-present)

 

This is the seed project for what will become a much larger, interactive, citywide performance experience. To begin, I have been awarded funding from 4Culture to collect interviews from people living on the street experiencing homelessness. My aim is to find individuals who would like to talk with me about their experience living on the street. I have found myself gravitating to these folks for two reasons: 1) My mother lived on the street for a period of time after I began living on my own, and before she ultimately was committed to Western State hospital; and 2) I can’t help but see a clear correlation between out of control rental prices and the rapid increase in the homeless population in the northwest.

 

 

Through this funding I will compensate the individuals interviewed. I want to collect these interviews and geo tag the locations where the interviewees are living. In Seattle currently the people living on the street are routinely dislocated or swept from their established homes on the street, a practise that is both inhumane and, given that we are still in the grips of a worldwide pandemic, is all the more absurd an action to be taken against an already extremely vulnerable population. 
Once I have collected as many interviews as funding will allow for, I will create a website which houses all of these stories and cross references each one with a QR code that will be placed at the location of past residence for each individual I interview. This will create both a visual link to the inhabitants that occupied these street homes–prior to being displaced yet again–and determine a walking tour through Seattle that someone could follow to see these stories activated from one QR code to the next.
This first step will lay the groundwork for the larger piece. I will endeavor to fill in the path that is created from these stories with installation, both site specific and gallery. There will be sound that will accompany the viewer through this journey. There will be pre recorded performance that lives as a sort of ghost along this path. All this will come together to create a walking tour that can be entered at any point, at any time.

 

Walk with us (2020)

(2020) painted banner

 

I felt compelled to respond to the conflicts between Black Lives Matters marchers and the violent provocations of the police. Inspired by seeing a few police officers in different cities choosing to walk with demonstrators as they marched. I aimed to tell Seattle Police officers to embrace the community and its vulnerabilities, stand up for the underserved, walk with us and choose to hear the voices of the people.

 

Mother Father (2019)

(2019) Commissioned public art mural, Mosquito MT, Leadville CO.

 

Painted with the assistance of artist NKO while in residence at Artville in Leadville CO. 13,000 feet up in the mountains on an old abandoned radio shack, this message speaks to past generations asking them how have they cared for the world that is being handed off to younger generations? Painted with Enamel paint, the message will stand as a visual voice in the cold high land of the mountains. 

 

Ecolibrium Farms Mural (2019)

(2019) Commissioned private art mural, Ecolibrium Farms, Redmond WA.

 

Beautifying the exterior of refrigerator containers located on the farm, creating a vibrant clear beacon for folks driving into the farm. Painted with rollers and brush, acrylic and enamel paint.

 

Artville Residency (2019)

(2019) Leadville Colorado residency

 

The month of October, high in the mountains, served as a time for allowing space. My time was spent walking, seeing mountain tops, movement researching/choreographing, environment sketches, mural painting, all while living with dear friends.

 

 

I was able to create the movement framework used for the choreographic commission at North Star Ballet in Fairbanks Alaska following my residency. My environment sketches serve as a personal photograph for my eyes, a drawn memory of any location that captures my attention.

 

 

My friends like to walk. While at Artville I was invited to go for a three-day walk along a section of the Continental Divide Trail. I have for quite a long time fantasized about long distance walking. This served as a beautiful introduction to this revealing and healing path.

 

 

I visited the peaks of five mountain tops over 14,000 feet while at Artville. I have a long standing practice of planting a handstand at the top of high points. I aim to try and pretend that while in the handstand, I’m actually rightside up and holding up the mountain and world in my hands. As a student of my own body, I love the reality of walking up a steep mountain, the physical strength and stamina needed to listen to and work through rapid altitude shifts is humbling to say the least.

 

Ol’Burgdishy (2018)

(2018) Commissioned public art mural, Seattle Center Sculpture Walk, Seattle WA.

 

For this mural I received a public art grant from the Office of Arts and Culture and Seattle Center Art Interruptions. Initially I wanted to work with a rain activated clear coating that would break down over the course of four months to a year and is biodegradable in the Seattle center fountain. I could not get clearance for the location, which kicked off a lengthy back and forth regarding what location could be used. Ultimately, we settled on the steps of the Key Arena and I got to work on a draft. The final design took into consideration the shape of space and how color would cascade down and direct the eye of the observer while traveling over the massive work. I painted the whole mural using rollers over the course of two days with the help of Taylor and Natan.

 

 

Mary’s Place (2017)

(2017) Commissioned public art mural, Urban Artworks, Seattle WA. 

 

Mural painted to beautify the temporary play area for children of residents of Mary’s Place. Commissioned through Urban artworks. This work was painted freehand using acrylic brush paint, rollers and paint sprayer. I am always quite happy to create works that enliven those that have fallen on hard times. It felt quite powerful to give this simple work to the kids making their play area all the more realised.