If you’re down on Santa Fe Drive today / tonight, either for the Dia de los Muertos festivities or the First Friday Art Walk, I recommend that you walk half a block out of your way and check out the art in the alley between SF Drive and Inca. There are some incredible murals there created by West High School students as part of a neighborhood-beautification effort. It worked like this: in order to “earn” a wall on which to paint their artwork, students had to clean a portion of the alley, remove all graffiti / tagging, and buff the walls.
According to Judy Weaver of Nine10 Arts, who helped create this initiative, the demand for new walls to paint is through the roof. West High kids are clamoring for more public “canvasses” on which to exhibit their skills — and they’re more than willing to work for them.
All the murals pictured below are just north of 8th Avenue; click on the thumbnail for a full-size view. Or better yet, drop by and check them out in person.
P.S.: Drop by the Santa Fe Arts District blog for reviews of current shows.
Larry- Thanks for covering this, as (1) I love alley art, and (2) it’s cool to hear about the creative efforts of high school students in our district.
Great blog. I hope Judy is paying you the big bucks (hee hee).
Celeste
Thanks Celeste. I’m gonna be talking to the students who created this art later in the month; I’ll give you a heads-up when that posts.