A few months ago Grand Rapids, Michigan, experienced damaging riots as did many cities across the county. In a few of those cities, the protective boards were painted by local artists and Grand Rapids was one of them! If you drove through the city during the few weeks the project was alive, the city looked so neat! This transformation was named Open Windows. There were 100-200 windows boarded up and painted – hatred being transformed by art is such an inspiring and wonderful function art can have.
Find Shelby’s work at shelbykregel.com
As a result of Open Windows, the Grand Rapids-based artist-run collective, Element 7, was created with the intention to empower the local BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) Art Community and catalyze social change. Through projects like WindowsGR, Open Windows, and beyond, Element 7 works to support the vision and voice of artists working for comprehension of a diverse humanity. These initiatives help to mobilize one another in order to inspire change in our community.
Element 7’s initial artistic organization and support is is an auction they have comprising of the WindowsGR paintings. The first run of the auction ended last Saturday but because it was well received it has re-opened witha few new paintings. The creation of these painting is photographed below. The auction runs until Friday. Check it out at here!
Material: Exterior latex on Plywood, with seal protectant coat
An original #windowsgr painting
Humans have a lot to think about. As riots are going on we are dealing with a Pandemic. The local GR Arts organization, Avenue for the Arts, says,
“During this pandemic, artists continue to find creative solutions to the constraints created by Covid-19. In the spring there were various livestream concert series. Then the summer saw socially distanced re-openings of GRAM, Frederik Meijer Gardens, and even a gallery’s grand opening on South Division. Now the walls of our city are sporting brand new murals. Artists’ need to create will not extinguish, no matter the challenges presented to them. And the myriad benefits of experiencing art will only become greater during a time of crisis. As we move into the fall, I hope that Grand Rapidians will continue to find ways to bring creativity into each others’ lives. That’s been our mission at the Avenue for the past fifteen years, and the pandemic is no exception.” – Zachary Trebellas via Avenue for the Arts
All these artists came down to Grand Rapids to paint because we had an opportunity to talk with one another. May life persist!
- The eatured image by Agnieska Pilat who has been previously mentioned on NYUndressed.com
