PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Public art is reshaping Portsmouth's identity as the city prepares to kick off Portsmouth Art Week on May 2. WTKR Portsmouth Neighborhood Reporter Kamilah Williams spoke with the artist behind this year's work about how this movement is creating connection, pride, and new opportunities citywide.
The event brings art and community together for a third year in a row. Support Portsmouth Public Art President John Joyce says the nonprofit has invested around $200,000 to place nearly 150 pieces of art across the city over the last 16 years.
"This Wall Street Mural Festival seemed to culminate all the things we've been doing," Joyce said.
Local artists, including muralist and illustrator Aimee Bruce, will show the public how larger-than-life murals get made during a live demonstration on Wednesday, May 6.
Bruce says they will use blank PVC panels and demonstrate techniques ranging from projectors to virtual reality headsets.
"We're really just trying to show people there's different ways to take your idea, your design, and put it on a wall. Anyone can make a mural," Bruce said.
Bruce got her start at Old Dominion University and landed her first mural gig with the city of Norfolk. That experience working on a large-scale project brought an opportunity with Support Portsmouth Public Art to transform a building with boarded windows at the corner of Green Street and High Street into something the neighborhood could be proud of.
"If you think back 10 years ago, nothing was really happening. It was very hard, very slow-moving, you know, you had to get everything approved by certain people in the city, but it's like now Portsmouth is on the up and up when it comes to public art and making cool things happen. It is just so I'm excited for what the future holds in Portsmouth," Bruce said.
Joyce said working with the city has given them the opportunity to make Portsmouth a vibrant art scene. The city's economic development team recently installed lighting on Wall Street, which will host a block party on May 8 from 6 to 9 p.m.
"The economic development put lighting in there for us. It's beautiful. So we're gonna have a block party from 6 to 9 on the 8th of May. We'll have a band, we'll have refreshments and some art activities," Joyce said.
The Wall Street Mural Fest takes place on May 9 from 12 to 7 p.m. Joyce says the festival will feature visiting artists, breakdancing, skateboarding, a fashion show, a nail competition, 30 to 40 art vendors, and food trucks.
A link to the schedule of events can be found here.
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