All posts tagged: Josh Saunders

Wall Therapy 2017: An Intersection of Art, Celebration and People Power : Dispatch 2

July 29, 2017 Artists

With a theme of “Art and Activism”, the 2017 edition of Wall\Therapy is happening mid-summer in Rochester with local and national artists coming to complete murals that keep people in mind. More of a grassroots mural festival than many, this one works to deepen engagement with the community through new programming intended to connect residents of all ages. BSA is happy to support Wall\Therapy again this year and we invite you to take a look at a people-powered organization that continues to keep it real.

Wall\Therapy is progressing very nicely right now with three members of Rochesters’ youth mural program doing self portraits.

Roc Paint Division at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Lisa Barker)

Etana Brown, Nzinga Muhammed, and Kaori-Mei Stephens are each 17 years old and are focusing the message that All Black Lives Matter. Elsewhere Jess X Snow is doing a portrait of transgender poet Chrysanthemum Tran and muralist Sarah C. Rutherford honors all mothers with her portrait of Trelawney McCoy, a celebrated Rochester native who has opened her home to children through adoption and fostering. The mural is part of Rutherford’s “Her Voice Carries” project.

Roc Paint Division at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Lisa Barker)

Today is the inaugural Wall\Therapy conference featuring Keynote speaker Jessica Pabón-Colón and a full day of panels and discussions and a project room featuring representatives from other community-based art programs and social justice/relief organizations such as the O+ Festival, WXXI, The Ghandi Institute, the New York Civil Liberties Union, Refugees Helping Refugees, Flying Squirrel Community Space and the Visual Studies Workshop.

Roc Paint Division at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Lisa Barker)

Tonight is the block party, a summertime celebration with Kaleidoscope Collective, a local artist space that will include an artist market, an official revealing of the murals by Aubrey Roemer and Jess X Snow, food trucks, live art, and music from Danielle Ponder and the Tomorrow People. Check out this video by the ebullient and classy Ms. Ponder performing with this talented local family of friends with an inspirational tagline, “Live Your Life, Love Your Life.”

Jess X Snow at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Josh Saunders)

Jess X Snow at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Mark Deff)

Jess X Snow. Work in progress for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Mark Deff)

Sarah C. Rutherford at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Mark Deff)

Sarah C. Rutherford. Detail. Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Mark Deff)

Sarah C. Rutherford. Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Ted Wong)

Ian Kuali’i at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Josh Saunders)

“Yesterday was super productive. I was able to paste up everything for Rochester’s new hand cut paper mural and starting today I begin the actual process…weather permitting naturally…,” says Ian Kuali’i on his Facebook page.

Ian Kuali’i at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Ian Kuali’i at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Mark Deff)

Aubrey Roemer. Work in progress for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Ted Wong)

Aubrey Roemer at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Aubrey Roemer at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Mark Deff)

Lucinda Yrene/La Morena. Work in progress Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Mark Deff)

Lucinda Yrene/La Morena. Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Todd Stahl. Work in progress Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Ted Wong)

Wall Therapy 2017 Under Way! Local-Heavy Artist Roster Brings Spirit of Community to Rochester

July 27, 2017 Artists

Aubrey Roemer, La Morena, Roc Paint Division, Sarah Rutherford, and Todd Stahl have already begun work with gusto (!) on their walls as the 2017 edition of Wall\Therapy gets into full swing right now in the city of Rochester in northwestern New York State.

Sarah Rutherford at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Mark Deff)

Begun by Dr. Ian Wilson a handful of years ago and joined by professional partner Erich Lehman as co-producer, the community level interventions of murals throughout the city have been a metaphorical analogue to the medical programs he has championed, including providing high-tech teleradiology services to underserved communities here and abroad. Thinking of artists as healers and artworks as a kind of therapy for a community, Wall\Therapy takes on a unique personality among the mural festivals that are currently happening in cities around the world.

Sarah Rutherford. Work in progress. Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Mark Deff)

This years’ collection of artists is keeping it very local, with a few exceptions from elsewhere in the US. Organizers say they are looking to deepen their engagement with Rochester’s communities through new programming intended to connect Rochester residents of all ages and all walks of life – including a new conference component. “Arts & Activism” will feature speakers and panels organized around topics like social change, community activism, and creative practice.

Todd Stahl. Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Lisa Barker)

No doubt many will be interested in the keynote on Saturday by Dr. Jessica Pabón-Colón, Assistant Professor for Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at SUNY New Paltz. She’ll be talking about her upcoming book “Graffiti Grrlz: Performing Feminism in the Hip Hop Diaspora” and she’ll examine how contemporary street and graffiti art movements have responded critically to the demands of the creative neoliberal city, with examples of works to provoke thought on the relationship between aesthetics and politics.

Todd Stahl at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Over the next week BSA will be bringing you progress shots and finished walls in this community-centric, volunteer infused festival that merges the aesthetics of community murals with the influences of today’s Street Art scene.

Wall\Therapy 2017 artists include Aubrey Roemer, La Morena, Todd Stahl, Ian Kuali’I, Sarah C. Rutherford, Jess X Snow, Sean 9 Lugo, and Roc Paint Division.

Our very special thanks to photographers Mark Deff, Lisa Barker, Jason Wilder, and Thomas Flint for sharing their images of the action for BSA readers.

Roc Paint Division at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Lisa Barker)

Roc Paint Division at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Mark Deff)

Aubrey Roemer at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Tomas Flint)

Aubrey Roemer at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Josh Saunders)

Aubrey Roemer with some little help for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Aubrey Roemer work in progress for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Mark Deff)

Lucinda at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Lucinda at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Josh Saunders)

Lucinda work in progress for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Mark Deff)

La Morena at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Ted Wong)

BSA Images Of The Week: 08.10.14

August 10, 2014 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

If you haven’t gone barefoot in the park yet this summer, what are you waiting for? Everybody’s doing it. Not recommended for the sidewalk in Bushwick, Bedstuy, …okay, most of Brooklyn. Limit your barefootness to grassy areas.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring AK, Bifido, Che Man, Clint Mario, Cooper, Crummy Gummy, Damon, Jilly Ballistic, Karl Addison, ME, OverUnder, Pyramid Oracle, Razo, Sean9Lugo, and Skount.

Top Image >> Jilly Ballistic blasts something out of the sky while the modern version of the Keystone Cops blasts an advertisement at unsuspecting citizenry. What’s with all the guns all the time? Jeez.(photo © Jaime Rojo)

Che Man makes a comparison with Pancho Villa and the EZLN in Bushwick. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Overunder continues to completely blow your mind. This one for Wall Therapy 2014. Rochester, NY (photo © Mark Deff)

And it goes something a little like this… Karl Addison for Wall Therapy 2014. Rochester, NY (photo © Josh Saunders)

Skount at Java-Eiland. Amsterdam, The Netherlands. (photo © Skount)

Sean9Lugo making perfect sense as always. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Love in the bushes. Sean9Lugo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Here’s something from waaa-hay-hay back. Sean9Lugo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cooper (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Clint Mario and ME do a collaboration and an ad takeover. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Damon (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Crummy Gummy new installation in Detroit. (photo © Crummy Gummy)

“I recently visited Detroit, MI and created some new work while I was there. When I told people I was going to Detroit the typical reaction was “It’s Dangerous” Or “That place is dirty!” or they would just make a face about it like I’m crazy for going. After visiting I felt, yes there are some areas that are not great to hang around at, but I also fell in love with the people there and how they take a lot of pride in their city. So the two works loosely were inspired by people’s reactions to visiting Detroit using references of “crime” and “cleaning up” with my twist of humor put in them” – CG

Crummy Gummy new installation in Detroit. (photo © Crummy Gummy)

AK (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bifido. Cusano Talk Festival. Cusano Mutri, Italy (photo © Bifido)

Razo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Razo feeling the pulse of the city EKG (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Razo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pyramid Oracle (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Brooklyn, NYC. August 2014 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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Wall Therapy 2014

July 29, 2014 Artists

Wall\Therapy has concluded in Rochester again, this year with a focus on portraits and today we bring you an update from some of the talented photographers on the scene in this north western New York town. Essentially a mural project that is beautifying the city with a very eclectic mix of artists working in styles across the board, Wall/Therapy had a smaller roster this year, and perhaps a more local focus. Here’s a snapshot of some finished walls.

Sam Rodriguez. Wall\Therapy 2014. Rochester, NY. (photo © Tomas Flint)

Omen. Wall\Therapy 2014. Rochester, NY. (photo © Josh Saunders)

Omen. Wall\Therapy 2014. Rochester, NY. (photo © Jason Wilder)

David Walker. Wall\Therapy 2014. Rochester, NY. (photo © Mark Deff)

Jarus. Wall\Therapy 2014. Rochester, NY. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Jarus. Wall\Therapy 2014. Rochester, NY. (photo © Josh Saunders)

Caitlin Yarsky. Wall\Therapy 2014. Rochester, NY. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Shawn. Wall\Therapy 2014. Rochester, NY. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Alice Pasquini. Wall\Therapy 2014. Rochester, NY. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Shawnee Hill. Wall\Therapy 2014. Rochester, NY. (photo © Jason Wilder)

John Perry. Wall\Therapy 2014. Rochester, NY. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Alice Mizrachi. Detail. Wall\Therapy 2014. Rochester, NY. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Alice Mizrachi. Wall\Therapy 2014. Rochester, NY. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Elicser. Wall\Therapy 2014. Rochester, NY. (photo © Jason Wilder)

BSA would like to thank the organizers, photographers and volunteers at this year’s edition of Wall\Therapy for sending these exclusive images to us to share with our readers.

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Wall \Therapy : Street Art Final Shots From Rochester

July 31, 2013 Artists

Diagnosis One: America’s deflated rustbelt cities can expect a deteriorated dust bowl demeanor until bankruptcy, followed by tumbleweeds.

Diagnosis Two: Street Art and graffiti are inextricably entwined with and contributing factors for broken windows, societal disarray, economic and moral decay of the aforementioned cities.

Both are failed and need to be re-examined.

Francey. Detail A. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Josh Saunders)

For the record, Rochester tops lists in terms of liveability, investment in new technology sectors, and has 91% of it’s citizens covered by health insurance – before Obamacare even kicks in. It has lost jobs and population due to stumbling giants like Xerox and Eastman Kodak and recent annual budgets have had significant shortfalls, but Rochester is putting up a good fight in the healthcare sector.

Dr. Ian Wilson should know. Which brings us to the second diagnosis. Ask the former Brooklyn graff writer now radiologist at the University of Rochester Medical Center if Street Art is synonymous with crime and disorder, and he’ll tell you all about the healing power of Wall\Therapy and murals.

The just-concluded community art project he spearheaded landed local and international graffiti/urban/street artists in Rochester for 10 days of painting – bringing certain parts of the city alive with curious locals hanging out in empty lots and hanging out of slow moving car windows, watching artists with cans as they bob up and down on cherry pickers.

Francey. Detail B. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Josh Saunders)

Co-curated this year with lead organizer Erich Lehman, Wilson has pulled off a stylistically wide-ranging collection of nearly 30 walls this year that go from aesthetically sweet to academically rooted. An apt balance, if you think of Ian.

It’s also been a balancing act to please all constituencies and manage to pull off something fresh; he’s dealt with a handful of outspoken critics who question every turn he’s made, yet the festival has been buoyed by a curious and enthusiastic under-30 youth culture whose minds explode with excitement at the thought of the global Street Art scene hitting their own city.

Lady Pink. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Jason Wilder)

“Mural art can enhance the life experience – an arguable effect of the arts in general,” the doctor says only a little didactically. All week during Wall\Therapy locals and visitors were taking tours on the El Camino Trail, watching walls going up in the South Wedge, and discussing art and the ideas that the artists are working with – whether it’s a portrait of Trayvon Martin in a piece by New Jersey’s LNY, a gentlemen’s fist fight by Ireland’s Conor Harrington, or a tribute to the influence of Xerox on the city by Baltimore’s Gaia.

Add the local talents, a cadre of volunteers and photographers and some serious old-skool big graffiti names from NYC rocking styles that started it all, this year there was more action than a Saturday night ER.

Lady Pink. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Josh Saunders)

Finally, Wall\Therapy is Wilson’s balancing act of bringing art to the people, and medical care to communities in need. Working with a group of colleagues, he has also embarked on a fundraising program to bring diagnostic equipment to people in the developing world who lack access – and he is now talking about cloud-based diagnoses by a pool of volunteer doctors around the world who can interpret the teleradiology scans remotely.

Can he get all the funding and the equipment and the artists and the walls all together at once? “Realistically, this will have to be done in stages or phases, like some of the procedures that I perform,” he says. If you’ve witnessed this years committed volunteers and organizers at Wall\Therapy, it is a fair assumption that these dual goals of art and healing will happen on a growing scale.

“There is no hope without inspiration. The two travel simultaneously, sharing the same bandwidth,” explains Wilson.

ROA. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Josh Saunders)

ROA. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Mark Deff)

Jessie and Katey. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Josh Saunders)

FreddySam. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Mark Deff)

Gaia. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Mark Deff)

Faith47. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Josh Saunders)

Mr. Prvrt. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Josh Saunders)

Mr. Prvrt. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Alex Stuart)

Mr. Prvrt. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Freedom. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Matt De Turck)

Wise2. Detail. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Josh Saunders)

Smith. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Josh Saunders)

Range. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Thievin Stephen. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Josh Saunders)

Thievin Stephen. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Daze. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Josh Saunders)

DALeast. Detail A. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Josh Saunders)

DALeast. Detail B. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Josh Saunders)

Conor Harrington. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Josh Saunders)

Conor Harrington. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Alex Stuart)

Binho. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Josh Saunders)

Binho. Detail A. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Josh Saunders)

Binho. Detail B. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Josh Saunders)

Change. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Jason Wilder)

BSA gives a shout out for the valuable contributions to the Wall\Therapy over the last ten days by the artists, organizers, volunteers, and talented photographers. Special thanks to John Magnus Champlin, Erich Lehman, Ian Wilson, Matt DeTurck, Jason Wilder, Alex Stuart, Mark Deff, Lisa Barker, Mark Deff, and Josh Saunders. Shout out to Instagrammers @WallTherapyNY , @heliosunphoto , and @shotbywilder .

Check out excellent Wall\Therapy coverage by Rebecca Rafferty on the Rochester City Newspaper

Check out our previous posts on WALL\THERAPY:

WALL\THERAPY 2013 Starts With FREEDOM in a Tunnel

WALL\THERAPY 2013 Daily Checkup and Scan of Founder Ian Wilson

Wall\Therapy 2013 Tuesday Update 7.22.13

Sarah C. Rutherford Flies High at Wall\Therapy

Wall \ Therapy 2013 Friday Update 07.26.13

To learn more please visit:

www.wall-therapy.com

www.facebook.com/walltherapyny

twitter.com/walltherapyny

instagram.com/walltherapyny

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Brooklyn Street Art is proud to be the Media Partner of Wall Therapy 2013

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Wall \ Therapy 2013 Friday Update 07.26.13

July 26, 2013 Artists

Skunk in the tunnel. ROA is back in Rochester.

But he’s not alone – a number of new artists arrived mid week to get the aerosol festivities reinvigorated. Not that they were flagging.

WALL\THERAPY has been up on a record number of walls all week – a rolling panoply of artists and organizers and volunteers and paint and sandwiches and water bottles and cherry pickers and neighbors stopping to watch and ask questions, offer opinions, and send it out on Instagram. Wednesday night was a meet and greet and panel talk with some of the artists and last night was a full on party at a local club. The wide variety of installations is providing entry for a lot of conversations online and in the street about the art and the artists – which is always good for building engagement with public space.

Here are new process photos from the last couple of days from Binho, Cern, Chris Stain, DALeast, Ever, Faith47, Gaia, Mr. Prvrt, Range, ROA, Siloette, Thieven Stephen, and Wise2.

Special thanks to photographers Sara Czernikowski, Jason Wilder, Alex Stuart, Josh Saunders, Lisa Barker, and Mark Deff, for sharing these great process images with BSA readers.

A 2 a.m. shot of a brand new piece by Chris Stain of the artists son. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Chris Stain)

Chris Stain got started earlier in the week and didn’t really like his original piece, so he regathered his ideas to do this brand new piece derived from a photo he took of his son Kesh this spring. Combining an urban cityscape from Queens with the portrait, Chris explains, “Lately I’ve been inspired by double exposure photography and I wanted to explore those possibilities in my own work.”

Take your phone and hit the road! Shoot your own pics and tag them @WallTherapyNY and @BKStreetArt – we’ll send them round the world! Click image above or HERE for the updated Google map.

Check out our previous posts on WALL\THERAPY:

WALL\THERAPY 2013 Starts With FREEDOM in a Tunnel

WALL\THERAPY 2013 Daily Checkup and Scan of Founder Ian Wilson

Wall\Therapy 2013 Tuesday Update 7.22.13

Sarah C. Rutherford Flies High at Wall\Therapy

To learn more please visit:

www.wall-therapy.com

www.facebook.com/walltherapyny

twitter.com/walltherapyny

instagram.com/walltherapyny

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Brooklyn Street Art is proud to be the Media Partner of Wall Therapy 2013

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