FAYETTEVILLE -- What can some car parts, old crates, shoes, pieces of playground, a discarded portable toilet, a kayak and a stand-up paddle board get you?
Two giant deer wrestling in front of the Walker-Stone House.
Green Candy Art Action
Where to go:
• West wall of Hog Haus Brewing Co., 430 W. Dickson St. Mural of a colorful honeycomb with the solar eclipse at the center by Marina Zumi of Argentina.
• East wall of One West Mountain building on the square. Mural of two bears on a window sill by Ernest Zacharevic of Lithuania.
• West wall of architect David W. McKee’s studio, 545 W. Center St., next to the Razorback Greenway. Mural of a jackrabbit wearing a gas mask breathing clean air from a terrarium by Jason Jones of Fayetteville.
• Walker-Stone House, 207 W. Center St. On the front lawn is a sculpture of two deer butting antlers by Bordalo II of Portugal. Hanging from a tree is a crocheted strawberry with bees by Gina Gallina of Eureka Springs. Inside, the walls were painted by Bicicleta Sem Freio of Brazil. Puerto Rican painter Ana Maria from Fort Smith has an exhibit inside of bird paintings.
Source: Staff Report
The Green Candy Art Action event wrapped up with a party Friday at the historic building. Artists local and from as far away as Lithuania worked on pieces this week at a few spots downtown.
Experience Fayetteville, the city's tourism bureau, worked with global curators JustKids to develop the sustainability-themed public art event. The Advertising and Promotion Commission OK'd a $73,000 contract with JustKids in July. The commission is the governing body of the tourism bureau.
Molly Rawn, executive director of Experience Fayetteville, paused in between wrapping things up with Green Candy and everything going on with Fayetteville Roots Festival to examine the finished pieces at Walker-Stone. The idea was to ride the momentum of the well-established music, film, culinary and environmental festival, which started Wednesday and runs through Sunday, to promote the first-time art event.
There was a bit of a learning curve organizationally, but the final Green Candy product turned out "exceptional," Rawn said.
"It took a lot of effort on my team's part, on the volunteers, on JustKids," she said. "Mainly, I'm just grateful to the commission for allowing us to be bold and to do something for our city."
The word will spread on social media or otherwise and draw more people downtown, tapping into Experience Fayetteville's overall purpose as a tourism bureau, Rawn has said.
Brazilian art collective Bicicleta Sem Freio painted the walls of three rooms in Walker-Stone House with depictions of a woman, a cardinal, vines and a colorful sparrow. The two-story, 6,000-square-foot house was built in 1847 and survived a Confederate cannonball that crashed through a bedroom wall during the Civil War.
The future use of the house is uncertain. Commissioners have gotten proposals from potential tenants but haven't made a decision. The commission bought the house for $750,000 last year.
Taylor Thomas, 22, of Fayetteville said he felt a little torn about the walls being painted because of the historical significance of the home.
"But, it's beautiful art. I cannot discount that," he said, clutching a camera and the leash of his 2-year-old black Labrador, Bella. "It's cool to have somebody from Brazil come up and do it."
Bordalo II of Portugal shaped, cut and molded material that normally would be in a landfill to create the two deer clashing on the front lawn. Eric Nix and his wife, Hailey, noted how well-sculpted the battling bucks are.
Eric Nix, a firefighter at nearby Fire Station No. 1 on Center Street, caught glimpses of the artist putting the pieces together.
"I knew it was some sort of sculpture, but with material like that you don't really see that, so, it kind of sparks your curiosity," he said.
Robin and Stephanie Lenogue of Fayetteville are on a mission to visit 12 countries in 12 months. The push for street art reminded Robin Lenogue of something out of a city near Paris.
"It feels really good to see some pop up around here," he said. "It's very pleasant."
Eureka Springs crocheter Gina Gallina used more than 7,200 yards of yarn to create the oversized strawberry crawling with friendly bees that hangs on a tree in the front yard. She put the piece together in three weeks and her hands feel like it, she said.
"I consider myself lucky if that's my worst problem," Gallina said.
Being a part of the Green Candy public art event gave Gallina a chance to display her work in the city and meet members of its art community, she said. It was worth juggling a day job and other projects to join in, Gallina added.
"This event has been amazing. I love seeing Fayetteville in action and really making this happen," she said. "I'm almost speechless."
NW News on 08/26/2017