Celebrate growth of Avenue Art Days

The Eagle’s Oct. 4 story about a Central Standard Brewing mural that was painted over shortly after being completed caused artists, patrons and the public to quickly take sides. The fallout has created some negative feelings and misunderstandings about the Avenue Art Days project.

First, I have no horse in this race. My support of local and regional art goes back almost 40 years. I am a member of the Douglas Design District, but did not have a mural done by Avenue Art Days. I am not a customer of Central Standard Brewing, but I understand their product is good and they are engaged in the community. Their reputation is at stake, too.

Avenue Art Days is an all-volunteer effort and it is growing, evolving and improving each year. Businesses are recruited with the disclaimer that they can indeed paint over the mural. I understand that this is codified in a contract that both the business and artist sign. Outdoor murals by nature are not permanent and other murals in the project have also been painted over. The one at Central Standard Brewing is certainly not the first.

Many artists I know often talk about creating a work, painting over it and starting again. No one professes to get it right the first time every time. Some murals are clearly more polished than others. Not every participating artist brings the same level of experience to painting large-scale works. Time constraints, weather, varied building surfaces and city codes make creating a good mural difficult at best. But no one should minimize the work, effort, and passion put into any one of these murals. Central Standard Brewing simply exercised an option both parties understood and agreed to. They thought it best to neither criticize nor comment. I find that refreshing.

Make no mistake, this is not about the Art Police coming in the night to seize and destroy art. To equate this to book burnings, wanton destruction of art, or the Taliban destroying centuries-old religious artifacts is inflammatory and grossly exaggerated. The Avenue Arts Days concept is a melding of art and business and community. It is a fun, energetic, creative, volunteer initiative with lots of positive results. Let’s keep that in perspective as we discuss what larger effect it has on our community.

This story was originally published October 19, 2017 at 5:25 AM with the headline "Celebrate growth of Avenue Art Days."