This lovely, little neighborhood block is about to be transformed. Next Tuesday evening from 6:00 to 8:30, the 800 block of S. Thistle St. will turn into a mini-golf course. See those green parking strips on either side of the street? That’s where 9 holes of putt putt will be, each hole designed by a South Park or Seattle artist!

Thistle St...Before

And it’s not just putt putt. It’s live music (we’re talking the Brian Marshall Band!) and FREE food! Come celebrate Night Out Against Crime with your favorite South Park Peeps. See you in less than a week, yes?

Thank you to our wonderful muralists — Chris Kent, Sneke One, Gina Tolentino, Kenji Fulmer, and Elisa Renouard! They made the bridge wake an amazing event and turned the bridge into a beautiful new backdrop for the community. Thanks to 4Culture and ECOSS for their support.

Check out the mural project page to see the finished project!

Gina Tolentino

Kenji Fulmer

Chris Kent

Sneke One

Elisa Renouard

South Park is remembering its dear old bridge on Wednesday, June 30, from 6pm-10pm with a giant party! You can call it a wake, but we’re gonna call it a party. Because here at South Park Arts, we believe our loss is a great opportunity for South Park to be reborn!

Not only does this “wake” have an awesome poster designed by a certain SPArtian webmistress (who is tooting her own horn just by writing this), it’s going to have SIX muralists transforming the bridge from blah to fabu!

Here are the fantastic six artists who will be there on Wednesday night: » keep reading »

The two sides of the bridge are framed perfectly for murals

South Park Arts needs muralists for our soon-to-be-closed bridge! Would you like to put your mural-painting skills on display for the community? On Wednesday, June 30, at 7:30pm, the South Park community will be mourning the loss of our bridge with a wake and party. Instead of just mourning our loss of the bridge, South Park Arts would like to use the wake to celebrate new possibilities in our community. We’re hoping to have eight muralists spraying on the bridge during the party, giving the community something to watch, and transforming the structure from defunct infrastructure into artistic force.

The murals will remain intact for at least a year — possibly much, much longer — until the old bridge is demolished to build the new one. The sides of the bridge offer striking framed portions of concrete that can be filled with painted images (see photo). Later in the summer, the community will be working to transform the spaces around the bridge into a temporary park, and your mural will be the backdrop.

As for logistics, you will be given an arch under the bridge to fill, a small stipend for your time and supplies, and free food and drink. The event starts at 7:30pm, but you can begin your work at 7pm, and will need to consider that it will get dark around 9.

The possibilities are endless but themes for mural works could include impermanence, city infrastructure, sudden change, gathering together, loss of connection, stasis, and growth. For more information on South Park and the bridge, check out these sites:
http://www.allaboutsouthpark.com/
http://www.southparkarts.org
http://www.kingcounty.gov/transportation/southparkbridge.aspx

If you are interested in this project, please let  us know at info [at] southparkarts.org

South Park Arts has joined Flickr! If you’d like to share your photos of SPArts events, use your account to join the South Park Arts Flickr group and start adding all your documentary masterpieces. It’s free to join and relatively painless to upload photos. Even if you don’t have an account, you can keep track of what we’ve been up to by checking out the photos.