Soul Art Renewal Mural Catalog

SOUL ART RENE WAL MURALS April 4 - August 14, 2021 Festival Hall

SOUL ART RENE WAL MURALS Soul Art Renewal is a multi-gallery and multi-media celebration of art and artists in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and other events in 2020-2021. The project’s aim is to focus on healing, hope, and community resilience and renewal in response to the impact the pandemic has had on the arts community.

The arts community in Denton continues to feel the impact of the COVID pandemic through losses of individual artists, community art spaces, music venues, and loss of employment and performance opportunities.

As the arts community re-emerges through galleries and venues reopening we encourage everyone to take a moment and reflect on the impact of the past year on their lives and the community. We believe at GDAC that expressing our emotions and experiences through art is a way to connect with one another and with ourselves. What have we lost in the pandemic? Can we reclaim any of the things lost? How can we as a community grieve and recognize the things and people we cannot reclaim? What are our hopes and dreams for the art community moving forward?

Our mural portion of the exhibition features four local muralists as they share what community means to them during the pandemic and other events in 2020 or what their hopes are for the future of our community.

Murals are part of the Denton art experience and our community experience with murals all over our city reflecting on our hopes, dreams, and important Denton figures and places.

U NIT Y BY ST EF FA N Y BR A D Y

“...My approach for this piece was to remain true to my aesthetic but this time I wanted to spell out the word UNITY. Truly what I hope and wish for once Covid goes away...there is so much division that I can only hope to unite people as they try to figure out what the mural says...”

Concept sketches of work

Concept design showing “unity” message hidden in work

Work in progress

Completed Work

You can find more information about Brady and purchase her works though her website & social media Website: steffanybrady.com Facebook: @SteffanyBradyArt Instagram: @SteffanyBradyArt Email: steffanybradyart@gmail.com

TOGET HE R BY J O H N BR A M B L I T T A RT I S T S TAT EMEN T

Our lives have forever changed. The onslaught of the coronavirus put a microscope on the way we live our lives and the people we keep in our circle. Our cities went from bustling downtowns to ghost towns overnight. We were asked to be strong while remaining alone at the same time. The impact of this has left us feeling raw, vulnerable, and wondering what’s next. How will we return to normal? Will we return to normal? My piece, Together, is meant to provide the viewer with an opportunity to reflect on these thoughts. The mask symbolizes what we are going through while offering hope that it won’t be forever; we will eventually be able to see the smiles on our family and friends’ faces. The hands represent the circle we hold on to as well as the people we will eventually be able to reconnect with and touch again. I wanted the negative space to also be an actor in this composition.

It allows the focus to be solely on the hands and mask. Similar to the isolation that some of us felt during the shutdown, the emptiness forces us to focus on our relationships and interactions with others. While this experience has been painful to live through, for some of us, it has made us more appreciative of the human touch and the relationships we might have been taking for granted.

A RT I S T B I OGRAPH Y

After losing my sight in 2001, I decided to pick up a paintbrush. I never expected anyone to see any of my paintings; I just knew I needed to reconnect with the visual world I had lost. Since then my work has been featured in the New York Times, Discovery Channel, most major news outlets and has been sold in over 120 countries. I have worked with celebrities such as Tony Hawk, Jeff Bridges, Lyle Lovett, and many more. I have received three presidential service awards for my innovative multi-sensory art workshops. I painted a Boeing 737 for Delta to promote the Rock-in-Rio concert, the largest concert in the world. I am ranked as the #1 blind painter in the world, and the only blind muralist having completed projects in New York, Dallas, and Fort Worth. I was recently named a cultural ambassador for the US. Corporations and nonprofits have me out frequently to share my story with

audiences.

Concept sketch of work

Work in progress

Completed work

You can find more information about Bramblitt and purchase works though his website & social media Website: https://bramblitt.com/ Facebook: @bramblitt Instagram: @bramblitt Twitter: @bramblitt Email: bramblitt@gmail.com

CH ELSEA MILLER “...When thinking of a concept I was really looking to create something that really tells a story, and something that people could relate to one way or another. While thinking of the community I kept getting hung up and lost in what the word community actually looks like. I wanted to create something hopeful and thoughtful but also recognizes how this pandemic hasn't been easy. This year has been tough for everyone, there's no doubt about that. So I wanted my piece to somehow demonstrate how we all felt at one point empty, scared and essentially a "colorless" near future. With that being said, I also want to show that there is hope for a brighter future. Community to me is coming together to create and build a neighborhood to be proud of.

Denton has such an amazing community and I believe will become even stronger after this pandemic. Life as we know it has changed and, for me at least, things haven’t looked as colorful as they once were. This piece is representational of how bright and beautiful the future will be going forward from 2020...”

Concept inspiration & sketch

Work in progress

Completed work

You can find more information about Miller & her art through her website & social media Website: https://www.chelseamiller.work/ Instagram: @it’s_miller_time77 Email: chelseamiller.work@gmail.com

TO PUT IT MI LD LY BY ER I K A TO L B E RT “...What I have been working on is aiming to be a complete representation of our community experiences over this past year, and IT HAS BEEN A LOT, so I have been putting together what is essentially the style of one of the "where's waldo" or "great city search" type of piece, with the places of denton, and to make it have some lightheartedness (which I figure we all need right now) our fellow Dentonites would be drawn as animals)... in situations that have happened this year... a good example would be a little bearded cat with an Eastside hat mowing a lawn to represent when John Williams started the lawn mowing business over the summer for the employees of his businesses to keep them working, etc....” “...Most scenes depicted are positive community aspects, (such as helping each other, showing solidarity with each other during the marches, sewing masks) however I feel that some reality of the situation is warranted with a true representation of the full community with adding things like the scene with the needy cat on the street, near the cat with the ice cream. who is oblivious. Even though there are many positive things, I feel it would be extremely tone deaf to gloss over and only add the parts of our community we can pat ourselves on the back for.”

Concept sketches of work

Work in progress

Completed work

You can find more information about Tolbert & purchase her art through her website & social media Website: https://www.teepublic.com/user/lostonthetrailsupplyco Instagram: @erikakatht Phone: 940-367-5374

Visit us in-person 400 E. Hickory St. Denton, Texas 76201 Tuesday-Saturday, 11 AM–5 PM Thursday, 11 AM–8 PM Online dentonarts.com more information call 940.382.2787 or email admin@dentonarts.com

Thank you to our supporters