First Friday Art Walk GUIDE

Rory Harbert: “Having been there in the beginning when the murals were first popping up, and then now where we’re revitalizing the project, how does that feel for you? How does that emotionally connect?”

Cynthia Ramu: “Well there’s a lot of emotions in there. For the wall to go down as an entity, I didn’t know about it until the last second. I really worked hard for years to get it to be connected, and the last thing I ever thought was the destruction of all the art on the wall. There are pieces where no one knows who did them, or people just renovated off of something someone else did. Luckily, I was trying to document and there were people who documented. I have a whole archive that I’ve transferred to Rawlings library digitally and with KTSC in 1995 we did a documentary on the project.

Now it’s different, but it’s new because everything changes. This energy with the artists now, most of them weren’t even alive when I first started. A lot of them get to make their work happen on the wall. I’m just excited that I’m around to help that happen. I want to help create a legacy from the old to the new and let it grow, find new leaders and find new people to help support this vision. In the beginning when I got started, I was like what’s the name of this? ‘Well levee?’ Hmm we should have a name for it. It’s something that’s growing and morphing all the time, I’ve got artists in La Veta, Denver, Albuquerque, Colorado Springs we just had someone enter a call for artists (we’ve done seven so far) who’s in Ontario. I’m trying to reach out to people beyond us and right now we’re trying to break the US record, I have to do a lot of math every day to keep track of how much footage we’ve done and how far we have to go. I want to keep people inspired to be part of our team to make that happen for the US and the world record because we kept it for 23 years which is amazing. We only lost it because the wall went down.”

Harbert: “Is it inspiring if bittersweet to know the previous muralists who were a part of that artwork are infusing their influence and expertise into these younger artists and being able to keep the spirit up with the mural project?”

Ramu: “The vision was started back in 1978, the Tee Hee artists were mostly CSU students or USC students because they had an eye on that wall for a long time because it was illegal, it meant jail or fines to go out there. They were calculating and going out at night in their socks. They actually got a Safeway cart and chopped it off to lower paint down and they had people in the river with flashlights and they had whistle signals. In the beginning it was just a fish on the wall. The police heard and they came, and the artists scurried. The police found the vehicle with the design imprinted on the front seat, impounded it and thought it was finished. Then it would become legal to paint on the wall with a per!it. The Tee Hee artists made history just thinking big. That fish became a fish in a bathtub and slowly but surely there’s a faucet, waterspouts and all of this abstract art stemming from it.”

To listen to this episode, go to: voicesofpueblo.podbean.com Available on all platforms!

Art Events

INKWELL: Analogue’s Creative Writing

Open Mic

7-9 p.m., second Thursdays, Analogue Books & Records, 216 N. Main St.

Kids Story Time

10-11 a.m. Fridays, Analogue Books & Records, 216 N. Main St.

Bridging Gaps: A Crafting Social Support Group

2:30-4 p.m. Saturdays through April 26, Senior Resource Development Agency, 230 N. Union Ave. Info: 719-583-6611

Music Events

Line Dancing

EZ 4 p.m., Country/Classic 6-7 p.m. Wednesdays, Eagleridge Event Center, 805 Eagleridge Blvd., Suite 170 Info: facebook.com/PuebloDanceCompany

Cocktail Hour with Live Music

7-9 p.m. Wednesdays, Analogue Bar, 222 N. Main St.

Info: facebook.com/AnalogueSolar

Open Mic at Blue Cactus

6-9 p.m. Thursdays, El Nopal’s Blue Cactus Room, 1435 E. Evans Ave.

Info: 719-564-9784

Live Music Fridays

7-9 p.m. Fridays, Analogue Bar, 222 N. Main St.

Karaoke Night at The Fallout with KJ Mikey

D.

9-11:30 p.m. Fridays, 1227 S. Prairie Ave. Info: facebook.com/PuebloFallout

Alt Night at Analogue

7-9 p.m. last Saturdays at Analogue Books & Records, 216 N. Main St.

April Art Events

April 7 - Friday

First Friday Art Walk: Matte Refic/SCAPE & Kevin Malella

6-9 p.m., Blo Back Gallery, 131 Spring St.

Artists in Bloom Show

5-8 p.m., Steel City Art Works, 216 S. Union Ave.

April 8 - Saturday

Spring in Japan: A Celebration of the Season & the Yumiko Kato Collection

2-4 p.m., Pueblo Star Journal, 3rd & Main, 301 N. Main St. Info: pueblostarjournal.org/events

April 13 - Thursday

Live drawing

6-9 p.m., Blo Back Gallery, 131 Spring St.

April 14 - Friday

Selena the Show

7:30 p.m., Memorial Hall, 1 City Hall Place

Info: $28, pueblomemorialhall.com

April 20 - Thursday

Open Mic

6-9 p.m., Blo Back Gallery, 131 Spring St.

April 22 - Saturday

Live Music by Morgan Cox and Friends

6-9 p.m., Blo Back Gallery, 131 Spring St.

April 28 - Friday

Pueblo History and Art Walk Kickoff

9 a.m.-6 p.m., Blo Back Gallery, 131 Spring St. Food trucks 10 a.m.-3 p.m., guided tours 10 a.m.-noon and 2-4 p.m.

April 29 - Saturday

Jewelry Making Workshop

1:30-3 p.m., Project: Inspire Cooperative, 129 S. Union Ave. Info: theprojectinspire.com