{"id":592,"date":"2022-03-22T19:15:30","date_gmt":"2022-03-22T19:15:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/journal\/?p=592"},"modified":"2024-08-10T21:39:54","modified_gmt":"2024-08-10T21:39:54","slug":"street-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/journal\/2022\/03\/22\/street-art\/","title":{"rendered":"Street Art"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tuesday 22 March 2022<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I sporadically read a weekly newsletter called Reasons to be Cheerful<\/a>. RtbC was founded by, and still features writing by, David Byrne, singer, songwriter, etc. As its title suggests, it is a purveyor of hopeful news, something that I’ve welcomed over the last few years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week there was a link to a story on another blog that really stuck a chord. It is about the work of a street artist who ‘repairs’ pavement by embedding mosaics in damaged areas. (The full article can be found here: https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2022\/02\/ememem<\/a>-pavement-mosaics\/<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take a look:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\n
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Street mosaics, 1, used to repair damaged pavement, by Lyon’s artist ememem<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Street mosaics, 2, by enemm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mosaics
Street mosaics, 3, by ememem<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I like these. They are surprising. They are colorful. They are functional. They also call attention to the structure of the pavement, for it, too, is a mosaic of textures and colors and patterns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wonder if it might be cost effective to crowdsource the artistic repair of streets and side walks. Kits, with proper mastic and a well-chosen palette of tiles, designed to cover varying amounts of space, could be provided so that aspiring artists – might add serendipitous bits of color to their neighborhoods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This street art reminded me of another project from long ago \u2013 mentioned either by William Whyte or Jane Jacobs, but I think it was Whyte \u2013 called Dance Steps. This featured bronze footsteps set into cement; there were multiple installations, each a different dance: a waltz, a rumba, &c.., so it would not work for crowdsourcing, but still it was a lovely idea. The article I read \u2013 and now I think it was perhaps yet a different source than those I’ve mentioned \u2013 said that occasionally people would stop try the dances, much to the entertainment of passersby. I was so taken with this idea that I sought them out when I was at a conference; they were in a suburb of either Seattle or Portland. I found them, but was sorry to see that they were ignored, though perhaps because it was the gray end of a work day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dance Steps Street Bronzes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Later: Dance Steps, indeed the right name, is in Seattle Washington. It was funded by Seattle’s innovative ‘1% for art’ program, and Dance Steps itself was created by Jack Mackie, who went on to have a career in creating public art. A bit more on the project can be found here: https:\/\/www.kuow.org\/stories\/what-s-with-these-bronze-footprints-in-the-sidewalk<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n

Views: 8<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tuesday 22 March 2022 I sporadically read a weekly newsletter called Reasons to be Cheerful. RtbC was founded by, and still features writing by, David Byrne, singer, songwriter, etc. As its title suggests, it is a purveyor of hopeful news, something that I’ve welcomed over the last few years. This week there was a link … Continue reading Street Art<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federate","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,51,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily_entry","category-essay-stub","category-has-pictures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1044,"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592\/revisions\/1044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}