A few years ago, the brick and mortar walls of historic Phoenix neighborhoods were blank and colorless, some even deteriorating to concrete chunks on the sidewalk with graffiti littering abandoned buildings.
But as the downtown art scene has begun to flower, those buildings have been decorated with bright pigments and deteriorating walls have been spruced up with David Bowie portraits and abstract artwork.
This new artistic presence has been created in part by the Phoenix Mural Project, a group of volunteer artists and contributors armed with spray paint and a goal of bringing awareness to the beauty and impact of murals in Phoenix.
“The Phoenix Mural Project is an initiative that is about celebrating all the work of artists in the Phoenix Metropolitan area,” said Darrell Grissum, the creative director for the Phoenix Mural Project.
The Phoenix Mural Project was started in 2015 by Danielle Foushée and at first served as a digital archive that documented the vibrant art and mural scene in Phoenix, according to its website.
“I started photographing (the murals). They were all geotagged. I started putting them on a Google map and by the spring of 2017, the map grew to be about 250 points,” Foushée said. “When I started meeting the artists I realized they had such great stories that I wanted to learn about them.”
Though the mural project has only been around for three years, it has already begun to impact historic neighborhoods around downtown Phoenix, whether it’s with spray paint and brushes or helping up-and-coming artists get their names out.
“Outside of Phoenix, people don’t realize what an amazing creative culture there is here,” Foushée said. “That’s one of the things I want to promote with Phoenix Mural Project.”
The Phoenix Mural Festival
The Phoenix Mural Project launched its first festival in May 2018, inviting over 80 local artists to paint and illustrate murals around downtown Phoenix — and inadvertently kick-starting a controversy about the impact of murals in surrounding neighborhoods.
As part of the the festival, guests and attendees got to watch live paintings and interact with the artists and muralists while they painted.
“People just started talking and all of a sudden the festival was happening,” Foushée said. “People met each other for the first time and the artists collaborated.”
During the festival and the week following after, the 85 artists who participated in the festival painted 51 murals around downtown.
Controversy and resistance to new murals
In the time after the Phoenix Mural Festival, some residents living in historic neighborhoods began to express negativity towards the project and the murals around their properties.
“There was a handful of people who were very outspoken (on the murals),” said Foushée. “The city decided to hold this public meeting to have a community conversation about it.”
The residents living in these neighborhoods were concerned over the property value of their homes and whether or not they would lose their historic status because of the murals. However, according to the City of Phoenix Historic Preservation Officer Michelle Dodds, the murals have no impact on the value at all.
“The city doesn’t regulate paint color or murals unless they’re commercial type murals. As long as they have the permission of the property owner, they are not considered graffiti,” Dodds said. “People go and paint their walls whatever they want to paint on — the city doesn’t regulate that.”
Grissum said that murals have a stigma across certain demographics in regards of acceptance.
In response to the negativity, the City of Phoenix held a meeting to allow the community to voice their thoughts on the Project and its murals.
During the meeting, Dodds said historic neighborhood residents suggested forming citizen review groups that would allow residents to be “in-the-know” about what kind of mural is being put up and where.
While plans and discussions on developing this “citizen group” are still underway, Dodds says a decision or group will be formed by the end of November.
Helping muralists, mural by mural
While the Project aims to bring more color and arts awareness to Phoenix, Foushée says they also want to be the “nucleus” that helps artists get their names out.
“I know so many local artists and I’m constantly getting calls and connections from property owners who don’t know where to find an artist,” Foushée said. “Where (we) come in is being able to help find the right artist for the right property owner.
Plans for more murals and another street festival are on the way, but for now, Foushée wants to expand awareness such as recording murals locations for official city archives so the participating muralists can be known as part of the art history of Phoenix.
To help document the works involved in the Project, Foushée and Grissum have started planning a video series that will include artist interviews and the process of painting murals. While the plans for the series are still in the works, Grissum said they aim to have the first video released very soon.
“We have all these galleries and museums that show art and there’s always a record to show that,” she said. “But the street art is super ephemeral. It comes and goes before anyone even knows and to be able to document that culture.”
Contact the reporter at smedwar7@asu.edu.
Sara Edwards was the executive editor of Downtown Devil. She is a graduate student at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Sara has additional bylines in Phoenix New Times, West Valley View, L.A. Downtown News and Boardwalk Times.
Sara is also the co-secretary for the Multicultural Student Journalists Coalition.
