citizen-times

thank you to carol motsinger for her mention of the mural project in today's asheville citizen-times!!

"Asheville artists have officially left their mark on Miami. The group of muralists — organized by Spagnola — has gotten back from Art Basel after painting two Frida Kahlo murals on businesses in Miami.

But the group of six — including street and fine artists, and a videographer — is bringing back a lot from theexperience at the biggest contemporary art festival in the country.

Molly Freeman was one of the artists who added her touch to the project. She was kind enough to e-mail me a bit about what it meant for herand expresses that with a beauty that would escape my clumsy summary. So I'll turn it over to Ms. Molly:

“Working on a piece of this size really pushes toward healthy artistic collaboration. When you have to cover a huge wall, you almost have to have extra hands, and when you have multiple artists working toward a common creative goal then you get this incredible wellspring of creative energy,” she said.

“Art can be very solitary or competitive, but large-scale works, public works, are so much more about community and cooperation and the sharing of ideas.

“In terms of the Asheville art scene, this project has really inspired me to push toward that more collaborative, community-oriented approach to art. Coming back from Miami, I think our whole group's idea is to bring back a passion for making art — fresh, contemporary, beautiful art — on a large scale and integrate it into the landscape of our town,” she said.

“I really feel like public art and murals are the next frontier for Asheville to explore its identity.”