I went to downtown D.C. this morning to take a look at the aftermath of last night’s George Floyd protests. I was early enough to be among the first sightseers watching bewildered store owners surveying the damage.
I went to downtown D.C. this morning to take a look at the aftermath of last night’s George Floyd protests. I was early enough to be among the first sightseers watching bewildered store owners surveying the damage.
I did some outdoor exploring around Northeast D.C. this weekend and came across this interesting mural by Baltimore-based illustrator Jasjyot Singh Hans.
The murals are along of the Metropolitan Branch Trail in NoMa — a biking and walking trail along the train tracks between NoMa and Catholic University.
Apparently this mural was added last year as part of the Pow! Wow! DC mural festival, which is responsible for many of the noteworthy murals in the area.
We explored Southwest Washington D.C. for the first time this weekend and came across this funky multicolored church.
The former Baptist church is now Blind Whino, a nonprofit art gallery and performance venue. It was free to look around, and there were several cool art installations.
We ran into some interesting graffiti while hiking through the Trinity River Park.
The Trinity River wraps around downtown Dallas and is more like a glorified creek that covers a massive flood plain anytime it rains.
There are also plans to develop the flood plain into one of the world’s largest parks, but right now most parts are just unsafe urban wild land.
The portion of the park closest to downtown is safer because it is not wooded, but rather a massive open field with the river/creek running through it. That is where we walked the dogs recently and came across some pretty interesting street art.
Here are the pics!
Street art of air balloons under the Trinity River bridge
Graffiti under the Trinity River Bridge
Graffiti that borrows characters from Super Mario
I pass the Holy Mackerel tattoo parlor on most of my dog walks, and I love the mural on the side of the building.
The mural reminds me a lot of the Wynwood District of Miami, and I wish more businesses in town did this.
Graffiti Outside the Holy Mackerel
Graffiti Outside the Holy Mackerel
Graffiti Outside the Holy Mackerel
Graffiti Outside the Holy Mackerel
Sure, I may have gone to a few underground hipster parties in college, but the Wynwood Arts District was nothing like this.
Sometimes it’s more fun taking the side roads:
This one is on the Hennepin Bridge somewhere near the bird.
It’s fun, but not as exciting as the Uptown sticker art.
I wrote about my distain of most spray painted “name-tag” graffiti and my love of Uptown sticker art, but here’s a new idea:
Yarn bombing. The word(s?) HOTTEA are written all over Minneapolis in string. There are posts about HOTTEA at Mplsart and Colossal. Unurth also has posts about HOTTEA here and here.
Yarn bombing is probably still illegal although it causes no damage to public property besides the occasional moldy piece of old string. I think we should get a fence around our new apartment just so I can write something fun in string.
I’m moving away from Uptown this week. It may sound silly, but what I will miss the most about this neighbor is the stickers.
Sticker graffiti is fascinating. I think I enjoy the sticker art so much because it is higher quality than sprayed graffiti and the stickers are also hidden throughout the neighborhood, so I may be the only person on the street who notices them. It’s like finding a prize.
More sticker art monsters keep appearing in the neighborhood. This is my favroite. His name is Goober.
I’m all about the sticker graffiti in the neighborhood. I think it is more clever and interesting than the majority of spray painted graffiti around these parts.
And of course sticker art has its own wikipedia entry. This stuff is so official, folks.
Some of the interesting street art in Uptown right now is in the form of a sticker:
More pictures after the jump.
