Artist Alley calls for design ideas

Sponsored by the Arts and Culture Committee of Downtown PKB

PARKERSBURG -- Downtown PKB needs help with its efforts to create a more visually appealing Parkersburg.

Organizers are asking people to design an approximately 4'x4' design that they could paint directly onto a brick wall between Unity Cafe and the Campbell Plaza building.

The selected artists will be invited to join a community painting event on Saturday, June 22, and bring their idea to life. The space for the outdoor Artists' Alley extends half-way down the block Sixth and Seventh streets, starting at the alley access point beside the Unity Cafe. The surface for most of the mural panels will be primed brick.

There will be five plywood panels that can be painted flat then mounted to the vinyl side of the Unity Cafe. Organizers would like to reserve these for anyone with a disability that would prevent them from painting directly onto the wall.

Once completed, the Artist Alley murals will be sealed with an anti-graffiti sealant provided by Sherwin-Williams Paints. Acrylic paints donated by Golden Paints will be available for use and Downtown PKB along with Unity Cafe will provide food, drinks and musical entertainment for the painting event on June 22.

Mural designs are to be done with a focus on positive images, local interest, landscapes, etc., with unity and inclusivity in mind. Work should stay away from political statements.

The alley will be cleaned and Edison lights strung in arches across the alley prior to June.

Downtown PKB hopes that these pieces will be around for many years but this cannot be guaranteed because of the nature of the medium. Downtown PKB does reserve the right to replace murals at its discretion.

The deadline is June 1 for submission of ideas and the Community painting event will be June 22 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. (artists' time is not limited).

There is no fee for entry and it is open to artists age 16 and over.

As part of the submission process:

* Email an image of the mural intended for the project to amanda@downtownpkb.com. Please attach a good quality JPEG, PNG or TIFF image.

* In the body of the email include name, the title of the work, an email address and phone number.

* If you have exterior mural painting experience or mural samples please include that information in the body of your message.

* If others may be joining you in painting your panel, please list them.

* If you are requesting to paint one of the flat panels, please write two to three sentences explaining why this modification is necessary.

* All works submitted for the competitions must be original works of art. No reproductions of copyrighted or other material will be accepted.

* Think about how people will interact with your piece. Does it spark joy?

* If your image is selected, you will be invited to join the Artist Alley Paint Out on Saturday, June

22 starting at 10 a.m. through 2 p.m. You may take more time if needed.

* Direct questions to info@downtownpkb.com or info@parkersburgartcenter.org.