Art Up/Open Up December Art Walk Map & Descriptions

** A Muse Artstamps: 7107 Greenwood Ave. N
Stop in and make a free holiday gift tag.

American Dance Institute: 8001 Greenwood Ave N
American Dance Institute's Student Contemporary Performance Group and Carmona Flamenco. Photos by Erica Curnutte.

Balderdash Books & Art: 8536 Greenwood Ave N
Paul Irvin of Pablo Alto Studios: photography

Bambu Organic Salon: 7406 Greenwood Ave N
Stacy Yawman & Kristy Yawman: photography, framed drawings, clothing, jewelry and greeting cards.

Bherd Studios (Greenwood Collective)
8537 Greenwood Ave N, Suite 1 Studio D
John Osgood: Urban Contemporary Art

Francine Seders Gallery: 6701 Greenwood Ave N
Marita Dingus: "Bending Life". Her exhibit will include a combination of figures, latticework fences and hanging vines which will transform the main gallery into a colorful garden-like space.
Jacob Lawrence: a selection of lithographs and screen prints in the upstairs gallery.

** Gaspare: 6705 Greenwood Ave N
3-course Italian dinner for $22 from 5-10pm

Greenwood Collective: 8537 Greenwood Ave N, Suite 1
Multiple visual artists and live performance art. Soft acoustical music by Gabe Mints and Trent Moorman (from Head Like a Kite).

Greenwood Academy of Hair: 8501 Greenwood Ave N
Observe the artistic side of hair & make-up on our fantasy models and watch while our Team Vogue a magazine photo into live art.

Jennifer Gibson, LMP, CCT: 6051 Phinney Ave N, Suite 1
Karen Manuel: collograph prints based on tribal imagery and textiles

Kevin Law Photography (Greenwood Collective)
8537 Greenwood Ave N, Suite 1 Studio B
Kevin Law: unique, vibrant photography from around the world

Lemon Meringue Boutique: 7720 Greenwood Ave N
Cassie Bohannon Photography: macro floral photography
Sara Seumae: organic clothing designer

Makeda Coffee
153 N 78th Street (between N. 1st Ave & N. Greenwood Ave.)
Antoinette Hippe: acrylics on canvas, henna designs and affordable holiday gifts.

Metropolis: 7321 Greenwood Ave N
Live holiday music

Naked City Brewery: 8564 Greenwood Ave N
Artist TBA

Neptune Coffee: 8415 Greenwood Ave N
Dave Bloomfield: Urban Contemporary Art

Oliver's Twist: 6822 Greenwood Ave N
Original Artwork by Lesley Broadgate.Pegasus (Greenwood Collective)
8537 Greenwood Ave N, Suite 1 Studio A
Jasmine Zimmerman and Rachel Kaplan with Christopher PTree on sound: Pegasus is an avant-garde performance group weaving visceral movement with elastic sound into living installation.

Pema Kharpo: 8554 Greenwood Ave N
Various artists: Tibetan artwork*Fair trade products

Phinney Ridge Cabinet Co.: 8003 Greenwood Ave
Kim Van Someren: printmaker working in a variety of styles - etching, relief and monotypes

Pig N Whistle: 8412 Greenwood Ave N
Dan Baumfeld: contemporary figurative art.

Rising Stars Children’s Store: 7404 Greenwood Ave N
Julia Wight: Asian-inspired paintings in watercolor & pen, nature studies in pencil, cards and laminated placements of her work will also be on sale

Seattle Management Group Real Estate, Inc: 8313 Greenwood Ave N
Rick Rogers: his mixed media artwork combines collage, painting & sculpture with mostly recycled materials, which result in colorful, powerful assembleges.

Serenity Healing Arts: 121 N 85th St.
Antoinette Hippe: henna-style acrylc fine art on canvas and wood.

Sip & Ship: 8560 Greenwood Ave. N
Faith Neille McEntire: collection of work entitled "Nine Small Sounds”.
Live jazzy music by DJ Eric

Strut: 7511 Greenwood Ave N
Susanna Prince: fused glass art, hand-crafted jewelry and fabric belts.

Terra Bella Flowers: 8417 Greenwood Ave N
Floral design demonstrations

Wayward Coffeehouse: 8570 Greenwood Ave N
Art work by 4 visual artists: Joyce Mitchell, Encaustic Wax; Cheri Prestek, Encaustic Wax; Magic Magpie Studios by Antoinette, Henna Art; Angie Whitney, Oils.
Pacific Northwest Folklore Society Presents: A Maritime Evening with Stewart Hendrickson and the Whateverly Brothers. Musical performance from 8pm - 10pm.

Zak and Zoe Dog Boutique: 7400 Greenwood Ave N
J. Nichole Smith of Dane and Dane Photography: photography, t-shirts & calendars.
Retro Pet Prints by Krista


** Offering Art Walk Special Promotions

A PDF of the map and description will be posted on the Greenwood-Phinney Blog Shortly.

Art Up Greenwood-Phinney "Snowmen on Parade": Sneak Peek

Seattle Artist: Karen Birchfield



N. Seattle Boys & Girls club members




The one on the left and middle are by Greenwood Artist John Osgood and the one on the right is by Ballard Artist Mark Persinger.

The snowmen will be matched up with art walk businesses and up for bid on Friday, December 12th starting at 6:00pm. The businesses will have a silent auction bid sheet and bidding closes at 8:30pm that night. So you'll be able to take your snowman home that evening if you have the winning bid. Cash or Checks made out to N. Seattle Boys & Girls Club are accepted as payment. All proceeds go directly to the N. Seattle Boys & Girls Club.

The wood for the snowmen were donated by our local Dunn Lumber and Roger Brockway from He Saw Her Paint donated his time and expertise in cutting them out.

Just in New as of 12/10/08

Left to Right

Artists: Cash, Chris Olson, & John Ashby

Left to Right

Artists: Britt Rynearson x 2 and Monika Dalkin

Art Up / Open Up Greenwood-Phinney Art Walk Map

This is the most updated art walk map thus far. More snowman hosts to be announced and the final map with descriptions will be posted on the Greenwood-Phinney Chamber website

Snowman in progress...

Here's a snowman currently in progress by John Osgood.

Snowmen will be displayed on December 12th from 6-9pm up Greenwood Ave N. Each snowman will be auctioned off and all proceeds will go to the N. Seattle Boys & Girls Club.

email: artup@greenwood-phinney.com for more information.

Sneak Preview of Art Up/Open Up Participants

ART

American Dance Institute
8001 Greenwood Ave N
American Dance Institute's Student Contemporary Performance Group and Carmona Flamenco. Photos by Erica Curnutte.

Balderdash Books & Art
8536 Greenwood Ave N
Paul Irvin of Pablo Alto Studios: photography

Bambu Organic Salon
7406 Greenwood Ave N
Stacy Yawman & Kristy Yawman: photography, framed drawings, clothing, jewelry and greeting cards.

Bherd Studios
at the Greenwood Collective
8537 Greenwood Ave N, Suite 1 Studio D
John Osgood: Urban Contemporary Art

Francine Seders Gallery
6701 Greenwood Ave N
Marita Dingus: "Bending Life". Her exhibit will include a combination of figures, latticework fences and hanging vines which will transform the main gallery into a colorful garden-like space.
Jacob Lawrence: a selection of lithographs and screen prints in the upstairs gallery.

Greenwood Collective
8537 Greenwood Ave N, Suite 1
Multiple visual artists and live performance art. Soft acoustical music by Gabe Mints and Trent Moorman (from Head Like a Kite).

Greenwood Academy of Hair
8501 Greenwood Ave N
Observe the artistic side of hair & make-up on our fantasy models and watch while our Team Vogue a magazine photo into live art.

Jennifer Gibson, LMP, CCT
6051 Phinney Ave N, Suite 1
Karen Manuel: collograph prints based on tribal imagery and textiles

Kevin Law Photography
at the Greenwood Collective
8537 Greenwood Ave N, Suite 1 Studio B
Kevin Law: unique, vibrant photography from around the world

Lemon Meringue Boutique
7720 Greenwood Ave N
Cassie Bohannon Photography: macro floral photography
Sara Seumae: organic clothing designer

Makeda Coffee
153 N 78th Street (between N. 1st Ave & N. Greenwood Ave.)
Antoinette Hippe: acrylics on canvas, henna designs and affordable holiday gifts.

Metropolis
7321 Greenwood Ave N
String duo playing holiday music

Naked City Brewery
8564 Greenwood Ave N
Artist TBA

Neptune Coffee
8415 Greenwood Ave N
Dave Bloomfield: Urban Contemporary Art

Oliver's Twist
6822 Greenwood Ave N
Original Artwork by Lesley Broadgate.

Pegasus
at the Greenwood Collective
8537 Greenwood Ave N, Suite 1 Studio A
Jasmine Zimmerman and Rachel Kaplan with Christopher PTree on sound: Pegasus is an avant-garde performance group weaving visceral movement with elastic sound into living installation.

Pema Kharpo
8554 Greenwood Ave N
Various artists: Tibetan artwork
*Fair trade products

Phinney Ridge Cabinet Co.
8003 Greenwood Ave
Kim Van Someren: printmaker working in a variety of styles - etching, relief and monotypes

Pig N Whistle
8412 Greenwood Ave N
Dan Baumfeld: contemporary figurative art.

Rising Stars Children’s Store
7404 Greenwood Ave N
Julia Wight: Asian-inspired paintings in watercolor & pen, nature studies in pencil, cards and laminated placements of her work will also be on sale

Seattle Management Group Real Estate, Inc
8313 Greenwood Ave N
Rick Rogers: his mixed media artwork combines collage, painting & sculpture with mostly recycled materials, which result in colorful, powerful assembleges.

Serenity Healing Arts
121 N 85th St.
Antoinette Hippe: henna-style acrylc fine art on canvas and wood.

Sip & Ship
8560 Greenwood Ave. N
Faith Neille McEntire: collection of work entitled "Nine Small Sounds"
Live jazzy music by DJ Eric

Strut
7511 Greenwood Ave N
Susanna Prince: fused glass art, hand-crafted jewelry and fabric belts.

Terra Bella Flowers
8417 Greenwood Ave N
Floral design demonstrations

Wayward Coffeehouse
8570 Greenwood Ave N
Art work by 4 visual artists: Joyce Mitchell, Encaustic Wax; Cheri Prestek, Encaustic Wax; Magic Magpie Studios by Antoinette, Henna Art; Angie Whitney, Oils.
Pacific Northwest Folklore Society Presents: A Maritime Evening with Stewart Hendrickson and the Whateverly Brothers. Musical performance from 8pm - 10pm.

Zak and Zoe Dog Boutique
7400 Greenwood Ave N
J. Nichole Smith of Dane and Dane Photography: photography, t-shirts & calendars.
Retro Pet Prints by Krista


SPECIALS

Gaspare
6705 Greenwood Ave N
3-course Italian dinner for $22 from 5-10pm

A Muse Artstamps
7107 Greenwood Ave. N
Stop in and make a free holiday gift tag.

The Snowmen Are Naked!

Local artists and the N. Seattle Boys & Girls Club are decorating the snowmen. We do have about 8 snowmen that still need an artist to volunteer to decorate. If you are interested, please see below...

Snowman Instructions

Before committing to decorate a snowman you must be willing to do the following things:

1) Prime the raw wood to prep it for outside display, as these are meant to be lawn ornaments and need to be able to weather our rainy wet weather.
2) Paint and decorate front AND back sides of the snowman
3) Submit an artist bio (i.e. a short statement about yourself) to be displayed by the silent auction sheet
4) Return the decorated snowman to Bherd Studios located at the Greenwood Collective: 8537 Greenwood Ave N, Suite 1, Studio D, Seattle, WA 98103 (door to Greenwood Collective is right beside Gary’s Hobby & Games) by Friday, December 5th.
5) Pat yourself on the back, as you just donated your time in support of raising money for the N. Seattle Boys & Girls Club.

All snowmen will be displayed at Art Up/Open Up: Greenwood-Phinney Art Walk Kick-Off on December 12th from 6-9pm and will be auctioned off by businesses who have volunteered to display them in front of their stores. All proceeds collected will be given to the N. Seattle Boys and Girls Club.

If you have questions, please contact Michele Persinger at Bherd Studios via email: speakandbherd@hotmail.com


A Special Thank You to the following local businesses:
- Dunn Lumber who donated the wood
- John Osgood of Bherd Studios who donated the design
- Roger Brockway of He Saw Her Paint who donated his time & expertise in cutting out the snowmen

MONTHLY ART WALK COMES TO GREENWOOD-PHINNEY

Event gets kicked off on December 12th with Art Up/Open Up

SEATTLE – November 4, 2008 – The Greenwood-Phinney neighborhood is the latest Seattle community to get a monthly art walk, and the Greenwood-Phinney Chamber of Commerce is kicking it off on Friday, December 12, from 6-9 p.m. with Art Up/Open Up – a celebration combining the new art walk with a holiday shopping event.

The new art walk will occur on the 2nd Friday of each month and will include everything from visual art, music and performance art to special discounts and promotions. For the kick-off on December 12, all neighborhood retailers are encouraged to stay open from 6-9 p.m. for the holiday shopping season. This evening will be a great chance for people to shop locally and support their community as well as lay the groundwork for educating them about how Greenwood-Phinney can be a great place to explore great food, cool stores and interesting arts and entertainment.

In addition to the art walk, the Greenwood-Phinney Chamber is partnering with the North Seattle Boys and Girls Club to create a Snowmen on Parade fundraiser. The Snowmen will be decorated by local artists and Boys & Girls Club members, then will be displayed along Greenwood Avenue North and auctioned off the night of the December 12 art walk. All proceeds from the sale of the Snowmen will go to the North Seattle Boys & Girls Club to purchase memberships for kids whose families are unable to afford the annual fee.

For more details on the event, please visit: http://www.greenwood-phinney.com/

Art Up / Open Up - Holiday Art Walk Kick-Off

Art Up Greenwood-Phinney presents “Art Up/Open Up”

A recent poll of Annual Art Walk Participants found that there are many businesses interested in participating in a monthly art walk. The majority consensus for the monthly date is 2nd Friday’s from 6-9pm. Our first art walk will take place on Friday, December 12, 2008.

If your business is interested in participating, please send us your art’s information by December 1st. Arts submission deadlines for listing in the monthly art walk will be at the 1st of the month, each month. Businesses may choose to participate as they see fit (i.e. quarterly, every other month, etc). Art’s listings accepted include: visual art, live music, literary readings, and performance art. To submit listings please email: artup@greenwood-phinney.com or fax: (206) 233-2654 to request a submission form.

The kick-off celebration will promote and encourage buying local for the holidays and we encourage all businesses regardless of whether they will be participating in the art walk to stay open from 6-9pm on December 12th and offer special sales/promotions during this opening. To participate this way, please email: artup@greenwood-phinney.com with your interest.

Each month a map with updated listings will be available for art walk attendee’s to download at this blog site. The listings will be clearly designated with symbols representing the different types of arts listed at each business.

Art Up Announces New Greenwood-Phinney Monthly Artwalk

A new monthly artwalk will be kicking off on Friday, December 12th from 6-9pm. Along with the artwalk participants, all stores in the Greenwood-Phinney neighborhood are encouraged to participate for the holiday kick-off by staying open and offering special promotions for the artwalk goers. The new monthly artwalk will occur the 2nd Friday of each month.

Stay posted to this blog as more information is added. This will also be the site to download your monthly artwalk listing and map.

Urban Artists "Spray It" in Greenwood-Phinney

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

CONTACT: Michele Persinger
Bherd Studios
(206) 234-8348
speakandbherd@hotmail.com
http://www.bherdstudios.com/

Urban Artists “Spray It” in the Greenwood-Phinney Neighborhood

Seattle, WA, August 9, 2008 – Urban artists and Greenwood-Phinney Chamber of Commerce celebrate urban street art with a neighborhood mural unveiling and street art exhibition at Bherd Studios Gallery in Greenwood.

The ribbon cutting ceremony will take place at Bherd Studios (315 NW 85th Street, Suite B) in conjunction with an urban art exhibit called “Spray It, Don’t Say It” on Saturday, August 9th from 3pm – 9pm. The exhibit will feature artwork from internationally known Jef Aerosol, whose work in Europe with street stencil art inspired urban artists world-wide. His work can be seen on walls in numerous cities including Paris, London, Chicago, Amsterdam, Venice and more. Jef is a true legend in the street art world. Along with Jef, national and Pacific NW artists will be featuring their works both in the style of stenciled and free-hand street art. Artists include LittleGirlLost, CASH, DreXeL, SouLe, MassRad, Asher, JoaB and Greg Boudreau. The exhibition will continue through September 5.

The Greenwood-Phinney Chamber of Commerce recently created a new program called “Art Up Greenwood-Phinney” to combat the rise in tagging and vandalism in the neighborhood. Art Up not only focuses on the removal of tagging and vandalism, but is working towards creating a positive outlet for young urban artists. The chamber will be working with the local Jr. High and High Schools to target high risk offenders and help them to focus their energies in a positive way – creating art for the neighborhood. The mural celebration on August 9th is a sample of what the Chamber has planned for the community and is intended to draw interest from residents of all ages.

For more information about this event, please visit the Greenwood-Phinney Chamber of Commerce website at http://www.greenwood-phinney.com/ and click on the “events” section.
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Art Up Mural - Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

The Greenwood-Phinney Chamber in conjunction with Bherd Studios will be unveiling a new mural for our neighborhood as part of the Art Up kick-off on August 9th. Much anecdotal evidence has been shared over the last few months from various sources including the City of Seattle Graffiti Prevention department that murals are hit less than blank walls and help establish an example of a positive outlet for youth vandals. In addition, Art Up plans to introduce the program to the local Jr. High and High School in the next month and a half by meeting with their school principles.

More information to come on the mural celebration.

City of Seattle crew will be back in our neighborhood painting out tagging and cleaning on August 6th. If you see them come through, please stop and thank them for their help.

Graffiti Update for Greenwood-Phinney

Work crews have made their first round of clean up through the Greenwood Phinney neighborhood from N 90th street to N 59th street. The crew picked up garbage, swept and painted out graffiti on area businesses. 12 waiver forms were signed by businesses for painting out graffiti. We still have a long way to go to get more businesses to sign the forms. Anyone who is interested in helping this process along, please contact: artup@greenwood-phinney.com

As many in our neighborhood have seen, the old McDonald's building had been hit hard with graffiti. This will be resolved very soon as the company is coming out to "de-McDonald's" the building (take down the trademark roof, signage, etc.) and they will paint out the graffiti and put a fence around the building while they are going through this process. The new property owner has been contacted and said that he is going to sign the waiver form so that Art Up volunteers can paint-out graffiti as needed.

On the Phinney side of the neighborhood, there is good news about the zoo mural. A crew has washed away the gray paint that covered the mural.
To read more visit:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008038573_zoomural08m.html

City of Seattle Graffiti Work Crews - Summer 2008

A work crew arranged by the City of Seattle to clean-up the streets and paint-out the graffiti will be in Greenwood-Phinney neighborhood. The crew is working a couple different neighborhoods including ours and will have a Wednesday rotation throughout the summer. We should be seeing them at least 2 times between July and August. And they could be in our neighborhood as soon as July 2nd.

In order for the crew to paint-out the graffiti, the business/building owners need to have a permission form signed and turned into the Greenwood-Phinney Chamber. The chamber will have a booth at the upcoming Car Show on Saturday, June 28th where they will be handing out these forms. If you are interested in helping the chamber reach out to the local businesses, please stop by the booth that day.

The crew is also in need of a 1/2 way point to take a break and eat their lunch. If anyone can recommend an area about 1/2 way up Greenwood-Phinney, please let us know by emailing: artup@greenwood-phinney.com

Zoo Mural Uncovered in Seattle

Within a couple of minutes Thursday afternoon, it became clear the beloved mural by the Woodland Park Zoo — the one the city's Graffiti Rangers mistakenly covered up in early May with gray paint, creating a neighborhood uproar — could be saved...

for the rest of the article go to: seattletimes.com

Art Up Greenwood-Phinney Progress...

The Greenwood-Phinney Chamber has been actively involved with taking steps to rid our neighborhood of the graffiti and tagging blight.

We have:
Worked with the City of Seattle to add Red Wagon paint out supplies which will soon be stored and available for use at the Greenwood Service Center. Made available City drafted permission forms for graffiti and tag paint out for businesses who would like our volunteers to automatically paint out hit areas with the City provided white or gray paint (or have some of your own color on hand and we'll use that)

Started to gather a team of volunteers who we'll soon mobilize into service to take shifts in walking the neighborhood and doing paint outs for those businesses who have provided permission forms.

Begun the process to apply for a special grant from the city to support actions such as creating a brochure tailored for businesses in our neighborhood with info on how to combat graffiti, how to report it and how to remove it. Additionally, we are also looking into the use of this small grant to purchase a power washer for businesses with brick or stone storefronts who have been vandalized.

Created a new, long term initiative to resist graffiti called ART UP GREENWOOD-PHINNEY. The goal of this initiative is to select sites within the Greenwood-Phinney neighborhood prone to this behavior and work with local artists and youth organizations to create mural artwork that celebrates and represents the unique aspects of our community. This has proven to be a successful deterrent around the city as well as in other areas with similar problems around the country. We have setup a blog to keep the line of communication open on this initiative and we welcome and encourage your feedback and interest in participation, drop us a line at artup@greenwood-phinney.com.

Seattle Zoo Mural Update

The zoo mural that was painted over recently has been at the top of the list for concerned Phinney-Greenwood citizens. If you did not see the article you can read it here: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004460919_paintedmural06m.html

Irene Wall, of Phinney Neighborhood gave this update:
Shortly after the mural was painted over by the city, the Phinney Ridge CC (Community Council) began a dialogue with the Dept of Neighborhoods about replacing the mural. We expect to hear next week (week of June 16) how the city intends to fund the project. Lise Ward (who managed the original PRCC sponsored project) and Greg Zuhl, who called foul on the city for covering the mural, are co-leaders of a steering committee at this point.

She also said that there are some water damaged areas where drains need to be re-routed and also they would like to add lighting to the tunnel as well. There may be a slim chance that the gray paint may be able to be removed as the original mural had a protective coating on it. Some patch tests will be done by SDOT to see if that is a possibility. If the mural cannot be restored, it will be replaced and a process will be put into place for a possible design competition and the involvment of area youth.

Phinney Neighborhood Association - Graffiti Busters Workshop

If you missed our introductory meeting and wanted to find out more about what we can do to help clean-up graffiti in our neighborhood, then you won't want to miss this upcoming workshop.

Thursday, June 12th at 7pm
Phinney Neighborhood Center
Room 3

A representative from the City of Seattle will be presenting the solutions to cleaning up graffiti in our neighborhood. Find out how to form a "paint-out event", how to use the tools the city donates to the neighborhood, gaining permission from building owners, tips on cleaning different surfaces and more.

Art Up Meeting Notes from May 14th

We met last night at Mae's Cafe in Phinney to talk about what the neighborhood can do to mitigate the graffiti/tagging that has become a growing problem.

Anthony Matlock, Community Project Manager, from the City of Seattle was kind enough to come to the meeting and speak about the various solutions that have helped in other neighborhoods. The main take home message from this meeting was to report the graffiti and clean it up right away. Taggers want their work to stay up as long as possible to be seen and to get props from their peers. The faster the tag is taken down, the less visiblity they receive and so they move on and look for another place where their tags can stay up longer.

So the number one suggestion was to approach your neighbor/neighborhood business and offer to help them clean-up the graffiti by gaining permission. Or to call the graffiti hotline: (206) 684-7587 and report the graffiti. Don't assume that the residence/business has already been approached or it has already been reported. Vacant properties also need to be reported as well. If it's not reported, the city is not going to know that there is a problem.

The city will be giving the Greenwood-Phinney Chamber a "red wagon" that has tools to paint out graffiti such as brushes, rollers and paint. As a business owner, if you have your building painted a specific color, and you would like volunteers to help you paint out any vandalism you have been hit with, you should invest in a small supply of your color to have on hand. That way when a volunteer paint out day is coordinated, you can have your matching color readily available.

What happens when graffiti is reported using the hotline?
A. A letter is then sent to the building/property owner that says they have 10 days to clean up the graffiti and if they do not, then fines will be enforced. So if you don't like this approach, then approaching the business and/or private residence is suggested. In fact, most people would prefer it!

Anthony suggested that a committee be formed that meets once a month to keep the neighborhood educated and informed as well as regularly scheduling paint out days. In order for a volunteer to paint out a business/private residence tagging, a form must be filled out and signed by the building/property owner to give permission for the paint out. Volunteers are not allowed to paint out on buildings they do not have this prior permission for. So the Greenwood-Phinney Chamber will be alerting chamber members of this in their next e-newsletter.

The strategic plan for our neighborhood needs to include a long-term and on-going program. It was suggested that the Chamber create an educational pamphlet for the residents and business owners that is specific to our neighborhood.

Another focus of "Art Up" is to create a mural project in our neighborhood using the talents of local artists and neighborhood youth. We will be looking into applying for a grant and possible fundraisers for this purpose. It was proposed to have a contest for the murals with an unveiling and art event to celebrate the new project.

The meeting was concluded with the note that the Chamber will be informing members of the proposed plans for this new program and to gain more feedback and involvement. Should you be interested in attending upcoming meetings, please use this blog site as a tool to keep updated. Meetings will be posted as well as meeting notes. If you have questions, please feel free to contact: artup@greenwood-phinney.com

Art Up - Introductory Meeting Reminder

The Art Up Introductory Meeting is Wednesday, May 14th at 6:30pm at Mae's Cafe on 65th and Phinney.

If you aren't able to make this meeting. Please check back in with this blog as we will keep you updated on the project.

Also, save-the-date: Thursday, June 12th @ 7pm at the Phinney Neighborhood Center. Rana from the City of Seattle will be doing a workshop to prospective "graffiti busters" - distributing supplies and training people in paperwork, procedures, etc. for doing paint-outs on private property.

Look-out Graffiti... there’s a new canvas in town.

There is increasing concern in our neighborhood with the rash of graffiti and tagging plaguing businesses and private residences. To answer this concern, the Greenwood-Phinney Chamber of Commerce is organizing a task force called "Art Up Greenwood-Phinney" to find solutions to this growing issue. The new task force will address cleaning up graffiti and tagging on buildings in addition to forming teams of artists to create murals on the larger blank walls in our area. The idea behind this two-pronged approach is to clean up and beautify our neighborhood at the same time.

Often, graffiti and tagging are a result of youths trying to gain notoriety amongst their peers. Wiping out tags is not enough to make the perpetrators realize the negative impact to this neighborhood. An important part of this task force will involve teams of artists who will work with youth to create urban contemporary murals. Creating these murals sets an example of a positive outlet for a public audience and peer approval.

Art Up Greenwood-Phinney is a collaborative effort between business owners, property owners, artists, neighbors and youth all working to "art up" our neighborhood. Art Up will be working with the City of Seattle to apply for a matching fund grant for cleaning supplies. Everyone who is interested in finding out more about this project is invited to attend an introductory meeting on Wednesday, May 14th at 6:30pm at Mae’s Café located on 65th and Phinney. If you would like to be kept updated on future meetings, please email the Greenwood-Phinney Chamber of Commerce at artup@greenwood-phinney.com and ask to be added to the email list for this task force.