On Sept. 4, the Beasley Gallery was nothing but blank walls. On Sept. 28, the freshly-painted walls will be revealed, featuring the artwork of more than 500 students, faculty, staff and community members of all ages.
“If you showed up to an art gallery and started painting on all the walls, you’d probably get arrested,” Chris Taylor, the Beasley Gallery coordinator and lecturer in the School of Art, said with a laugh. “We wanted to give everyone the chance to be an artist. Here, you are the creator.”
The tradition of the wall draw began in 2010, and the concept is simple: start with blank walls, and for three and a half weeks, open up the gallery to anyone and everyone interested in making their mark. Visiting artists are provided Japanese-style ink and let loose to paint whatever they would like.
“Some of my first painters on this year’s wall was a group of seniors who read about the opportunity in the newspaper. They were just really excited about art and super jazzed to have the chance to be creative.”
According to Taylor, this show not only draws the largest crowd, but the most interaction, with community members and students of all skill levels coming back year after year to share creative expression.
Today, the walls are covered in more than 1,000 drawings ranging from self-portraits, words, abstract finger-painting and animal renditions. Tomorrow, the walls will be re-painted white, which they will remain until next year’s wall draw.
The wall reveal reception, which is free and open to the public, will be held 5-7 p.m. Sept. 28 in the Beasley Gallery at the Performing and Fine Arts Building.