Decorating back door fixtures while Main Street closed
The Waupaca Community Arts Board is launching a 3D Alley Art Design Contest for regional artists.
The goal is to transform 26 existing downtown Waupaca building and alley fixtures, such as pipes, stair rails, grates and vents, into attention-grabbing, whimsical 3D mini murals.
Winning artists will receive a stipend of $150 per each accepted and completed design.
The Waupaca Community Arts Board (WCAB) will provide all materials and equipment needed by the selected artists and is working closely with the city of Waupaca and participating business owners to ensure work schedules are coordinated later this spring.
The 3D Alley Art project will add fun and life to the back door entrances of downtown businesses while their front doorways are inaccessible during this year’s reconstruction of four blocks of Main Street.
“The arts board is thrilled to bring whimsy to our downtown alleys and provide area artists with an exciting 3D street art opportunity,” said WCAB 3D Alley Art Chairperson Lillian Bittman. “We can’t wait to see the creativity and imagination of Wisconsin’s artists come to life in Waupaca and then be a part of our downtown landscape for years to come.”
Interested artists should start by heading to WCAB’s website where they can review a numbered Google album of approved Potential Downtown Waupaca 3D Alley Sites.
Interested artists may visit www.waupacaarts.org/waupaca-3d-alley-art-design-contest-1 for details about the contest guidelines, color palette and required submission form.
Artists must email their complete submission packet to WCAB at [email protected], no later than April 9.
In mid-April, a community-based selection jury will select the 26 winning designs for the four-block art project.
Installation is expected to begin in May.
WCAB is grateful for the multiple grants it has received to finance this project.
In early February, the Waupaca Common Council unanimously approved a $4,000 grant, funded through Tax Incremental District #10, to support the permitting necessary for the 3D Alley Mural project.
WCAB also received sproject funding through two grants.
One grant was provided by the Waupaca Area Community Foundation Fund within the Waupaca Area Community Foundation, an affiliate of the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region, Inc.
WCAB also received a Spark grant from the Bright Idea Fund within the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region.
“We are so grateful for the generous financial support of the city of Waupaca and the Waupaca Area Community Foundation,” said WCAB President Marci Reynolds. “We would not be able to support our downtown businesses and area artists without these very generous grants.”
Waupaca is joining many other cities around the country that have begun using this type of 3D art to draw people to their shopping areas.
WCAB pulled many of these existing murals into a 3D Alley Art Examples Video so the public and interested artists can get a glimpse of the vision for downtown Waupaca.