The RVA Street Art Festival
The third RVA Street Art Festival took place in Old Manchester, Richmond from Friday, April 22 through Sunday, April 24. It’s not an annual event. It’s random. Unpredictable. Like art, which imitates life. So, the schedule and structure were appropriate.
For the street art festival, Hamilton Glass collaborated with Matt Lively. The day before the festival began, Glass and Lively invited art enthusiasts to come and paint on their designated wall. Paint was provided and passersby, artists and even children stopped by to participate in the open-wall session.
“No one knows what it will look like in the end,” Glass said.
During the next two days, Glass and Lively turned the collected contributions in to one cohesive masterpiece, “Wip.”
The RVA Street Art Festival is a three-day event that showcases the talent of local muralists and street artists.
According to RVAStreetArt.com, The focus of the RVA Street Art Fest three-fold: supporting youth art education, discovering local talent, and bringing life to our beautiful city.
Artists are invited to participate and assigned a location. Art was scattered all over the manchester area, from old buildings, to storage sheds, to the walls of local businesses and beyond. Every corner you turned, you were greeted by the beautiful creations of the elaborate minds of artistic geniuses.
Richmond resident Tashia Johnson attended the festival.
“I think events like this are important. Art is a way for us to express our creative sides. Events like this remind us all that there are some creative minds in the world. It shows our children that it’s okay if they see beauty in the world they want to share. Plus, it’s always nice to be reminded about the good things in such an evil world and share that with complete strangers, and possibly make new friends,” Johnson said.
