Art on the Streets marks its 25th year with a dozen joyful pieces in Colorado Springs
Jun. 5—While other people scurry through downtown during a midweek lunch hour, muralist Juls Mendoza stands on the roof of Saigon Cafe, leaving his mark on the west-facing, second-floor side of the building at 32 S. Tejon St.
His vibrant piece, "I Choose Art," best visible to those headed east along Colorado Avenue, features a young child holding a painter's palette to his face, one eye peering through the thumb hole on the palette. His other hand clutches paint brushes. Mendoza sees the palette as a shield and the brushes as weapons.
"When a kid has problems, you use art or something to feel comfortable," said the Denver artist who describes his style as cultural surrealism. "You hide behind something that makes you feel good. In this case, a kid is choosing art as his weapon and also something he wants to be represented by."
The child in the mural isn't Mendoza, but it's not not Mendoza.
"It's a representation of Latino culture," he said. "He has a little beanie and represents diversity and everyone who's a kid who feels close to art and feel like it's part of them. It's not necessarily me, but there's always something in creating that you feel is part of you. In every painting there's part of the artist."
His primary-colored mural is one of the new dozen pieces in this year's 25th annual Art on the Streets exhibit, a juried outdoor gallery throughout downtown featuring works by local, regional, national and international artists.
Over the last two and a half decades, the Downtown Ventures exhibit, which started solely as a sculptural program, has brought more than 300 pieces of art to the Springs. Several years ago murals were added to the mix.
Also new this year is Carlos Oliva's "Mary Mashburn" mural, in which the muralist and street artist from Montreal, Canada, pays homage to the longtime former executive director of the nonprofit Imagination Celebration. Mashburn died in January.
"Seeing murals has inspired other folks downtown to consider murals as they do renovation projects," said Downtown Ventures Executive Director Michelle Winchell. "It has added to the creativity and vibrancy of downtown."
The element of surprise is one perk of the annual exhibit. You never know when or where you're going to run into one of the new pieces. You'll be walking along and bam! You'll stumble on Pagosa Springs-based artist Kyle Cuniff's new "Casey the Terrific Tire Caterpillar," a giant green, yellow and red caterpillar made of painted car tires inching its way along outside the Pioneers Museum.
Cuniff's was one of 70 applications for this year's exhibit. Jurors narrowed the field to a dozen based on media, style and viewpoint. Each selected artist received a $2,000 stipend for their work.
"Once they got down to the final set it felt like the throughline of everything was about being joyful, whether with vibrant colors or forms," Winchell said.
"We're a few years out from the worst of the pandemic, and there's a feeling of something joyful and celebratory."
One would be wise to poke around and find the new works — they're only up for a year and sometimes a year has a way of disappearing into the annals of time.
And to better understand each piece, download the free Otocast app from the Apple Store or Google Play to hear commentary from the artists. The app also provides information about the city's permanent collection of public art.
"Public art changes our perspective," Winchell said. "We get emails and calls from those who walk by and say I just noticed that sculpture was there or this changed my daily commute. It interrupts our day-to-day life. We can get on autopilot and it's a good reminder to take notice of our surroundings."
