Black Cat Alley [1] is an arts destination in a one-block alleyway in Milwaukee, Wisconsin known for its street art mural installations. It is located behind the historic Oriental Theatre (Milwaukee) and includes both temporary and semi-permanent installations by a variety of artists and art groups. Each year, as many as 20,000 visitors pass through the alley.
The East Side BID, owner of the Black Cat Alley, holds special events periodically in Black Cat Alley such as "Black Cat After Dark," [2] as well as other activations such as yoga classes, mural tours, "AlleyWayz" (a concert series in partnership with WYMS 88.9 Radio Milwaukee), vendor markets, and more.
Artists whose works have been included in the alley include MTO, Koctel, [3] Daisy Gertel, [4] Jeff Redmon, Tia Richardson, [5] Brandon Minga, David Najib Kasir, Bunnie Reiss, Janson Rapisarda ("CERA"), Jeremy Novy, Thomas "Detour" Evans [6] and Bigshot Robot.
Although the alley had been a local spot for graffiti writers in Milwaukee for many decades, Black Cat Alley was officially launched in 2016 [7] when local artists Stacey Williams-Ng [8] and Tim Decker successfully proposed the concept to private property owners, including Milwaukee developer New Land Enterprises, and neighborhood groups. [9]
Black Cat Alley is located on Milwaukee's East Side in what was previously an unused, privately owned alleyway. The alley, located behind the Oriental Theatre (Milwaukee) and other commercial destinations, had a reputation for crime and other unsavory activity for over 40 years. [10] From 2014 to 2016, Stacey Williams-Ng and Tim Decker worked with the East Side BID and the various property owners to create a plan for what is now known as Black Cat Alley, a place that has since become one of Milwaukee's top ten tourist destinations, according to data provided by Visit Mke. [11]
Oriental Theatre is a theater in Milwaukee, Wisconsin operated by Milwaukee Film. The theater was built and opened in 1927 as a movie palace with East Indian decor. It is said to be the only movie palace to incorporate East Indian artwork. Designed by Gustave A. Dick and Alex Bauer, the theater has two minaret towers, three stained glass chandeliers, several hand-drawn murals, six bigger-than-life Buddhas, dozens of original draperies, eight porcelain lions, and hundreds of elephants.
"The Sheik of Araby" is a song that was written in 1921 by Harry B. Smith and Francis Wheeler, with music by Ted Snyder. It was composed in response to the popularity of the Rudolph Valentino feature film The Sheik.
Rigo 23 is a Portuguese-born American muralist, painter, and political artist. He is known in the San Francisco community for having painted a number of large, graphic "sign" murals including: One Tree next to the U.S. Route 101 on-ramp at 10th and Bryant Street, Innercity Home on a large public housing structure, Sky/Ground on a tall abandoned building at 3rd and Mission Street, and Extinct over a Shell gas station. He resides in San Francisco, California.
Anime Milwaukee (AMKE) is an annual three-day anime convention held during February at the Baird Center and Hilton Milwaukee City Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is Wisconsin's largest anime convention.
Charles "Chuck" Arnett was an American artist and dancer. His best-known work is the Tool Box mural (1962).
Balmy Alley is a one-block-long alley that is home to the most concentrated collection of murals in the city of San Francisco. It is located in the south central portion of the Inner Mission District between 24th Street and Garfield Square. Since 1973, most buildings on the street have been decorated with a mural.
Clarion Alley is a small street between Mission and Valencia Streets and 17th and 18th Streets in the Mission District in San Francisco, California. It is notable for the murals painted by the Clarion Alley Mural Project.
Graffiti in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a cause of much disagreement among its residents. Graffiti is seen by some as an art form adding to the Toronto culture; however, others see graffiti as form of vandalism, viewing it as ugly, or as a form of property damage.
In recent years, Atlanta has been called one of the USA's best cities for street art. Street artists have prominently created murals in Krog Street Tunnel, along the BeltLine, and in neighborhoods across the city. The street art conference, Living Walls, the City Speaks, originated in Atlanta in 2009.
Cavorting Critters or Brady Street Beasts is a public art work by American artist Bill Reid located on the East Side of Milwaukee, Wisconsin near Brady Street and the Holton Street Viaduct. The artwork consists of three creatures made of painted steel.
Dancing Through Life is a public art work by artist Schomer Lichtner. It is installed on the Riverwalk in Pere Marquette Park in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Susan (Sue) Simensky Bietila is a Milwaukee-based artist whose protest art includes art and illustration for underground newspapers as well as giant street puppets. She became active as a student in the mid-1960s, when she joined with members of the Women's International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell (W.I.T.C.H.) to protest a bridal fashion show in New York City; this experience was Bietila's introduction to the power of art and art-making as a political force, and she chronicles the experience in a comic that is available in the This is an Emergency! print portfolio published by Justseeds, as well as on her blog. She has also worked in puppet-making, constructing giant puppets for demonstrations related to Latin American Solidarity.
The San Francisco South of Market Leather History Alley consists of four works of art that honor the history of gay and lesbian leather culture in South of Market, San Francisco. The art is embedded in Ringold Street, an alley between 8th and 9th Street. The installation opened in 2017. The alley is part of the Leather and LGBTQ Cultural District.
I Believe in Nashville is a series of painted murals started in 2012 by the artist Adrien Saporiti, a Nashville native. The mural, which started in one location, has since been replicated on several walls throughout the city of Nashville. It has become a popular tourist destination and scene to pose for Instagram photos, having appeared on the photo-sharing platform over one million times.
Destination Crenshaw is an under-construction 1.3-mile-long (2.1 km) open-air museum along Crenshaw Boulevard in Los Angeles, California, dedicated to preserving the history and culture of African Americans. The project includes new pocket parks, outdoor sculptures, murals, street furniture, and landscaping.
Wide Open Walls (Sacramento Mural Festival) is an annual street art event held in Sacramento, California. The Friends of the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission conceived of the event as a fundraiser for public arts education and developed it with constituents from the civic, business, education, and arts sectors to build on the city's cultural economy.
Lucille Berrien is an activist from Milwaukee. She was good friends with fellow Open housing advocate James Groppi. She ran for mayor of Milwaukee in 1972, becoming the first African-American woman to do so, but lost the race to incumbent Henry Maier. Though she had recently joined the Black Panther Party, she ran a non-partisan race for mayor. Berrien also ran for State Treasurer of Wisconsin in 1990 with the Labor–Farm Party of Wisconsin, but lost to Cathy Zeuske.
Graffiti Alley, officially Rush Lane, is a three-block, 1-km alleyway in Toronto's Fashion District, known for hosting street art. Lonely Planet has called the site "possibly the most popular place to check out street art in Toronto". The alleyway was used prominently as the backdrop in Rick Mercer Report's "Rant" segment. Despite its popularity with tourists and leniancy by law enforcement, it is not a legal wall.
The Tool Box was a leather bar for gay men in San Francisco that operated from 1962 to 1971 on the east corner of 4th Street and Harrison Street. It was the first leather bar in the South of Market, and a meeting spot where influential personalities of the early San Francisco leather scene gathered. After a prominent feature in Life magazine in 1964, it was considered the archetypal leather bar, helping to cement San Francisco's reputation as the “gay capital” of the US. The bar's history was short-lived: from 1965 onwards, the epicenter of the leather scene shifted towards Folsom Street, which ultimately led to its closing in 1971. The Tool Box is commemorated at the San Francisco South of Market Leather History Alley.