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Spring 2017
photo journal
The Dripped On The Road Spring 2017 Program was a month long trip that visited 6 cities, painted 9 murals, hosted 3 artist talks and camped in 5 State/National Parks and Forests.
Resident artists were Lauren Asta and Kit Mizeres hosted by DOTR directors Denton Burrows, Ramiro Davaro-Comas and Jonathan Neville. Documenting the journey was DOTR videographer Lisa Bolden.
The Program visited Washington DC, Asheville NC, Nashville TN, Florence AL, Atlanta GA, Bethlehem PA and hosted a gallery exhibition in New York City.
Washington D.C.
April 2nd - April 6th
The first stop after departing NYC was the nation’s capital, Washington D.C. The team had a full schedule with three murals planned across the city.
The first mural was for Pabst Blue Ribbon in the well-known bar, The Pinch, on 14th Street NW and Parkwood Place NW. Ramiro Davaro-Comas, Denton Burrows, Kit Mizeres and Lauren Asta collaborated on a black & white mural in the venue’s performance space. For two days the artists worked non-stop transforming a once white, bland wall into a masterpiece that reflects The Pinch’s persona.
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Washington DC
Part 2
April 2nd - April 6th
Next in D.C. the program headed over to The Fridge Gallery, a gallery focused on street art and community events on Barracks Row in the historic Eastern Market neighborhood, to collaborate on a large mural on the gallery's facade. The Fridge is a neighborhood staple that hosts some of the best art exhibits in D.C. Alex, the owner, lives there with his amazing dog Bongo and each morning they greeted the crew with coffee and donuts!
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During the Fridge Gallery mural, Ramiro and Jonathan Neville headed over to DOTR sponsor Artist & Craftsman Supply to paint a small mural on the entrance to the store. The A+C crew was friendly and psyched to work with the DOTR Directors.
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Gatewood Park, VA
April 7th - April 8th
After DC, the crew packed up the supplies in the RVs and hit the road for a few nights in George Washington & Jefferson National Forest to recoup before the next city and murals in Asheville North Carolina. The first campground the program stayed in was a riverside campsite in Gatewood Park, a 6 mile drive into the mountains. Gatewood Park had about 15 RV sites and was next to a bald eagle's nest.
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Overnight there was a wind and hailstorm and the team awoke to flurries in the morning. A little hot coffee in the morning and the artists were back on the road headed to the next campground.
Asheville, NC
April 8th - April 9th
The crew arrived to their next mural location, the Desoto Lounge in Asheville NC and parked the RVs in the lot behind behind the bar. The owners and DeSoto staff greeted the crew with open arms and kept them fed with delicious fried chicken sandwiches and homemade meals.
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The Asheville Pabst Blue Ribbon rep, Alex, brought the crew out to amazing local restaurants and bars to eat dinner and enjoy PBR.
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The DOTR crew painted a black and white mural spanning two walls based on PBR cans and DeSoto Lounge's mascot, the ConquistaDeer. Overall, Asheville is a great place to visit!
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Nashville, TN
April 10th -April 14th
Nashville was a lively stop. The program partnered with Pabst Blue Ribbon painting two enormous murals on the side and on the parking lot fence of The Crying Wolf, a great bar in East Nashville. The owners of The Crying Wolf allowed the program to park and stay on their property conveniently located down the road from the bar.
The days were hot and humid but with the assistance of two articulated boom lifts, the crew was able complete the mural while still experiencing the amazing cultures Nashville has to offer from the honky-tonks to delicious BBQ.
On the final day, as the crew packed up the supplies and took photos, the owner of a restaurant across the street, Butcher & Bee, invited the crew to have their final meal in Nashville at the restaurant. The crew was treated to a table full of delicious Middle Eastern inspired dishes. The staff's kindness was a true example of southern hospitality.
Florence, AL
April 14th- April 16th
In Florence, Alabama, the program stayed with DOTR friends and tattoo artists, Ulyss Blair and Eva Jean at a beautiful lakeside residence. The tranquil space afforded the program a much needed opportunity to work on their artwork for the gallery exhibition at the end of the program. The program explored Florence, stumbling into an amazing concert by the grammy winning blues musician Alvin Youngblood Heart. A Mississippi legend.
Ulyss and Eva took great care of the crew and had an awesome dog named Tater that kept the DOTR dog Yuki company. The house the crew stayed in was out of a movie providing photo shoot opportunities in every room at every moment.
Ulys and Eva are famous tattoo artists who competed on Spike TV's Ink Master Season 9 and run their own tattoo parlor, Allegory Arts.
Atlanta, GA
April 17th - April 20th
DOTR returned to one of our favorite cities, Atlanta. The Atlanta PBR rep, Luis, hosted the Program in his cul-de-sac and as he is known to do, made sure the crew experienced the city.
The program was in Atlanta for four days in which Lauren Asta, Ramiro Davaro-Comas and Kit Mizeres collaborated on a PBR mural for The Graveyard, a bar and music venue in East Atlanta Village.
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Directors Denton Burrows, Ramiro Davaro-Comas and Jonathan Neville hosted an artist talk and website building workshop with DOTR Sponsor Wix.com at the Facet Gallery. Facet Gallery was one of the most beautiful galleries the crew visited in Atlanta. A two story gallery space with beautiful exposed wood beams and a front yard blooming with flowers.
Camping
April 20th - April 24th
On the drive from Atlanta, GA to Bethlehem, PA, the program camped in three state parks Lake Norman State Park (NC), Lake Anna State Park (Va.) and one in Pennsylvania that we couldn't remember the name of and was quite eerie.
The RVs pulled into Lake Norman State Park in the late afternoon and the crew cooked dinner and told ghost stories over the campfire. The following day they took photos, spent time drawing and explored the park and lake before hitting the road to North Carolina.
Driving through Virginia was beautiful and Lake Anna State Park lived up to expectations and hopes. Not only was the park beautiful but the Park Rangers were very informative and kind, inviting the crew to participate in a gold panning class on the lake. While the crew did want to find gold, Lake Anna was a perfect setting to keep working on the artwork for the gallery exhibition.
The crew spent the night in a Pennsylvania State Park. The grounds and facilities were nice, however the night was eerily quiet.
Bethlehem, PA
April 25th-April 30th
The crew spent five days in Bethlehem, PA partnering with the local non-profit ArtsQuest and Lehigh University for the Southside Arts & Music Festival. The crew had a busy schedule as they were set to paint a 3-story mural (45’x34’), host a youth mural workshop as well as host an artist talk & website building workshop with Wix.com. The RVs parked and the crew boon-docked in their usual Bethlehem location behind the beautiful steel stacks, an iconic Bethlehem landmark.
The program worked closely with Bethlehem’s Historical Commission, Arts Commission, Parking Lot Commission and ArtsQuest to make certain that the proposed mural reflected Bethlehem’s rich history and culture. The mural draws inspiration from Rosie the Riveter, photographs from the 1920s of steel workers and local Bethlehem imagery and insignias.
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The Bethlehem community rallied around the mural and the owner of the building invited the crew to have dinner at his restaurant, a Victorian mansion repurposed in 1980 into a Euro-Asian café. The setting was a moment captured in the Victorian Age and the food was amazing.
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On the last night in Bethlehem and of the program, the crew was invited to Lehigh University professor and DOTR advocate and friend, Berrisford Boothe's house, for a good-bye dinner. The night was full of great conversations, silly art games, great conversations and reflection.
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Bethlehem was an amazing end to an amazing DOTR Spring ’17 Program
New York, NY
April 30th-May 4th
The crew arrived back in New York with three days to prepare for the “End of The Road” exhibition on May 4th. The exhibition was held at 287 Bleecker Street hosted by Cami Ledy and All Mad Here productions.
Lauren Asta showed approximately 40 illustrations based on phrases said and people she encountered at Wal-Marts during the trip. Kit Mizeres installed four framed illustrations, an impressive feat considering two works were destroyed, one ending up in an Alabama lake. Jonathan Neville created an entire new company, Street Art Succulents, repurposing the aerosol cans used during the trip into planters for succulents. Denton Burrows exhibited two detailed illustrations inspired by the trip. Ramiro Davaro-Comas installed nine illustrations including pieces on wood and on paper sown together with hemp chord framed by wooden sticks found in state parks visited during the trip. Lisa Bolden showed a video installation as well as her photography from the different locations the program visited.
The exhibition saw approximately 200 guests and sold a majority of the artwork.
