VIRGINIA BEACH — The ViBe District, Something in the Water festival organizer Brandan Odums, also known as BMike, Virginia Beach Cultural Affairs and the Museum of Contemporary Art have teamed up to create a free art walk in honor of the festival.
“It’s a huge opportunity and it’s a credit to Pharrell’s vision to showcase Virginia talent,” said Kate Pittman, executive director of the ViBe District.
Pharrell Williams chose New Orleans-based visual artist BMike to contribute to the landscape as well as curate the program, working with 12 local artists, she said.
All of the artists came from Virginia Beach, Norfolk or Richmond, Pittman said.
In addition to the 12 artists, BMike is painting a large pink auto plaza wall in the ViBe on 17th street which will feature his collaboration with Teens with a Purpose.
There’s no ticket needed to see the art walk and people can find it by following the icons on this map:
The art is a mix of nine contemporary pop-up structures and four permanent murals that spans from 8th Street to 31st Street along Oceanfront festival area, in ViBe Creative District on 17th Street and at Virginia MOCA on Parks Avenue, Pittman said.
The walls were designed by local architect Jeremy Maloney and built by local contractor Spacemakers – Andrew Calicchio.
A cool part of the art walk is that visitors will get to see them all year round as well as at night because of Williams’ team footing the bill for lighting of the artwork, she said.
“The artwork is a symbol of the lasting impact of this festival,” she said.
Keep up with Southside Daily’s coverage of ‘Something in the Water’ here.
