The availability of paint that shows up only when it’s wet has inspired whimsical, low-cost “invisible art” projects on sidewalks nationwide.
Each project takes a slightly different approach. Seattle’s invisible art is humorous, while Huntsville, AL, aims to bring literature to the public art scene.
“We wanted it to be something unexpected that community members could either stumble upon downtown after a rain, or deliberately seek out,” says Daniela Perallon of Arts Huntsville.
The group partnered with a local high school on the project. A teacher selected student work and the students created stencils and applied the water-resistant paint.
To promote the new art installation, Arts Huntsville used a combination of traditional and social media, and blogging. “Our press release included a pre-produced video so they could easily broadcast on air without having to seek out the art on their own,” says Perallon. “We wrote a guest blog on the local iHeartHsv tourism site, and shared our video and posts on social media.”
Additionally, the local tourism bureau brought a group of travel bloggers downtown and featured the invisible poetry as a stop on their tour, as an example of the community’s creativity.
“Since our goal was simply to give people something new and exciting to seek out or discover downtown, we think we accomplished that,” Perallon says. “People showed enthusiasm for the project via social media, students were thrilled to have their creativity on display in such a public way, and it made the community more aware of the arts in Huntsville and around downtown.”
The full article appeared in our print edition. To always get the full story, read Downtown Idea Exchange.
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