Youths Paint the Town with Farrow & Ball

GoDesignGo recently caught up with Christine Klotz, a Showroom Manager at Farrow & Ball to ask her about the Groundswell Community Mural Project, a NYC-based 501C3 focused on bringing together youth, professional artists, and communities in partnership to use art as a tool for social change.

GDG: What inspired Farrow & Ball to get involved with the Groundswell Community Mural Project?

CK: When I started at Farrow & Ball last February, we began talking about the importance of being of service in the New York community and finding a way to make the most direct impact possible. There are so many ways to give these days. I did some research, found Groundswell Community Mural Project, and I was won over immediately upon meeting the amazing people who run the organization and now even more so by the youth they serve.

GDG: Tell us about the collaboration.

CK: Groundswell Community Mural Project was started in 1996 out of Brooklyn. They have given underserved youth in NYC unique opportunities to create public art throughout the five boroughs. By creating collaborations between youth from under-represented neighborhoods, established artists, and community organizations, their programs have transformed over 125 public spaces with dynamic murals, mosaics, and sculptures.

Farrow & Ball SoHo commissioned a mural in all Farrow & Ball paint, with partners Blindlemon Music and KA Design Group. The mural completes on November 18 and will be on view in the Farrow & Ball SoHo showroom until January 1, before it goes to its home at The Center on West 13th Street here in Manhattan.

GDG: What makes this project a perfect fit for Farrow & Ball?

CK: It is a perfect match for Farrow & Ball, being a completely Zero VOC, eco friendly paint company and Groundswell needing paint! We love the idea of branding ourselves in such a distinct way in our home, which is New York.

The mural, named "First Impressions," was finished yesterday and in its honor, Farrow & Ball celebrated a mural dedication and party to honor what the teens of the YES Program created with Farrow & Ball paints.

GDG: What else is coming up for Farrow & Ball?

CK: The annual Art Auction and Benefit is coming up on December 2 this year. It is a fabulous art auction, raffle, and cocktail party. The auction features emerging and mid-career artists including some of the Groundswell muralists and higher profile ones such as Vik Muniz, Louise Bourgeois, and Massimo Vitali. The benefit is a fantastic opportunity for designers, architects, and New York City art lovers to bid on well-known artists’ work for reasonable prices. Of course, the best part about the benefit is that all of the proceeds go to Groundswell. And, this makes a difference not only in our New York City urban landscape, but in the lives of the youth Groundswell works with, who have unique opportunities to use their talent to make a visible impact on their communities and the city at large.

People can purchase tickets online at www.groundswellmural.org and view some of the wonderful murals at http://www.gallery10g.com/artists.php?rec_id=85



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