We need to stop the exodus of Grove artists

As many of you know, who follow me on Facebook, I would love to move to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where all the new art and artists are these days, but now I am reading that there's a new place close to home -- Opa-Locka, which is sort of in the same artisphere as Williamsburg now. The New Times wrote something about it.

Public art and artists has been welcomed there and I think we could use a lot of that in the Grove. As of late, art has gone down the drain in our little village. Funding has been cut for art projects and while so many businesses and visitors would love to see artists out on the streets, actually working on art, I was told by some artists that Coconut Grove does not have that because the merchants do not want that. Someone in power actually told this to a few of the artists -- that they are not wanted by merchants in the Grove.

I find that hard to believe, as I am approached all the time by many merchants, most restaurants, who would love to see en plein air artists out and about painting in front of their businesses. I don't mean in contests, like AnnaMaria used to hold, I mean every day! I always bring up the subject of Eileen Seitz painting the info booths. That brought people together as so many stopped by to visit and watch the art being done. I wrote about art on the streets at that time, too.

There is talk of a chalk painting contest as part of the Mad Hatter Festival this year, something larger than last year, but that's all well and good, but we need art and artists on the streets now. How about starting by painting a nice mural on the ugly defaced Playhouse? Look how great the post office looks with the tile mural. The Playhouse looks like it's going to be sitting there in that rotten state for awhile, might as well make it look pretty.

So many Grove artists have left, even Grove House is gone south somewhere. It's called the Grove House Artists, but they aren't even in the Grove anymore! Many of the Grove artists now show in some sort of Bird Road Artwalk, and they are in Wynwood and other areas. They should be here. They should be working here and be encouraged to work here. I think the tourists who hop on and off the big red buses would love to see an actual artists working as they strolled the village.

Since the peacocks flew the coup, it's been sort of blah around here. That was a great exhibit for a couple of years, we had people watching the birds be painted and installed and there were parties and such. It added a lot of life to the area.

Something needs to be done. And fast. When the trees are all cut down, we're gonna need something to draw visitors. The un-shady streets are not going to do it.