Observant Louisville residents may have noticed a pattern with the building walls along Shelby and Logan streets in the Shelby Park neighborhood: They tend to transform this time of year. Those changes can be attributed to the 2Buck Invitational, a three-day mural painting event that attracts artists from around the city and country.
The 2Buck Invitational runs Sept. 13-15 this year, marking its 13th anniversary. Formerly known as “All-City,” it was rebranded in 2016 to honor Jonathan “2Buck” Brown, a local artist who helped found the event in 2012 and died in 2015.
Walking beside the train tracks that mark the boundary between the Shelby Park and Germantown neighborhoods, Trey Waterbury, one of the event’s organizers, showed The Courier Journal several artworks that have been produced in past years of the invitational. He referenced work by artists from Philadelphia, Columbus, and New York City, just a few cities where people come from for the event. Some of those paintings, Waterbury said, are destined to be painted over this year, but others will stay. That’s the beauty of the event and the yearly cycle brought on by participating artists.
“I personally buff a lot of the walls, and I have people the whole time rolling down the window: ‘No we love that! Why are you going over it?'” said Colin Shay, an event co-organizer. “It’s like, don’t worry, it’ll be back like next weekend.”
2Buck Invitational organizers work with property owners who lend their buildings as surfaces for the artists, Shay said. In the months leading up to the invitational, painters can apply to get a wall assigned for them to work on throughout the weekend. Many of the spots up for grabs are in Shelby Park along Steve Magre Alley and Logan and Shelby streets, but some locations are scattered elsewhere around the city in neighborhoods like downtown, Smoketown, and the Highlands.
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And the fun isn’t reserved for just the painters. People are welcome to stop by the mural sites and watch as artists paint. There are organized public events, too. A gathering Friday night will be held at Spinelli’s Pizza, 574 S. 4th St., downtown with live music, art, and tattoos by Tattoo Salvation. That gathering, which runs runs 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., is for people 21 and older.
From 6-10 p.m. Saturday, a free art gallery and party with live music will set up at 1131 Logan St. That event is open to all ages until 8 p.m., when it will be reserved for people 21 and older. An afterparty will happen 10 p.m. Saturday at Trellis Brewing, 827 Logan St.
Organizers said many residents get excited about the new art going up and many property owners are happy to offer up their building for a facelift. But the organizers emphasized that the event isn’t meant to benefit just the neighborhoods where the paint sites are centralized. They have their sights locked on growth and hope to work with new businesses in new neighborhoods in the future. Expanding the event means they can host more artists, beautify more streets and spark engagement in new areas.
“It’s good businesses, good for artists, good for expansion,” said Ben McLeod, a co-organizer and co-founder of the event.
One neighborhood where they hope to expand is Portland. With the cluster of warehouses in the historic neighborhood, they see a patchwork of artistic mediums.
“It’s predominantly just warehouse buildings right now that are mismatched, painted different colors of gray or red or whatever. So neighborhoods like that, I think, we think, as a group, would benefit from being involved in projects like this. You know, it would add creative touch to neighborhoods,” Shay said.
However, future expansion means more funding, a main hurdle in the way of the group’s growth. As a grassroots organization that runs on volunteerism and donations, their bandwidth is tight. The organizers have worked closely in the past with the nonprofit Louisville Visual Art and now with Artists For Trauma to provide a “fiscal umbrella,” but they’re looking into establishing status as an nonprofit entity sometime next year.
But before ever considering taking the evolutionary path of becoming a nonprofit and attracting notable artists like Mike Giant, CES and MAST, the event laid down its humble roots at Spinelli’s Pizza. The event’s founders, one of whom is Spinelli’s Pizza founder Brian Gaughan, used the local pizza chain’s five locations as painting sites, McLeod said. Some Spinelli’s Pizza restaurants are still used as painting sites for the invitational.
The organizers hope to continue on their path of growth, but for now, they’re taking it one step at a time and focused on providing the best experience possible for the 100-plus artists partaking in the event this weekend.
“We have artists not only interested across America, but across all of North America, Europe,” said Henry Cunningham, a co-organizer. “I travel a lot for work. There’s not a city I don’t go to where somebody doesn’t ask about the event. So there’s a huge interest and a want to be here.”
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