Graffiti has long been associated with sentiments of anarchy, a guerilla tactic for artists armed with spray paint canisters to covertly express themselves wherever they see fit. The law falls by the wayside when there’s an idle boxcar or some untouched brick to tag, the artist’s product forever in limbo between inventive expression and detrimental vandalism.
Those familiar with Kirkland Avenue in Northampton understand this debate. The red and black brick lining the practical walkway between Pleasant Street and the Northampton parking garage is plastered with spray paint scrawls, including both vulgar and inspirational content such as “KILL THE MAYOR,” “Kill Landlords,” “Let Us Love Us,” and “Lets recreate the World.”
According to local legend, Peter Laird, co-creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book, often strolled through the alley in the early 1980s when he worked for a local Northampton newspaper. The myth claims the path served as a basis for the Turtles’ lair.
Recently,
storefrontART, a program of the
Commonwealth Center for Change (C3), was approached by one of the abutting buildings’ owners, Steve Jasinski, about the space’s potential for murals and installations. Since then, the idea has grown into a full-fledged affair named the
Kirkland Ave. Project. The overall goal of the project is for the Northampton community to use the space effectively as a means of expression and to enhance its function as a strategic walkway.
“Our focus is on revitalizing the area by asking how and why people pass through it,” C3 program director Julia Handschuh said. “We want to create a different purpose for it.”
“The [current] graffiti is in touch with the undercurrents of the town,” Kirkland Ave. Project Manager Haley Morgan added, as slogans of freedom and militancy rule the bricks. The project hopes to take the varied ideals of the individual contributors and unite them in a way which gives the space legitimacy and vitality.
Handschuh and Morgan plan to host an “Art-In” today, Feb. 13, from 4-7 p.m. in the alley. The event invites various artists to the space to create two-dimensional art in and about Kirkland Avenue as well as to plan three-dimensional art and installations for a March 13 storefrontART “Art Happening” before the project’s culmination, which will consist of collaborative performances and installations based on the project’s investigative findings.
The scheme was birthed last fall when Jasinski contacted storefrontART about the possibility of murals in Kirkland Avenue. Jasinski, along with Joe Blumenthal, owner of the adjacent music shop Downtown Sounds, is now excited for the project’s commencement and went so far as to agree to let the space use power from his building for installations and lighting.
Consent from building owners aside, the big issue with the project is the alley’s no-man’s-land status, as it is neither a public city space nor technically owned privately.
The surrounding building was initially a fire insurance agency owned by Harvey Kirkland, the walkway’s namesake, in the 1850s. According to 200-year-old maps Morgan found during research at the Forbes Library, the way used to be an actual road, though it is no longer recognized by the Department of Public Welfare, leaving it unplowed and icy.
Before he died, Kirkland left the building to his secretary, who proceeded to subdivide the area, making it virtually impossible to trace who actually owns the alley. Currently, different people have different ideas about who owns what.
“The area is contested,” Morgan said. “People have different ideas about whose space it actually is.”
The owners of the buildings around the space informally own the half of the alley which they face, allowing for tenants to park vehicles there and congest the area. Technically, in one way or another, the space owes the city $44,000 in back taxes, a major hurdle which storefrontART is trying to surmount. The organization is currently talking with the city, as well as with the buildings’ tenants, over safety and ownership.
“We have initiated conversation with the town,” Handschuh said. “They’re aware of our intentions, but we want conversations to be more open.”
So far, they’ve spoken with City Solicitor Janet Shepard, City Treasurer George Zimmerman, and the director of Planning and Development about the space’s litigation process, which has been going on for years.
While mediating the ownership of Kirkland Avenue has been a bit of an issue, funding and safety have come more easily. storefrontART provides insurance to cover the artists working in the space and the project has acquired various monetary boosts, including grants from the
Northampton Arts Council and Hampshire College, where Morgan is completing her final semester.
Since the project is donation-based, they have received aid for Friday’s festivities in the form of hot tea from
Deals & Steals and paper products from The Green Bean. In the case of inclement weather, the
Guild Art Center, whose location opens out into the alley, has agreed to donate their space. Other mixed donations cover storefrontART’s material costs.
Though the project faces a long process of investigation, proposal, and bureaucracy, Handschuh and Morgan ooze optimism. Their enthusiasm appropriately parallels the sentiments of some lines scratched on one of Kirkland Avenue’s doorframes: “Why are we painting over each other? This takes cooperation. Not competition.”
Spiral Stairs
