Starting this spring a new company is coming out of the long-time partnership of local artists ETCH (Chris Weyrich) and Tiffany Allyn Clark. Putting new focus to their work, The Mural Machine channels the pair’s passion for creating large-scale public art while also bringing more attention to the art that already exist around the Dayton area.
“This is something that we’ve both been passionate about for some time,” Weyrich said. “The Mural Machine is a way for us to let people know what’s out there and also what more can be done on the side of a warehouse or at a park or a retaining wall.”
ETCH and Tiffany Allyn Clark have been working in the arts in Dayton for over 30 combined years. Working with such groups as Stivers School for the Arts, at risk youth organizations, the East End community Center, the city of Dayton and numerous small businesses across the region, they have both practiced and taught their art to groups of all ages and demographics. With a national trend toward mural art as a part of central business district revivement, these two have become the center of a new PBS documentary that is currently being filmed.
“Murals have definitely caught a lot of attention recently, but this is much more than a trend,” Clark said. “The positive effects of large-scale art begins at its creation, with neighbors and communities coming together on a project, and then continue to last well into the paint’s fading decades later.”
For those interested, more information on The Mural Machine can be found on their Facebook page.