MACAS shifts focus to community art projects in 2024

The nonprofit Making Art Connections Across Selma is shifting its focus from displaying artwork in a gallery to conducting community art projects.

The group that formed two years ago to bring African art to Selma for display in a gallery on Water Avenue is now planning to bring three art projects to the Queen City in 2024.

MACAS made the announcement of the shift and its new name in a community meeting on April 24. The acronym stays the same, but it went from being the Museum of African and Contemporary Art to Making Art Connections Across Selma.

On Monday, Director Helene Taylor told the Rotary Club of Selma that it became too difficult to get the African art they hoped to display in the Mural Arts Building at 1225 Water Avenue, so a new focus was needed.

MACAS designed three community art projects that fit their adjusted mission to “use community art projects as a bridge to create shared experiences, enrich the city with beauty and inspire compassion.”

Two of the projects will be smaller in focus, and the third will be a bigger project, she said.

The first smaller project is already up. It’s a free art gallery located by the former Byrd school in Old Town. The gallery box resembles the popular free book exhibits. There is a mailbox by the small gallery with art supplies and kits. Artists are asked to leave behind what they make, and they can take what is in the gallery, Taylor said.

The second smaller project is in the works. It will be a “virtual art show” that will be projected onto the side of a building in Selma to show off art by local, national and international artists.

The larger art project will be what Taylor and her well-known artist husband Tres Taylor do best: murals.

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During the weekend of Oct. 18, in collaboration with artists from Columbus, Ohio, MACAS will host a mural fest and paint two murals in Selma at locations that will be announced. The artists will mentor young, aspiring artists as part of the development, which they hope will lead to a local art club that will meet regularly, Helene Taylor said.

“When people paint a mural together, a magical thing happens at the wall,” she said. “It is like a communion. It’s a magical and infectious experience.”

The Taylors know the power of murals. They have painted 10 around the Black Belt, including three in Selma as part of their Revolution of Joy project. Two are on the MACAS building on Water Avenue overlooking Phoenix Park, and the other faces Franklin Street. The third is on the wall of the Welcome Center on Broad Street.

Helene Taylor said she loves mural making because the community makes it together. Kids riding by on their bikes stop and paint. Even a postal service worker stopped to grab a brush and join in.

More than 100 people participated in each of the Selma murals done in a weekend, she said.

Murals are also tourist attractions that help boost the economy, Taylor said. She wants the murals to “make a big splash in Selma” and add another layer to what Selma is known for with those who travel to visit the city’s civil rights landmarks.

By transforming eyesore buildings with beauty and color, murals can bring a perception of change and improvements being made to the city, Taylor said.

“Art changes us for the better,” she said.