500 Route
500 Teams
November 9 and 10
NO NARRATION
Start at Avenue of Champions
Turn left onto North Arthur Ashe Boulevard 0.12 mi
Turn right onto West Leigh Street 0.53 mi
Turn left onto Altamont Avenue 0.65 mi
Turn left onto West Clay Street 0.72 mi
Turn right onto North Sheppard Street 0.81 mi
Turn right onto West Broad Street 0.97 mi
Turn left onto into parking area AFTER Channel 6 building – see mural on your left – take is why we are here 1.35 mi
Turn left onto behind Channel 6 building – alley/cut through 1.38 mi
Turn right onto North Tilden Street 1.44 mi
Turn left onto Grove Avenue 2.14 mi
Turn right onto North Auburn Avenue 2.18 mi
Turn left onto Ellwood Avenue – Ellwood Avenue becomes W Main Street after crossing N Arthur Ashe Boulevard 2.34 mi
– SAG – Main and Stafford 3.01 mi
Turn left onto 8th Street 5.11 mi
Turn right onto East Grace Street 5.27 mi
Head straight onto Enter Capitol Grounds 5.32 mi
Turn slight left onto Round about at Capitol Square 5.36 mi
Turn left onto 2nd Exit of Round About/10th Street/Capitol Street 5.39 mi
Turn left onto East Broad Street 5.45 mi
– SAG – Broad and 1st 6.02 mi
Turn right onto Meadow/Hermitage 7.37 mi
Turn left onto Sherwood Avenue – entering the back of the stadium 8.32 mi
End 8.53 mi
MapMyRun – MTT November 9 and 10 2024 – ALL TEAM – https://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/6314425519/
RungGo – MTT November 9 and 10 2024 – ALL TEAMS – NO NARRATIVE – https://routes.rungoapp.com/route/ogqgkoyATp
GPX – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Aw9ToEoFe1-jUVRzL_PoZT7e9WSTO_bI/view?usp=sharing
WITH NARRATION
Start at Avenue of Champions
– Today’s tour is of RVA murals with most of the focus on Mending Walls – The Mission – Mending Walls is a public art project that brings together public artists from different cultures and backgrounds to create murals that address where we are now in society and how we can move forward through understanding and collaboration. PLEASE BE MINDFUL THAT SOME OF THE NARRATIVES TAKE LONGER TO READ/LISTEN TO THAN IT MIGHT TAKE TO GET TO THE NEXT TURN.
Turn left onto North Arthur Ashe Boulevard 0.12 mi
Turn right onto West Leigh Street 0.53 mi
– To your right, W. Leigh – Fat Dragon Dragon, artist Kyle ‘Humble’ Harrell and Navid Rahman 0.55 mi
Turn left onto Altamont Avenue 0.65 mi
Turn left onto West Clay Street 0.72 mi
Turn right onto North Sheppard Street 0.81 mi
– Straight ahead of you on the garage – Girls! Girls! Girls! artist Emily Herr is painting murals that claim public visual space for inclusive, realistic, positive representation of womxn. Womxn in ads and art are more often than not simplified into a single type of person representing ‘women’, or into something that’s more object than human. I want to normalize and celebrate images of womxn in a broad spectrum of bodies and lifestyles. I also want to reduce the general female shame in simply taking up space. 0.95 mi
Turn right onto West Broad Street 0.97 mi
Turn left onto parking area AFTER Channel 6 building – see mural on your left – take is why we are here 1.35 mi
– Mending Walls RVA – ‘Say Their Names’ – artist Silly Genius and Nils Westergard – “This mural centers a portrait of Richmond’s rapper & emcee, Radio Blitz, with his hands raised, his gaze upward, and surrounded by the names of those who’s lives were unjustly taken.” “I’m always interested in how people from different cultures & different experiences of life with different interests not only approach making art, but what & how their life inspires them to create. There’s a good chance they’ll show me something that I was unaware of, that now gives me more to draw from in my work. I try to be a sponge when I’m around creative people that aren’t exactly like me.” -Silly Genius 1.36 mi
Turn left onto behind Channel 6 building – alley/cut through 1.38 mi
Turn right onto North Tilden Street 1.44 mi
Turn left onto Grove Avenue 2.14 mi
Turn right onto North Auburn Avenue 2.18 mi
Turn left onto Ellwood Avenue – Ellwood Avenue becomes W Main Street after crossing N Arthur Ashe Boulevard 2.34 mi
– See mural on your left Side of RocketPop – no information found 2.86 mi
– At Stafford look back on your left on Moonrocks Gelato – mural “The Migration” by The Ink and Clog 3.01 mi
– SAG – Main and Stafford 3.01 mi
– Before Addison/Strawberry – look back on your right, side of Riggs Ward – mural “Make your own luck” by ASVP 3.07 mi
– See mural on your right – no information found. 3.10 mi
– see mural on your right – by Natalia Rak 3.21 mi
– On your left there is a mural by Gaia. Then if you look back on your right to the back side of Sidewalk Cafe you will see “Her she is …Miss Sidewalk Café” by Ed Trask 3.23 mi
– Mural on your left – ‘Monitaur’ by David ‘Meggs” Hooke 3.30 mi
– Mural on your left by SUNY Cortland 3.39 mi
– look back on your left – backside of the Visual Arts Center – Mending Walls RVA – ‘Silence Isn’t Golden’ – artist unnamed – “If you are silent about your pain they will kill you and say you enjoyed it”. This brilliant quote by Zora Neale Hurston serves as the overarching inspiration for the creation of this mural aptly entitled “Silence Isn’t Golden”. For too long the struggles of injustice and our basic human rights have fallen on deaf ears and were completely cast out into a sea of misunderstanding. This deafening silence has continued to plague the communities of the black and brown for centuries but having the strength to stand up and be vocal about the injustices that continue to occur is what continues to motivate and inspire us that change will come. Flanked in a beautiful serene but chaotic abstract representation of water a figure emerges from the very source that brings life to all. This striking image of a protester is none other than local musician and activist Aaron Brown (photo inspiration from Patience Salgado). Serving as the anchor piece this image portrays a protester passionately shouting from a megaphone refusing to be silent about his pain and frustration. Stripes flow downward from the figure and transition into prison bars that create a barrier as two hands emerge from behind the bars, which begins a conversation about our failing prison system of mass incarceration and the protesters that have been wrongfully imprisoned for their American right to protest. To the far right two other figures are shown. A Native American girl (depicted as Autumn Peltier – water rights activist) with her arms raised up high balancing a bowl to catch water as an African American woman with a shirt that reads “Flint” hovers above in search of clean water that a system has failed to provide her community with. The message to the far left of the mural reads “Water Rights For All” which is a basic and necessary human right. Next to it stands a totem pole that speaks to heritage and legacy which also happens to be the family totem pole of artist Meme 3.46 mi
– on your left – ‘ Lisa’ by Nils Westergard – Westergard’s work often contains his signature butterfly 3.47 mi
– just behind you on your left there is a mural – no information found 3.49 mi
– on your left, behind the trees – mural by R Robot 3.51 mi
– on your right – “Hero Turned Villain” by Jerkface – a series of Mickey Mouse images 3.57 mi
– on your right both forward and back are murals – forward is by Humble and Rahman (Fat Dragon) and to your back at Artemis Gallery on your right – mural ‘OVERTHINK’ by ONUR 3.61 mi
– on your right, side of Beauvine Burger by Roa 3.67 mi
– on your right is a mural by Naturel 4.61 mi
– on your right – on the side of Mosmiller building – “Chasing Tigerman” by WAONE INTERESNI KAZKI 4.69 mi
Turn left onto 8th Street 5.11 mi
Turn right onto East Grace Street 5.27 mi
Head straight onto Enter Capitol Grounds 5.32 mi
– on your left – is the Zero Mile Marker – When you see a sign on the interstate or highway that says XX miles to Richmond, this is the point for which that mileage is measured. 5.36 mi
Turn slight left onto Round about at Capitol Square 5.36 mi
Turn left onto 2nd Exit of Round About/10th Street/Capitol Street 5.39 mi
Turn left onto East Broad Street 5.45 mi
– on your left – Mending Walls RVA – ‘African American Gothic’ – artists unnamed – The imagery and inspiration for this mural, much like the partnership between us two as artists, emerged clearly and with ease. We aimed to merge our styles as artists meeting for the first time and are thrilled with the bond we formed. We were also thrilled at the opportunity to bring attention to the important work that Duron and Nikiya do to serve the Richmond community through sustainable agriculture and resilient food systems. This was an experience that could not have materialized better and we are already planning our next collaborative mural. 5.78 mi
– on your right – “Girls of Change” by Hamilton Glass 6.01 mi
– SAG – Broad and 1st 6.02 mi
– on your right – both sides of the walls here – Mending Walls RVA – Hamilton Glass and Matt Lively started their conversation around our upbringing and where we grew up. That quickly turned to what toys we had and TV shows we each watched as kids. We found that our toys and shows were similar but with slight differences. Growing up in Philly, toy guns were potentially dangerous for a young black kid to play with because it could give an unobservant police officer reason to shoot. The only toy Matt had to worry about was the now illegal Lawn Dart. There was folklore around Lawn Darts – everyone supposedly knew someone who knew someone killed by one. Hamilton cracked open fire hydrants to cool off in the summer, and Matt had a sprinkler to run through in the yard. Matt watched the Jetsons excited about the future the show depicted. Ham watched it too but pointed out that “there were no black people in the future”. Having these conversation made them a little closer to being able to be empathic with one another on not just the childhood elements but their total world views. 6.09 mi
– On your right is the Maggie Walker Memorial. Maggie Lena Walker was an African-American businesswoman and teacher. In 1903, Walker became both the first African American woman to charter a bank and the first African American woman to serve as a bank president. 6.13 mi
– on the right side of Broad/left side of Adams – “Visibly Hidden” by George Fernandez 6.14 mi
– on your right behind you on the Artcraft Designs building- ‘Empathy Project Trust’ – info on artist not found 6.40 mi
– on your right – no information found 6.55 mi
– La Comunidad II,”. By Ever Known for its colorful portrayal of four people, a hand, and many abstract elements, this mural was one of two crafted by Ever for Art Whino’s G40 Art Summit and the Richmond Mural Project. 6.80 mi
– on your left – “Float” by James Bullough 7.06 mi
– on your left – no information found 7.16 mi
Turn right onto Meadow/Hermitage 7.37 mi
– on your right – “Slim and Ash” by Niles Westergard 8.03 mi
– on your left – no information found 8.06 mi
Turn left onto Sherwood Avenue – entering the back of the stadium 8.31 mi
End at Avenue of Champions 8.53 mi
MapMyRun – MTT November 9 and 10 2024 – ALL TEAM – https://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/6314425519/
RunGo – MTT November 9 and 10 2024 – ALL TEAMS – NARRATIVE – https://routes.rungoapp.com/route/a4H9AQT8go
GPX – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bWbdDprrwDUCOFwzzSITCTD_QmDR-Gtt/view?usp=sharing