Sun Valley Gets Brighter With the Birdseed Dumpster Project

The Sun Valley housing projects have gone through a beautiful transformation. Crime in this impoverished Denverneighborhood has seen a moderate drop over the past decade, thanks to more funding from the city to clean up Sun Valley streets and protect kids who attend Fairview elementary school. Now even the dumpsters...

By Lindsey Bartlett

May 17, 2016

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The Sun Valley housing projects have gone through a beautiful transformation. Crime in this impoverished Denver neighborhood has seen a moderate drop over the past decade, thanks to more funding from the city to clean up Sun Valley streets and protect kids who attend Fairview elementary school. Now even the dumpsters are getting new life, thanks to a grant from the city’s 2016 P.S. You Are Here project.

This is Anthony Garcia's second time working with a P.S. You Are Here grant. For this project, his non-profit Birdseed Collective pulled together a dream team of Denver artists, commissioning them to paint 53 dumpsters in the neighborhood. "This is just the beginning," says Garcia. "I have a lot of ideas for project housings in Denver that need the same love, places that need artists to come out and paint."

Garcia, a 2015 Westword MasterMind recipient, has been busy this year: He organized his annual 100 on 100 show, became publisher of 1/1 Magazine and even opened Alto, a gallery in Berkeley. Neighbors were thrilled so see the artists at work. They offered suggestions, and kids were even able to help some of the artists paint their pieces. “Why are you painting it blue — you just spent all that time painting it white?,” one little kid yelled at Delton Demarest when he arrived home from school and spotted the murals in front of his home.

Each of the artists involved in the Birdseed Dumpsters beautification project has a very different style and point of view. Here's what they're doing in Sun Valley:
Julio Alejandro
Instagram @Coqopanda
Anthony Garcia
Instagram @birdseedanthonyJoseph Brikos
Instagram @JosephBrikos
Chris Haven
Instagram @chrishaven
Tom Bond
Instagram @wellingtonprojects

Javon the Unique
Instagram @javontheunique

Thomas Evans (left)
Instagram @detour303

Thien Tao (right)
Instagram @tinman190
Thomas Scharfenberg
Instagram @sharp_mountain
Sheridan Anderson Furrer
Instagram @sfurrer2501
Mariah Madrid
Instagram @therealmariahmadrid
Robert Carbajal
Instagram @robert_carbajal
Ozjuah Sepia
Instagram @ozjuahsepia
Samuel Reeves
Facebook
Alexandria Jimenez
Facebook
Chelsealyn Graeber
Instagram @colorconductress
Joe Seraj
Instagram @joeseraj
Delton Demarest
Instagram @deltondemarest
Victor Escobedo
Instagram @the_art_of_victory
Vinny Alfonso
Instagram @i_touch_art
Walter Macias
Instagram @onvermacias

Continue scrolling to see more photos from the week of painting #BirdseedDumpsters in Sun Valley.

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Lindsey Bartlett is a writer, photographer, artist, Denver native and weed-snob. Her work has been published in Vanity Fair, High Times and Leafly, to name a few.

Contact: Lindsey Bartlett

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Twitter: @lindsey_carmela