DAVENPORT, Iowa — The Alternating Currents festival kicked off Aug. 17, a four-day celebration of music, theatre, comedy and art.
New this year is the Mural Fest, where five artists are getting the chance to create public artwork in Davenport's Motor Row & Bucktown Historic District.
News 8's Jonathan Fong caught up with artists Tony Cavallo and Heidi Sallows as they were setting up equipment and talking about the importance of mural art.
"It's not in a gallery, so you have a wider amount of people, different varieties of people that are gonna see this thing, instead of a gallery where only a gallery-goer is gonna see it," Sallows said.
Sallows started off by painting theatre sets in high school. Her passion for mural art took off in 1996, which lead to her art business MuralSoup.
"You kinda just jump in and can't be afraid of a big space," she said.
Cavallo had some interesting answers to Fong's questions, but certainly showed a passion for mural art. When asked what got him into mural art, he said, "Oh, I was just born deranged."
After describing how to use different types of paint and setting up some equipment, Fong asked what he hopes people understand more about art to which Cavallo said, "I don't. I hope they're inspired to figure it out themselves, instead of just letting people do it."
The artists are creating their works behind the 221 E. Second St. building. It is visible when walking toward Stompbox Brewing.
The goal is to finish the murals by Sunday at 3 p.m.
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