Magazine Spotlight

Building 180 is a full-service art production and consulting agency. We produce, curate, and manage unique and complex art installations from conception to completion. We collaborate with inspirational and innovative artists, working across industries with architects, marketing companies, city planners, designers, developers, event producers, museum curators, and more to make stories come to life.

Paint the Void was created at the onset of the 2020 pandemic to help keep artists engaged and paid as guardians of hope and beauty in a time of fear and uncertainty. The project is fiscally sponsored by the 501(c)(3) organization Intersection for the Arts and made possible through private donations and city grants. Paint The Void commissions local Bay Area artists to create uplifting murals on boarded storefronts of local businesses, turning bleak plywood into public art. The process keeps artists at work, beautifies neighborhoods across the San Francisco Bay Area, and gives small-business owners a new lease of hope. The local community is pivotal to its success and is encouraged to participate.

To preserve the project’s history Paint the Void is releasing an Art Book, Painting the Void: The Impact of Art in the San Francisco Bay Area Amidst a Global Pandemic. This photo book is made to commemorate and archive the story of our ongoing project, other adjacent local initiatives, and the San Francisco Bay Area during the global pandemic. Pre-order your copy and help preserve the Bay Area’s history as a place that even amidst deeply challenging times continues to value the importance of artists.

My Projects

Art is Essential: Patreon Murals

Building 180 worked with Patreon – an online platform that provides tools for artists to earn a monthly income – to curate their new headquarters in San Francisco. Building 180 was tasked with curating the space and producing over 10 murals with 6 local artists to ensure a new look and feel. The assignment was to bring in a local and diverse set of artists that represent the company's DNA, and the employee base, and most importantly, they wanted the artists to work without any design direction and with total creative freedom. This makes Patreon a dream client but it also challenged Building 180 to carefully select artists whose work would flow well together without the added need for cross-collaboration. Building 180 curated the muralists, Timothy Bluitt, Josue Rojas, DJ Agana, Nigel Sussman, LE BohemianMuse, and Addendum24 from the Bella Donna duo. The result of the murals exceeded everyone’s expectations. It was a testament that when artists are given the trust and support they need, their work is driven by passion and dedication which results in outstanding works of art. The murals were widely accepted by the Patreon team and now bring inspiration and joy to their workplace.

2022 CODAawards Entry

Paint the Void: Public Art as a Path to Civic Rejuvenation

A non-profit arts collective born out of the 2020 pandemic, Paint The Void matches local artists with local businesses, organizes public donation and commissions uplifting murals, turning boarded-up storefronts into primed canvases for public art. The process keeps artists at work, beautifies the neighborhoods all across San Francisco, and gives small-business owners a new lease of hope, drawing the local community into the process. Paint The Void has now completed 165 murals, received massive acclaim from the public and had touched the lives of thousands of Bay Area residents. The entire project has been organized and executed remotely, by 4 female founders, who commissioned over 180 artists to make this a reality. Paint the Void evoked and inspired art and economic recovery during times of adversity. Since 2020 PtV has raised over $500k for local artists most who live within walking distance to the murals they painted. The local community has become captivated by their impact in the Bay Area neighborhoods, placing artwork on abandoned and boarded up storefronts almost immediately when Shelter in Home was mandated. This effort was recently celebrated in January 2022 with an Exhibit and a book is coming soon. You can preorder the book here: https://bit.ly/3M2ypsT

2022 CODAawards Entry

SOMO Village Public Sculptures

In 2021, Building 180 was brought on by SOMO Village – a live-work community in Northern California dedicated to sustainable living and community building – to curate and install large-scale public artworks in their outdoor areas. Building 180 curated collaborative partners Joel Dean Stockdill and Yustina Salnikova along with Katy Boynton. Joel and Yustina installed Sheila, a larger-than-life Dire Wolf, modeled after a prehistoric canine, made of reclaimed steel and decommissioned gutters. They also installed the SOMO Quails, a site-specific commission inspired by the Pomo nation’s mythology. The sculptures represent a family of three quails made of repurposed metal from demolition sites at SOMO Village. Katy Boynton installed Heartfullness SOMO Village, a steel-mended heart sculpture made of materials sourced locally in her studio and donated reclaimed metal. The sculpture represents mending together the history and beauty of the land with a new community to live, thrive, and prosper.

2022 CODAawards Entry