FART Fairy distributes art through Free Art Friday movement
When the FART, or Free Art Fairy, drops off pieces of art on the sign outside of City Pops in Homewood, it usually only takes excited locals about 15 minutes to find them.
“Some people were like, ‘You’re crazy to use [the name FART Fairy],’ but I felt like it was a really good marketing standpoint, people love the name,” said Ashley Guest, the founder of the Free Art Bham, a Free Art Friday movement.
On the first three Fridays of every month, Guest collects art from local artists themselves or from Alabama Art Supply, where she encourages artists to drop off art to give away. Then she posts on the Free Art Bham Instagram and Facebook page that the FART Fairy is coming to areas such as downtown or Homewood, where she distributes a few pieces of art tagged with “Free Art Bham.”
In the posts, she puts a couple of pictures as clues to where exactly the art is, and then she posts when it is found. For many, it’s like an art scavenger hunt.
“It’s awesome because all the businesses love it. They love it when I leave free art there because that brings people into their stores,” Guest said.
If no one gives away their art, she distributes her own abstract or portrait pieces. The art can be of most any form or medium, with some popular pieces including small prints, painted canvases, collages, coasters, greeting cards, jewelry and ceramics.
“Fourth Fridays are my day off. It gives the community the chance to do it themselves, for new people to come on,” Guest said.
Guest leaves art pieces all around Homewood, including some of her favorite places like Farm Bowl and Juice Company, Sweet Jon’s Cafe, the Homewood Pharmacy, Edgewood Creamery, Ono Poke and the Vulcan Park & Museum. She’s even dropped some off at Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve for those more adventurous art lovers.
One time, she said, she hid a print made by the regional manager of Revelator Coffee. When someone in Sweet Jon’s Cafe found the piece in the coffee shop, it was the first time many of the manager’s employees discovered he was an artist.
Instagram is really where people follow the movement, she said, and since they started, they have gained more than 1,500 followers. She also works to keep it PG and wraps up any art that isn’t suitable for children.
“[I love] giving back to your community,” Guest said. “Not a lot of people can afford art because it costs a lot of money.”
Guest said by the end of 2019, she’s working on setting up some permanent free art drops where people will know they can find art on Fridays. One of these drops, she said, will be in Homewood.
Guest hopes more and more people start hiding their own art and growing the movement. Just the act of teaching others to give, she said, is a big part of why she wanted to do Free Art Bham.
Follow on Instagram at @freeartbham and on Facebook at @fartbham.