Bethlehem art gallery plans public art installation to bring attention to Five Points neighborhood

Reinaldo Valentins venture as an art gallery owner isnt just about making his business successful.

The owner of NewVox Art Gallery in Bethlehems Five Points area believes his gallery can help revitalize the neighborhood.

A new project combines both goals. Streetfluence will be a public art exhibition on several sites spanning the neighborhood.

Whitehall Township-area artist Tom Evans will be doing spray-paint portraits of neighborhood residents on both sides of the former Ye Olde Ale House. Bethlehem Township artist Jason Schwab will be doing a cityscape inspired by the Five Points area on the side of a building at Wyandotte and West Fourth streets.

Artists Stephen Haigh, of Philadelphia, Joel Mambru, of Allentown, and Matthew Nixon, of Easton, will be doing murals inside the parking garage on West Fourth Street.

Bethlehem artist Lavanya Patricella will be yarn bombing the neighborhood, or wrapping her knitting around trees or light poles.

Developer Larry Eighmy owns both buildings, as well as the West Fourth Street parking garage, and is strongly supportive of the project, Valentin said. Eighmy couldnt be reached for comment last week but hes regularly spoken of the areas potential and his plans for a zero-carbon neighborhood there.

Schwab plans to draw inspiration from the neighborhood in the cityscape hell be making out of wheat paste on the side of Eighmys planned gastropub. He plans to use local business names on the billboards he will incorporate in his scene.

Streetfluence is the first of several public art installations Valentin has planned. While he waits for NewVox to be better known and he awaits crucial on-street parking in the neighborhood he plans to bring his gallerys artwork to other parts of the Lehigh Valley. His next public art project will involve a mobile truck outfitted by collage artists.

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Bethlehem art gallery plans public art installation to bring attention to Five Points neighborhood