The inspiring way artists and cannabis operators work together during a pandemic

Being declared a vital business at the start of pandemic quarantines across the country saved the cannabis industry. It also enabled the countless lives of people who rely on cannabis for medicine and quality of life to continue to have access during the development and dissemination of the vaccines. As cases, deaths, and hospital stays decreased, it seemed like we were on our way back to normal.

But as news from the Delta and newer Lambda Variants are floating around, we may have to resume mandates from 2020, and many industries and communities that have only just begun to recover will be financially affected again.

Photo courtesy Damien Gilley

One of the hardest hit sectors of our society has been the performing arts and the thousands of artists who wake up every day teaching art to the masses. A almost year-long survey by Americans for the Arts received feedback from over 19,000 arts organizations across the country, each estimating their financial losses due to the pandemic – they totaled over $ 1.7 billion. The national forecast is $ 15.2 billion and 488 million participants with losses.

Some cities, like San Francisco, have risen Start pilot programs that would guarantee selected artists a monthly income while their existence remains in the air, but places are limited. It could be up to the cannabis industry to fill in the gaps.

Portland, Oregon, Creative Director Diane Sillan of the vertically integrated cannabis brand Chalice felt the lack of community and artistic exchange in the course of the pandemic acutely. Where could people find each other and experience art in such a lively, artistic city?

Photo courtesy Damien Gilley

“It’s a portal,” she says. “The pandemic has certainly crippled our sense of social interaction, and [people] saw that our pharmacy was still a place for people to go and keep doing their business. We wanted to give it more of a goal, a place where they can meet and experience something together, and that is art. ”

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So Chalice started a bi-monthly artist series that combined her threatening appearance of the pharmacy with the vision of an artist. Your second and most recent collaboration is with Damien Gilley, a multidisciplinary artist based in Portland whose work creates interfaces between architecture, murals, installations and museum exhibitions. In the early days of the pandemic, most of Gilley’s major projects, including a show in Berlin that required a venue, were put on hold.

Photo courtesy Damien Gilley

“The opportunities fizzled out very quickly,” he says, and “to adapt, I did a few fewer projects. And to be honest, I couldn’t use the time to relax. My mind has gotten into this thing pretty quickly for a solid decade. “

Sillan found his work, which raises philosophical questions and incorporates dogmas from Buddhism, convincing and far-reaching; Since I had extensive personal experience with cannabis, the project was “just my thing,” according to Gilley.

He was given the creative license under the theme “Expand Your Universe” not only to design a mural for the exterior of the pharmacy in downtown Chalice, but also to implement the design on the interior of the pharmacy and selected goods, according to Sillan. Gilley’s geometric design was inspired by the crystal structures of cannabis concentrates under a microscope, which depict a universe that we cannot see with the naked eye.

Photo courtesy Damien Gilley

“The hidden nature and hidden architecture of nature is perfect. So I mean, I didn’t have to change my lifestyle too much to fit perfectly and build this crystal clear, abstract kind of structure world. And that’s how the image came about, ”says Gilley.

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Further east in Aurora, Colorado, a mural on the side of The green solution Dispensary has been rocking for over a year, bringing cannabis customers an explosion of rainbow colors and local history courtesy of local artists Pat Milbery.

Like Sillan, Steve Lopez, CEO of Green Solution, knew that art and cannabis go hand in hand and that working together can be mutually beneficial. As the broker of the first recreational cannabis sale in the United States, they wanted to start something new. Lopez reached out to Pat in the early days of the pandemic, and the vibrant mural has since helped keep the mood going.

“We’ve had different things over the years, or we’ve brought in artists and had them done on our walls, but Pat was the first one we had it out on,” says Lopez. “And he threw it out of the park because we were really looking for something that would add to the history of the neighborhood. And we had a lot of people who stopped by in the neighborhood and thanked us for the beautification of this area. “

Milbery originally came to Colorado for the mountains and spent years as a snowboard instructor before focusing entirely on his art, which comes from murals and graffiti. His piece on the multi-story pharmacy shows an owl emitting light from its third eye amid some colorful mountains, evoking the nearby Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge and other landmarks in local history.

Mural by Pat Milbery, photo courtesy The Green Solution

Despite the success of these efforts, there has been a lack of large-scale collaborations between the cannabis industry and the artists who draw inspiration from it. Milbery is also working on curating a music festival in California later this summer, if the pandemic allows, and hopefully finding a cannabis-related sponsor. In his eyes, the possibilities between the two communities are just beginning.

“It’s a huge industry, but it’s growing at the same time. It’s an alternative way of looking at life in life. And for me, I’ve always had the feeling of being alternative on many levels since I was 11 or 12 years old, and I’ve chosen this path. “