Spreading the art scene buzz

Over the past two years, you might have noticed one of the 5,000 “Fourteen76” stickers stuck on surfaces and in local businesses across the city of Birmingham, each with a web address on the back: fourteen76.com.

Fourteen76 co-founders — and sticker distributors — Will Norris and Mateo Montoya, along with artist director Cole Bryant and editor Elliot Moe, all have connections to the community art, punk and DIY scenes in Birmingham. Through their newly launched application Fourteen76, they want to provide a service that will strengthen and create buzz around the downtown community art scene.

“[The art scene] is definitely up and coming in Birmingham,” Bryant said. “We are trying to help establish artists that aren’t exhibited, and give them a spotlight and a voice.”

 Fourteen76, which is a free and available platform to download on your phone from the application store, is divided into sections that include photography, artists, music, ragtag, media and the local calendar. They are also in the process of adding a tattoo artist directory.

“A lot of people don’t know about community arts and all that’s happening in the scene, and we want to change that,” Montoya said.

Norris, who is artist manager, and Montoya, who is the primary software developer for Fourteen76, said that before the website was turned into an app, it circulated mostly in the punk community and among their friends. But as they’ve started shaping the content, they’ve become more of a resource for anyone interested in local artists and happenings. They don’t shy away from occasionally writing about sociopolitical topics, Montoya said, and the app allows people to cover events from a community standpoint. 

Currently, only a few locals in the community submit to Fourteen76. The goal is eventually to have a wide variety of photographers, writers and artists in the community reaching out and submitting their work for the app to share with community members.

“We want people to contribute as much as possible,” Montoya said.

As far as they’re aware, he said, Fourteen76 is the only app in the state catering specifically to community art events and artists.

 “We are not the only ones in the world, certainly, but we are trying to represent the Southeast, [and] also feature people that aren’t from Alabama,” Montoya said.

Bryant said they’re looking for “anything cool, interesting, weird, exciting or impressive” in the community, whether it be in the form of a review, artist interview, photo series, protest or event coverage, media or an article.

To make art a resource, he said, you have to make it feel needed as a resource, and get people excited about it in a community.

“I will say as an artist, I definitely use Fourteen76 to see what’s up in the city,” Bryant said. “Before I really got involved, I used it to see what people to link with as a resource to get connected with local artists, and as a way to get a feel of what kind of art is going on around town.”

The goal is to engage people in an academic style of conversation about art and the stylistic choices artists make. This way, other artists can take something from it, he said. 

Montoya said the name Fourteen76, though thought up as a random coincidence, eventually became linked to the year 1476 and the story of the death of Vlad III, a cruel and torturous ruler of a part of Romania. He was such a menace that, in order to prove his death, his head was encased in honey — which acts as a preservative —and shown to people.

Unofficially, Montoya said, Vlad became their mascot when artists began to draw his head encased in honey. So far, four artists have done depictions of Vlad, and he’s also represented in their loading symbol in a drawing on their website.

Download the Fourteen76 app from any app store, or make a submission to its website at fourteen76.com.