When the 2020 pandemic hit the world viciously and suddenly, Rich Brooks started a new project to lift spirits. Art 2 Make U Smile made news all over Saint Louis. Visitors would come from all over to see Brooks painting in front of his home in Soulard, Missouri. As a person who has always taken pride in giving back to the community, it is no surprise that he decided to give back and keep the arts alive during a very difficult time for the world. Watch the video below to find out more in Brooks’ own words.

Rich Brooks, Curator for Soulard Art Gallery, is also an artist, teacher and mentor, loving the arts.

Rich decided to bring his creativity to his neighborhood during the coronavirus pandemic, creating one painting a day in front of his home every morning.

Art to Make You Smile at a time when there was not much to smile about. Art to Make You Smile was available everyday during COVID 19.

Each day, Rich Brooks would sketch out an idea out on paper and bring it to life on the canvas. Rich set up shop on the sidewalk in his Soulard neighborhood. Every day at 6:00 am, Rich was out there drawing and then painting to share with people to make them smile! Every day with a different theme and message. Later in the day, he would create a black and white version on paper for children to color. His creations became the focal point of the neighborhood. “Art to Make You Smile”.

So he could not justify buying a bunch of 3x4 canvases…so he made the decision to paint over the last painting each time transforming it into a new piece of art. “I just wanted to do something that was public and fun and you talk about sanity…this is sanity," Brooks said.

Little did he know that his Art to Make You Smile would last 100 DAYS!! I was honored to photograph him at his 100 day of painting and the media was there as well! A great human story in the midst of all the negatively!

-Gail Manche