Artists have spent the last few nights preparing Sol Collective for an anniversary show Friday.

But they're not installing framed paintings and sculptures. Sacramento's very own activist art collective is celebrating six years by becoming art.

Show organizer Shaun Turner, a 29-year-old muralist, has brought together at least 19 artists from Sacramento, the Bay Area, Los Angeles and Colombia, by way of New York, to create art on the interior walls and ceilings of the building at 2574 21st St.

The big, bold pieces are the artists' way of giving back to a community organization that has given so much to so many of them, said Turner and local artist Gabriel Romo, who also goes by the name 2hermano.

"You hear from a lot of artists that Sacramento is a very hard place to be. People have to go somewhere else to be loved," said Romo, the collective's first gallery manager. "This place means a lot to all of us."

Similar to Trust Your Struggle, the organization is a collective empowering artists, teachers and others to work together on social justice issues and community activism in Sacramento. The causes range from feminism to workers' and immigrants' rights.

Sol Collective was founded in 2003 by community organizer Estella Sanchez, who used her own money while working at least two jobs to pay the rent for their first community center on Del Paso Boulevard. The place burned down in 2008. The center was closed for two years, then reopened on 21st Street, just off Broadway, in February 2010.

The celebration begins with the art show and music from 6 p.m. - midnight Friday. A barbecue for activists will be held Saturday, followed by music Sunday as part of the collective's Global Hood Music Series. The show starts at 8:30 p.m. Sunday and costs $12 in advance or $17 at the door.

Grammy award-winning MC Ana Tijoux, Panamanian band Los Rakas and A-Plus, a founder of the hip hop group Souls of Mischief, will be among the musical offerings, said Anand Parmar, the collective's music events coordinator.

The artists taking part in the joint show include graffiti artists, street artists, muralists, and tattoo artists. They’ve been working long nights recently to get ready for the show. Some pieces have gone up in a day, while other artists have spent two to three weeks working on a piece.

They may usually choose different platforms or media for their work – from the sides of buildings and railroad cars to the skin covering people's bodies. But they're all connected by a desire to create in more open and public forums than many commercial artists, Romo said.

"The labels are coming from different people," he said. "We just want to be considered artists."