Graffiti Weekend Review

Now that Tion’s visit is over, I will try to recap a lot of what went down. Helen has pointed out to me that it’s super important not to sugarcoat any retelling and to be honest about any deficiencies. How else is CreateHere supposed to have an idea what its grantees may or may not be able to do? Process is hugely important and surely no one could fathom what the grantees must accomplish to do their utterly creative deeds…

We certainly did our utmost. This chapter of the grant was to bring Tion “Bukue” Torrence to Chattanooga for my and other artists’ professional development. I could go in search of an aerosol education outside of Chattanooga, but that would only make local matters worse. Presently, it’s hard to defend and practice public art that involves nonprofessional artists in Chattanooga. This is still a town of Artists with not much faith in artists. Bringing in well-known public art collaborators shows the city that what I do is in no way unique; people all over the world are seeing this “practice” as a solution to many social, urban and aesthetic problems. Please read Daniel Pink.

Here was the plan: schedule as many hip hop sourced activities as Tion could do, and share those workshops with others: Artists and artists. Then, use that background for Mark Making to do a public art project. Mixing a Mark Making project with my personal professional development was difficult; it is hard to keep separate who one is working for. Moneywise was easy, but my focus-wise was very difficult. I was constantly putting others’ educational needs before my own. Tion brought tons of merchandise and giveaways from his sponsors, and I even forwent getting a pair of Skull Candy ear buds so that others could have them.

For the workshop Wordplay 101 and the following day’s graff mural project, we had first approached Parks and Recreation, the idea being that they serve the same inner city children who we were trying to reach. We weren’t interested in convincing vandals not to commit their deeds, although that could be a byproduct of the weekend’s activities. Some of these graffiti writers are aging, can’t run as fast and have defendable day jobs. The main idea, though, was to enfranchise the wannabes, not only through the graff events but also through Tion’s Arts2Empire workshop and his role model example: 6 ft 3 (?), handsome, with long dreads, the baggy t and those loose pants that could probably hold a case of aerosol. He hasn’t done illegal graff in fifteen years and can argue why it’s dumb. He graffs, raps and skateboards. Every time he opened his mouth over the weekend, I was really struck by his incredible ability to articulate and the clarity of what he was saying. I do believe he’s on the fast track to Malcolm Gladwelldom.

Some obstacles along the way: My (crazy) idea and wish was that Parks and Rec could van their kids in for the workshops; we asked for 15 kids and wanted to round it out with other populations. I was incredibly naïve to think that could actually happen and received the “no” on Thursday evening before area schools went on fall break, just prior to Tion’s arrival. We put out the word about the workshops in a few schools and made calls to agencies suggested by the City. Previously, we had reached out to homeless agencies, tattoo parlors, and the graff artists we knew. I’ve heard from a couple of CreateHere people who thought we should’ve had higher numbers. Actually, for a workshop of this kind, I was satisfied. We ended up with 20 participants in the Wordplay 101 workshop, which is plenty, and about 30 people painted. I was, however, less thrilled with the small number that showed up for the unveiling and Block Party. It was Not Mainx24, but we all did dance like fiends. Six people attended Sunday’s workshop; I think everyone was worn out from a full day of painting Saturday!

Diversity of the participants was great; I was leery of the homeless in the same class as children…but my phone hasn’t rung yet. Billy, one of the participants and a client of the Community Kitchen, is actually a Hart Gallery art star; he had aerosol experience in a prior job, and his contribution was super helpful.

Thursday (10/21) evening’s screening of “Bomb It: The Global Graffiti Documentary” and the panel discussion that followed were well attended. We had about 35 people in the audience. The movie was grittier, grosser, and more laced with profanity than I had recalled. I was seeing the movie with the eyes of my dad who was in the audience. I was fairly horrified of what I was getting into and so glad the panel was even more pro-graff than me.

We had invited and had yeses from two local graff artists who did not attend. I missed the richness and roundness their remarks would have added to the debate, but what was said was fab, layered, many-sided, and diverse. The audience started adding their two cents, and the dialogue was lively and well-balanced.

To use grant money for graff workshops I found to be debatable and very edgy. Does it cause more vandalism? Yes, the act is kind of addictive, and yes, the rush of doing it furtively is a big factor for some. Being in the middle of the night hopefully in a place where you can hear many blocks away on a “canvas” hid from view, ie: necessarily dark out where you are painting black on black because the only light is from your cell phone screen: the outline of your piece.

Back to Parks and Rec, I did offer that Mark Making spend some time every month cleaning graff tags to demonstrate which side we are on and hopefully offer a carrot. We still want to do it...and I think we could match the paint better.

I want to include a letter whose author had to make this statement to warn me about possible negative repercussions. It’s actually quite thoughtful, and the person is clearly trying to protect me and Mark Making:

“I know part of the workshop may address the issue of how to control unwanted graffiti artists making their mark all over the city, but many people are concerned that this instruction may encourage “art work” where it is not desired…I hope this issue will receive your utmost attention, otherwise you may find the organization in an extremely defensive position of apologizing and correcting problems on properties that were not intended to be involved.”

To which I responded:

“Thank you for your concerns and I wholeheartedly agree with you. It's a fine line between advocating art of a graffiti style and encouraging vandalism. It's like "Drink Responsibly" on a liquor advertisement. There will always be vandals; we may inspire some to become legal- there are great advantages to that. There could be others who become inspired to do illegal activity because they are going to act out regardless of the context. It's hard to get people not to litter, not to play music too loud, not to drive cars that pollute.

“We (at Mark Making) believe this style, sourced in American inner city energy, can inspire many of our youth to make art that can be very beautiful. We want to offer opportunities for an empowerment that comes from having people hear one's "voice." The tree falling in the empty forest is rarely heard. Unseen Art doesn't inspire as much self confidence as art with an audience. Sneaky tags aren't usually art at all. I've heard graffiti artists complain that those give them a bad reputation.

“As far as the public is concerned, there are many closet graffiti fans who would enjoy seeing it done legally. The other side of the coin is that I think that people would notice more graffiti that was already there when the issue comes to their attention. It's hard to separate between the real issue and the perceived issue. PR can work both ways. I assure you that we will do our best to deter rather than inspire this style.”

In closing, I’d like to say a special thanks to our panel members from Thursday night. Thank you for offering your time and insightful comments!

Ellen Hays, Tennessee Arts Commission Chair
Andrae McGary, City Councilman
Josh McManus, CreateHere Co-FounderHassan Najjar, Hunter Museum Manager of School and Outreach Programs
Candy Kruesi, Panel Moderator and Mark Making Co-Chair

Thanks also to Mayor Ron Littlefield, Councilman Manny Rico, Hart Gallery Owner Ellen Heavilon, and Mark Making Co-Chair Jack McDonald for speaking at our mural unveiling Saturday night. Also thanks to Hart Gallery owners Ellen and Jay Heavilon for providing the mural space, Tion for his brilliant teaching, Phillip Allen (a.k.a. dj K7) for a great block party, and Art Creations for their donation.

And of course, a big thanks to CreateHere for providing workshop space and grant funds!