 The Rec Center on Primm Road will host classes on June 19 and 26
focusing on "street art." Then on June 29 and 30, students will
produce street art on two viaducts in the city. The classes will be
taught by Lincoln College art instructor Christopher Tice.Last
week Kathy Vinyard of the From the Ground Up group, Roy Logan of the
park district and Tice took some time to talk about the project and
how it came about.
Vinyard has dedicated herself to finding new ways to improve the
overall appearance of our city. When she sees something she believes
could be improved upon, she starts trying to come up with ideas of
what can be done.
A few weeks ago, she was drawn to the railroad viaducts on South
College Street and South Kickapoo, near the waste treatment plant.
She said the viaducts have been somewhat defaced and just don’t look
as good as they could.
She started thinking about what could be done and eventually came
to the idea of painting them. But she didn’t want to just paint
them; she wanted them to become something of interest in the
community. She wanted them to add to the neighborhood in a unique
way. Her thoughts evolved to street art, something she’d seen done
in other places.
But she also knew it was a big undertaking that the From the
Ground Up group wasn’t entirely prepared for. That’s when she
thought of Logan and the park district.
The park district often offers classes on a wide variety of
subjects, and when Vinyard approached Logan with the idea, he was
all in favor.
From there, the two went in search of an instructor. Their first
thought was to contact the local colleges and see if anyone would be
interested in taking on the project. Tice was not only interested,
he was already versed in the subject and volunteered to give his
time to conducting the classes.
Vinyard said that as she and Logan talked with Tice, she realized
that while she knew what she wanted to do, she really didn’t have an
accurate concept of what street art is and how it is done.
Logan said it was a new topic for him as well. He said at one
time he told Tice that he really needed some visual examples because
he really couldn’t wrap his mind around what they were going to do.
Street art can be as simple or as complicated as the artist wants
it to be. It can consist of lifelike images of people, places or
things, or it can be cartoonish or geometric. The possibilities are
only limited by the confines of the imagination.
Street art has become a popular art form that actually derives
from graffiti. In the purest sense of the word, graffiti has been
around since prehistoric man.
Cave men scratched drawings of their daily lives on the walls of
their caves, and that was the first graffiti. It was also used in
biblical times as Christ’s followers used symbols to relay messages
to other believers.
During times of oppression, symbols were also used as a secret
code to point the way to safe places.
Today, that same practice of using symbols as a secret language
is still in practice by a very unique group of people. Tice
explained that there is a spinoff of graffiti called hobo art, and
it is a secret code among those who travel the railways without
permission. He said marks on boxcars are sometimes graffiti, but
sometimes they are messages to fellow travelers, indicating safe
places to stay, for example.
When most folks think of graffiti, they picture teenagers in
rebellion, using spray paint to deface public property. What becomes
interesting about this is as these kids worked to make their mark,
they were in some cases creating art that was visually appealing.
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That is how street art evolved into something popular. Today,
people are allowed to create their art on city streets, on walls and
viaducts, and it adds to the interest of the object being painted.
Tice said one of the most well-known street artists today is
Shepherd Fairey, whose talent has led him to do a wide variety of
art projects, including posters of President Barack Obama.
Another well-known artist is Banksy. Banksy is referred to by
critics as satirical and subversive, with works that display dark
humor. Part of his method involves the use of stencils instead of
freehand.
Tice said it is this style that he will work to teach students.
He said each student will be given a large piece of cardboard that
they will draw their own design on. Later they will cut the design
out, creating a stencil.
Tice will then create a composition for the viaducts that
incorporates each student’s stencil.
Tice said he will teach the students how to create their
stencils, but he isn’t going to guide them in what they create. They
will be able to use their own imaginations to make something that is
truly their own work.
On the day of the painting, students will place their stencils on
the walls of the viaducts and paint over them, leaving behind their
design.
Tice said what he does want to discourage is words in their
stencils. A few might be OK, but he said he wants them to remember
that what they write, they have to cut out, and that can be a very
daunting task.
Tice also said that depending on how many students they have,
they may need additional days to do both viaducts. Ideally he said
it would take about 20 people per viaduct to get both of them done
in two days.
The first set of classes, on June 19, will be specifically for
students age 12 and up. Tice said he’s hoping those students will
then return the next week to offer assistance in the next class,
which will be specifically for those age 12 and under.
Vinyard said she really hopes families will take the classes and
work together on painting day. Logan added to that, saying that
adults were going to be important on this project, as the painting
starts at the top of the structure and works its way down.
Before they wrapped up talking about this new project, Vinyard
said she wanted to acknowledge the city of Lincoln for granting
permission for the project and also Greg Basford at Heritage
Packaging, who donated the sheets of cardboard, and Habitat for
Humanity, which donated some of their leftover painting supplies.
In addition, she said the city street department will power wash
the viaducts prior to the painting.
Logan said that while it would be nice to know ahead of time how
many students they will have, advance registration is not required.
To find out more about the classes and the cost involved, email the
park district at
info@lincolnparkdistrict.com or call 732-8770.
[By NILA SMITH]
Street artists
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