The graffiti style projects focus on a specific area that would benefit from having a makeover. This change will work to reduce and eliminate the unwanted tagging and garbage, which often brings other undesirable activity into the area. The various stakeholders work together to clean up the garbage, prime over tags, and add murals and some plantings. The short term result is clean walls that won’t get tagged, the long term result is that each group gains a better understanding and respect of each other’s issues and culture. They now are part of a community that they can take pride in, with stronger positive social links.
Past Events
August, 2 2008 - Hwy 174 mural – This is on a sound barrier along hwy 174, on the way to Place D’Orleans. It is a series of 8x9 ft panels, over 150 ft long, that was painted several years ago by local students (bunnies and flowers themes). It was respected forr a while, but has lately collected a number of tags. The local councilor, along with Mural Arts, decided to redo the wall in a combination of styles – high school art students and graff artists. Community CAVE was involved to find and liase with a number of local graff artists, and help the process. The wall was completed at the end of the month.
August, 2008 - Orleans Autotech mural – Another partnership with Sketch – related to the Graffiti Art Day event. Two artists were selected from the event, they developed a sketch, the owner of the property bought their Montana paint, rented some scaffolding, and gave them a generous fee for their work. A very impressive piece, visible to all that drive by. The role of Sketch and CAVE in this was to encourage and facilitate. And nudge, to ensure things kept rolling.
July 19, 2008 - Art in the Park: This activity will be held July 19, in Fallingbrook Park, off of Princess Louise drive. It is organized by Events by Natasha. Sketch, as a partner with Community CAVE Ottawa, will have a presence/visibility at the event. This is a collection of art vendors – we will not be selling anything, but will have two youth that were at GART work on two 4x8 panels, doing a demonstration of letters and artistic elements. We will be explaining our same concepts, such as of youth as urban artists, and handing out some leaflets with more information. We’ll also will have a third panel for anyone to try out their style. Click here for more info on the event.
July 5, 2008 - Sketch Orleans, in partnership with CAVE (Ottawa) and Orleans Auto Tech, held their first Graffiti Art day – GART. Several local graffiti artists showed up to paint on the seven 4x8 ft panels, and the owner of the business has selected two to do a large mural on the 40 foot wall of his business. He’s tired of repeatedly priming over tags, he would prefer to beautify the wall – and his community –with a mural. This property is next to Place D’Orleans mall, so managed to attract both youth and adults. We had about 40 stop by to watch, to ask abot the concept, even to try their hand at a bit of painting. Thanks again to ICI paints for the primer, and Norml Clothing for a great price on spray cans. For more info see the news release or the leaflet for the event. For photos of the event click here.
June 14, 2008 House of Paint hip-hop festival. Another fantastic year for this annual festival. We had some scaffolding this year, so doubled the artists on the main wall. I spent the day talking to spectators and artists, promoting graffiti art murals and the community building concept.
In July 2007,
Also in July was the official launch of a new youth group in the area, Sketch, an
In June, 2007 CAVE (
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Words from Ottawa
Ottawa has just passed an anti-graffiti bylaw similar to Toronto's, effective as of January 2007. The focus is on eradication, criminal charges, and more pressure via fines on businesses to clean up repeatedly, every time there is tagging. The initial focus of CAVE: Ottawa this year is to promote graffiti as an art form, and then use it as part of youth and community building activities to provide longer lasting solutions to the problem. This promotion will be via both commissioned murals and legal walls.
Commissioned Walls
The commissioned murals are a more static form, in that they link specific "crews" and interested businesses to create a one time mural. These works can beautify a blank wall, or also cover up unwanted tagging and prevent it's reoccurrence. There is respect for a good "piece", especially when it's done by local youth and blends in both local images and graffiti lettering.
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| There have been several commissioned murals in Ottawa, here is one from last summer being for Interpares on Laurier |
Several local businesses have expressed interest in commissioning youth for murals, CAVE: Ottawa will act as a broker to link the youth up, and guide them through developing and following a business-like arrangement.
Legal Walls
Legal walls are more dynamic - they are done in a public area, often on city owned property, and the only rules are no obscenities or hate messages. These walls are a source for free experimentation for artists. They allow new graffiti painters to hone their skills and enhance their art form, while at the same time respecting local businesses and privately owned walls. Since these can be used during the day, rather than furtively at night, these walls act as a canvas for experienced painters to take the time to express their work, and also promote a mentorship relationship with new entrants to the artform. Various levels of skill are seen, and the work may stay for days or weeks before the canvas is reused by the next artist. This is also an opportunity for the public to stop and talk, and to observe the skill and talent needed for this urban art. There are valid concerns of "leakage" from these walls, that they will encourage the spread of tagging to adjacent blank areas. This problem can be managed with clear signage and quick cleanups of adjacent areas. In addition, peer pressure may help, if the more established artists pass on the message of "abuse it and you lose it".
There are currently two legal walls in Ottawa, one under the Dunbar bridge at Brewer Park, where Bronson crosses the Rideau, the second on Ottawa Tech school property, at Bronson and Slater. Both have been in place for many years, and are constantly changing galleries. In addition, a legal wall is being added this summer to an Orleans skateboard park, as a pilot project. This is patterned after the free-standing walls the City of Gatineau has successfully used in their parks. CAVE: Ottawa was a prime mover for this trial, and will continue to promote these legal areas as one part of the solution.
Transformations
Neighbourhood transformations take the commissioned mural to a new level. A group of businesses, residents, and youth are brought together to transform an area via removal of tags, cleanup of garbage, new murals, and strategic plantings. The process encourages communication, mutual respect, pride in an area, and the creation of permanent bridges between the groups. This is done with local donations and sponsorship that not only helps with materials but also pays the youth for their work as artists. And it may lead to further commissioned work for them. When doing a transformation event, part of the success in attracting a lot of artists is to keep an open mind that some may also be active taggers. While the focus is on positive reinforcement, there still needs to be a clear message to all there, both artists and the public, that tagging is not acceptable. Tagging has always been a part of the culture, and will not disappear, but perhaps refocusing the beginners to more of the organized programs where they can work legally on a wall, with artists as mentors, would help. This could be part of every transformation – a learner wall during the event. CAVE: Ottawa will be approaching local BIA's this summer, especially downtown, to promote the transformation concept here. Since the bylaw talks, there is renewed focus on eradication, hopefully this can be expanded to a wider focus.
