On May 14, 2016, The Art Spot hosted the City Wide Kids Art show for the second year in a row. Three of my past paintings were on display (Evening Glaciers, Celebrating the Indian Premier League, and Lionel Messi: Soccer Legend). I thank my teacher, Ms. Sharon Pierce, for displaying them. This show is mainly about the work done is school and one of my school works was also selected for display.
This show gave me the chance to meet many artists. It was great to catch up with my art teacher from Point Webster school – Mrs. Vale. I was surprised when she told me that a muralist recognized me from my paintings on display. He was none other than Mr. Brand Rockwell, whom I met at the Discover Quincy artist gathering at the Quincy Chamber of Commerce last fall. He was here for this show to make a mural using spray paints and give everyone an insight on the use of spray paints for graffiti. He was making a leopard with different colors and styles as you can see in the pictures.
He explained how you can use different types of strokes to make different types of lines. He told me that using spray paint is all about applying the right pressure. You can change the way the paint comes out by pushing harder or lighter. Besides, using angles while spraying and scratching close to the surface, you could get different types of strokes with different widths. His advice to me was to continue learning Mathematics, Geography and most important – handwriting. These things will help me in becoming a better artist. Discussing with him was great because I also learnt that not all graffiti is bad. If you do it properly, then it is just like any other art. I also got to try spray painting for myself!
I also met Cedric Douglas, a muralist, who works with spray paints. He also gave me some insights on how spray paint works. Coincidently, he made murals at Northeastern University, the same place my mother teaches at! Next time I visit Northeastern, I will definitely want to see his work. He also introduced me to another graffiti artist, Julia Roth. She was making a huge graffiti work using spray paints, and we could add anything to it. To everyone’s surprise, after the tapes were removed, it showed “QPS” – Quincy Public Schools.
It was a great experience meeting so many great artists. You can see the photos on my Flickr Album.
So, what do you think ?