It's amazing what you can take a class in these days
By adamg - Mon, 06/30/2008 - 2:03pm.
Graffiti stenciling workshop in Davis Square:
The immediacy and poignancy of stencil art has made it a prominent tool in DIY political, social and artistic movements. Stencils are a creative and easy way to express opinions, spread messages and expand the boundaries of your artistic language.
This workshop will teach you how to make your own stencil from a found or original image for use on clothing, in fine arts, as wall decoration, or for any purpose you choose. Among the topics covered will be altering images to translate to stencil format, single and multi-layered techniques, large scale and portable stencils, types of paint and stencil frames to use, and how best to use your stencils on different surfaces.
Fabulous.
This actually seems like it'd be rather fantastic. I can add it my repertoire of vigilante skills.
I'll be over to tag your
I'll be over to tag your house with my spray cans tonight - where do you live again?
Way to assume
Graffiti is a tool. Destruction of private property is an illegal offense. You make a lot of bad assumptions about this class to compare it to tagging a house with spray paint.
You can use stencil art on far more than the side of someone's house or business. You can also use a lot of things other than spray paint with a stencil. Hell, I use stencils to carve pumpkins for Halloween. There are also places where people are allowed to graffiti. Imagine that, legal graffiti in Central Square and I'm pretty sure there's also an installation in the South End that I read about recently. So, this isn't just a class for trashing neighborhoods. Grow up.
That's fine, but
If you're going to conflate "stencil art" and "vigilante skills", please mount your show in your own neighborhood.
Vigilance
You have a problem with people carrying stenciled signage while protesting in your neighborhood?
Or wearing their message on their shirt?
Or, at worst, leaving a chalk stencil about some injustice?
What's with the chip on your
What's with the chip on your shoulder?
No chip
I'm just disappointed with all of the art hate. Art is a form of expression and while some people may do so illegally, this isn't a class condoning that. Graffiti stencils need not be used, even in a vigilante way, in an illegal way. Saying "stencil" and "graffiti" or even "vigilante" too shouldn't provoke people to jump to NIMBY conclusions like you and anon did. This is just an art gallery/community teaching people how to use stencils.
So if it seems I have a chip on my shoulder, maybe it's because I knocked your's off first.
No "art hate" here
If you're practicing "stencil art" for good rather than evil, more power to ya. I have ABSOLUTELY no problem with people carrying stenciled signage, wearing their message on their shirts or even stenciling my sidewalk with chalk that will wash off the next time it rains.
But when this is what I see out my front window, then yeah, I tend to get all NIMBY, 'cause that isn't "graffiti art", it's vandalism. Not that you or the "urban expression" workshop would ever condone such a thing, but you can't deny the message implicit in the medium, a message that appeals to some and offends others. In fact that's the point, isn't it?
Btw, props to the DCR for addressing the long-standing illegal graffiti problem on their properties here in the Fens. It goes up, we call them, it's erased in a day or two. Go DCR! (:O)
Just a point
That's not stencils, that's freehand.
Even though it's still illegal, maybe you wouldn't mind as much if Banksy lived in your neighborhood and used his stencils...Then again, maybe you would still take exception purely for property rights. That's fair enough. I still think a stencil graffiti class isn't really the proper thing to use as a poster child for complaining about illegal graffiti. Oh well.
Or Pixnit, to use a local
Or Pixnit, to use a local example.
Cool
Very cool. I had to look her up and read her Dig article and Globe article. I haven't run into any of Pixnit's spores yet that I know of. She just had a gallery exhibit down on Newbury St that ended June 1. Oh well, I'll just have to catch the next one.