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Former tagger now teaches art - Los Angeles Times.
Jan 3/09 - LA -Estrada's class, called Skillz 'N Action, attracts young people who come to learn such techniques as how to control the flow of paint from their spray cans and how to make their street murals really pop. What they discover is a former tagger who preaches about the pitfalls of vandalism. "It's teaching us you should keep doing it, but legally," Ramon Marcos said. The 20-year-old from South L.A. said he used to leave his mark on houses, apartments, buildings, utility poles -- a pastime that he claims actually kept him from joining a gang. "People would come up to me to recruit me," he said, "but since I was in graf, that was my thing. I was like, 'Nah, I'm straight.' " A student at Los Angeles Trade Technical College, Marcos said he now understands that graffiti has a place outside of defacing property. Taking a cue from Estrada, Marcos recently persuaded a shop owner to allow him to paint her storefront.
for products of the konkrete jungle: "Bay Area Graffiti" Book Review & Offer.
Jan 1/09 - SanFran -The San Francisco Bay Area has long been known as a world-renowned cultural and artistic hotbed, breeding and attracting some of the most eclectic and innovative hands and minds the world has to offer. We should know, we live and work here too. Therefore, paging through this hefty hardbound collection is sort of like taking a walk down memory lane through a yearbook of friends, both old and new, and their incredible graffiti. Never before, however, have we had the pleasure of ingesting so much stunning street art from the Bay Area’s finest in one sitting, and in one location.
MySpace.
Dec 30.08 - Santa Monica -This group is made to support and organize the SM Legal Graffiti Wall Project headed up by Josh Combs and Michael Castillo. This project was designed for all of the graffiti writers and artists to express their talents and passion for their art form in a safe and legal environment. We are hoping to change the way that most people look at graffiti and bring this art to life. We are working on a few different spots right now, but the main goal is to use the walls under the Santa Maria bridge. It will be the biggest legal yard on the West Coast and it will provide endless opportunities for artists everywhere.
Legal graffiti wall near 46th Ave, Queens, NY 11101, USA: 5 Pointz.
Dec 30/08 -NY -5 Pointz is a hall of fame in Long Island City, Queens which is curated by Meres One. The walls painted on the building are all done with a permit after a review of the artists work and proper placement by Meres. The placement is decided on by the quality of the work, the time the artist is willing to spend on it will also determine the amount of time it will last.
Tai Shan » Blog Archive » Mo Gan Shan Lu.
Dec 26/08 -Shanghai -It seems that the graffiti along the side of Moganshan Lu is encouraged by the arts community housed in some of the nicer buildings along the road, and I find that to be a very encouraging sign. It isn’t all about high-brow, elitist art at Moganshan Lu. It is a place meant to appeal to anyone who wants to take the time to walk through and enjoy the various forms of art available there.
Arts Beat: Spinning Hip-Hop as a Class Act for Kids - washingtonpost.com.
Dec 25/08 - Washington -Bobatoon tells these pupils, ages 8 to 10, that call-and-response chants are "an old African way of communicating." The class uses the four pillars of hip-hop culture (MCing, DJing, graffiti and break dancing, or b-boying) to teach the children verbal skills, self-esteem and music history. Payne's hip-hop literacy class is an after-school program that started in October. The instructors coordinate with Payne teachers to incorporate the curriculum into the class, Bobatoon says. For example, if the students need to memorize state capitals, Bobatoon might set them to a funky drum rhythm as a mnemonic device. "It's their language," says William E. Smith, 36, who runs the program. "It's what they're surrounded by, it's how they communicate. Hip-hop, if you really get into the history and the depth of it, hip-hop comes out of a cultural matrix."
