Zainab's Interview with Vanessa: Springboard Youth Mural Project
Zainab, one of the youth bloggers for the Springboard Youth Mural Project, interviewed one of the mural artists Vanessa to gain insight and document an artist’s thoughts on this amazing initiative!
Q&A
Zainab is a blogger for this year's mural project with Antyx. She hopes to see the murals bring cheer and colour to the community and serve as a conversation starter. She is the Interviewer and is excited to document an artist’s thoughts on this amazing initiative.
*this interview was conducted on Tuesday, July 20, 2021
Zainab: “Why did you decide to participate in this?”
Vanessa: “I believe that working with antyx on this, like getting to create a mural project down at Sunnyside, was a great opportunity to try to get into murals to begin with… I’ve always had an interest in the… way murals are done and how people approach it, and I’ve always wanted to do one. So obviously, when I saw that there was a youth program available, I wanted to join and see if I could get the opportunity to work on it.”
Zainab: “how do you think this project makes a positive impact on the community?”
Vanessa: “Well down in sunnyside, there’s always been these crates here, and I think it’s just nice now because when they were first put up, …when I was in grade eight or nine, I always remember coming down here with my friends. We always thought the murals were so cool… I think it’s nice for a community to see that members of the community or at least members of the city are contributing to the art they get to see every day because it’s one thing when the city commissions artists from New York or Boston to do installations, but it’s different when actual people who live here get to have their voices heard or get to share something they’re passionate about. So it might be more of a bonding factor for the community more than anything.”
Vanessa is an artist for this year's mural project and she hopes to bring colour to a place she frequently visits with her friends. She thinks this project is a great initiative and will bring the community together in many ways. She is excited to share her thoughts on the process and why she chose to participate in this.
Zainab: “How do you think art brings the community together?”
Vanessa: “… One, art is communal, especially when it’s so public. You get to view it with people in your community and you get to view it with your friends, and then you get to form up your ideas and opinions about it. It’s also a great unifier even among strangers where it’s just like ‘Oh, have you been down to 17th? There are these cool murals’ or ‘ did you see that new installation they did downtown’, and it’s always like a nice common ground that people can join in on.”
Zainab: “So like a conversation starter?”
Vanessa: “Yeah it’s kind of like an even start for two people to discuss on.”
Zainab: “What are you learning from this experience?”
Vanessa: “ Right now, I think I am obviously learning the new medium that is spray paint, because I’ve never worked with spray paint before, Especially for something this big or this public. I’m learning how to properly handle spray paint, the different ways you can layer it to create your composition instead of how you would do sketching, where you sketch what you’re going to sketch, erase it, sketch over that, erase that, sketch over that again, so this is like, when something is down, yes you can go over it, but once you go over it, it’s more intentional. You need to know where you’re putting the paint because that’s what this is all about, putting the paint to create your final work. I’m learning the different styles and techniques to use spray paint”
“I also wanted to mention that I’m learning a lot from Kerz, Stephanie, and Bryan. They’ve been really helpful in furthering along our education and sharing knowledge, especially Kerz, teaching us how to handle spray paint and hold stuff perpendicular”
Zainab: “ So angles?”
Vanessa: “yeah, and how to get the exact product you are looking for and the different techniques to make that, because they’ve been doing this so much longer than we have, and it’s nice to have an actual teacher”
Zainab: “What is the message behind your art?”
Vanessa: “Honestly, I feel like I’m still at the stage where I’m trying to discover the message behind my art, If there is any. I use art in a lot of different ways to help me explore different topics or help me explore myself or honestly just to be creative and have fun”
Zainab: “Do the colours hold any significance?”
Vanessa: “I would say that the colours definitely accentuate the tone and the mood of the piece. We use a lot of blues and purples and greys and blacks, … not because we wanted a spookier mural or spookier vibe or anything, I think that’s just how [our] art styles blended together, because we both kind of do some more… concept-ish type of art… The colour is mostly a representation of two different art styles coming together, and other than adding to the mood and tone, I don’t really think it has a huge significance than to get our message across and properly accentuate the mural.
This interview with Vanessa helped me gain insight into the artist’s motivation and ideas about her piece. It showed me her goals and ideas about art and how it impacts the community, and her reasons for participating in this. In conclusion, this interview helped me understand how artists felt towards their work and why they wanted to participate in this project.