When looking at Street at with students, there are some interesting discussions about graffiti and street art and the fine line between the two. Of course there is much street art that is done with permission or on commission, but some graffiti (not done with permission) can be powerful art too! And then of course there is the graffiti that is only considered vandalism because people don’t appreciate it as art.

We looked at the different styles and types of graffiti / street art including tags (nick name or initials), a throw (still using a nickname or word, but often done with block or bubble letters that are coloured in), a ‘piece’ (like a throw, but usually with more colour), a ‘piece’: (more time spent on the visual conventions of the design including overlapping letters in a style like wildstyle, bubble or block letters adding dimension to the lettering to give it more form, like shadowing, and colour graduation and combination); and stencils which the artist (looked at Banksy’s work) has pre-made a cut out to spray over onto the surface. (see Banksy Stencil post)

Using just their initials, students drew a tag, then explored thicker lettering styles, before deciding which one to use for their (master)’piece’.

A background of a brick wall was printed using foam blocks, and a large “dripping paint blob” was cut out to go under the letters. The lettering needed to be slightly overlapped or connected, outlined, have dimension added in the way of shadow lines and colours chosen to contrast the paint blob.