The other side of graffiti (4 photos)

Sault Ste. Marie's downtown core just got a little brighter thanks to the creative efforts of the Graffiti Reframed initiative.

As a collaboration between the Arts Council of Sault Ste. Marie and District and the NORDIK Institute, the year-long Graffiti Reframed engagement strategy aims to change public perception of graffiti, foster community pride, and connect youth artists with area businesses and the general public.

Lead-up events over the last 12 months, including the National Youth Arts Week Window Exhibition and a variety of graffiti-related workshops, culminated in Wednesday afternoon's final mural reveal at Case's Music and 180 Projects Gallery on Gore Street.

With artists Jayke Carter, Jessica Morin and Hailey McMillan standing by, Ward 2 City Councillor Susan Myers and research team member Jude Ortiz addressed those in attendance.

"We all recognize… there is another side [to graffiti]," said Councillor Myers who also co-chairs the city's committee on graffiti. "We really need to reframe it and I'm very grateful for this project."

"We really need to embrace it and do something. We want to make it positive and move forward."

In reference to the creation and design of two wall murals revealed yesterday, Jayke Carter explained the process as collaborative and organic.

"We all started drawing something," he said. "We just sat around, we drew for a little while, we came up with ideas together, we collaborated, and we figured out what we wanted to do next. And slowly but surely, we started putting pieces on the wall."

"Building a mural and a design from many people coming together from different skill levels and desires and ideas… that process always comes out. It always works," said project lead artist and mentor Sharon Hunter. "It becomes not about the individual at that point. It's more about how the images work together and what they say. How it reflects the community."

Having passersby (street artists and otherwise) stop, watch and reflect as the murals were being created is as important as the final product, Hunter explained.

"That interaction is a really key element in painting on the street and having street art," she said. "That community engagement, questions and responses. That was really great for everybody to have that."

Hunter told SooToday that additional property owners and businesses have expressed an interest in the Graffiti Reframed mural initiative, and she hopes to facilitate further beautification projects in the near future.

Originally from Toronto, Hunter has lead youth mural and city transformation projects in the GTA, and she previously taught art and Native studies in Attawapiskat.

As a street artist herself, she said she was very pleased with the number of young girls who expressed an interest in the local street mural projects since the art medium is usually a male-dominated discipline.

"I really like that there were women on this project," she said. "I found that working in the Sault, I had more girls than I ever had in Toronto. There, it was all boys."

"Encouraging young girls to think big and do big is really important."

(PHOTO: Jessica Morin and Hailey McMillian duscuss the 180 Projects mural with Sharon Hunter during the Graffiti Reframed mural reveal Wednesday, July 22, 2015. Donna Hopper/SooToday)

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