Taller a l’escola Concepció Arenal — a seabed-themed urban art workshop
Barcelona
14.10.14
The Rebobinart team ran a workshop with 5th and 6th grade primary school students at Concepció Arenal school. The children in these two year groups had spent the whole year working on the theme of the seabed, through a project supported by the Institut de Ciències del Mar de Catalunya.
The workshop was split into two sessions. In the first, artist Aram Rah explained to the students the history of graffiti, the different techniques, the process to follow when painting a mural… and answered all the children’s questions, helping the students get further into the world of urban art. Each of them then made a sketch of a drawing they’d like to paint in the neighbourhood — this was where the children let their imagination run wild, coming up with very creative and original drawings. In this session, together with the artist, they brainstormed to design the mural they would paint in the school playground, built around the seabed theme they had been working on all year.
In the second phase, the students picked up the spray cans and got to work. They transferred the design from the previous session onto the playground walls, getting to become urban artists themselves through this first-hand experience.
The whole process was documented by the students themselves, who put together a video montage with several interviews and key moments from the project — the result was a real success!
In the video, the graffiti workshop at Concepció Arenal school: the children say what they would like to paint, they are told that graffiti began in New York in the seventies by painting trains —«a mobile exhibition»— and a seabed mural is made with the Institute of Marine Sciences. At the end, local residents give their views.
The video in text (abridged) (translated from Spanish)8 min 24 s
What do you like painting?
The childrenI'd like to paint death. In the neighbourhood, an enchanted forest. A rhythm. A sentence. A duck with an axe. I like drawing princesses and mermaids. I'd like to paint soldiers.
I like painting because I started when I was little, and painting makes me feel calm. And because nobody makes you: if you want to, you can paint.
The educatorGraffiti began in New York, with a boy who put his name and his tag everywhere.
And what year did it start?
The educatorAround the seventies. The first graffiti pieces were done on trains, so they could be seen in every city: that way the work travelled around and was like a mobile exhibition.
Graffiti in Barcelona is much debated, because it was banned, and when it was banned the people who painted got pretty angry. Little by little they are allowing painting in more legal places and murals are coming back, though for now there are only letters.
And what do you do at the schools you visit?
The educatorWe try to open a debate about whether graffiti is a good thing, whether it can help us improve the neighbourhood or not, and we explain its history. Then, all together, we come up with an idea: in your case, since you are working on the seabed, we end up making a mural.
A teacherThis year we set ourselves a project about the sea, and the people from the Institute of Marine Sciences were helping us. We are learning to do science.
Local residentsGraffiti writers are the ones who paint all the walls and make them dirty. Very bad: walls should be clean.
And these ones they have done at the school?
Local residentsThese don't make anything dirty, of course. That's a cultural thing, I think.
On the walls the council provides, do you think it's right that people can paint?
Local residentsIf it's allowed, then yes, I think it's right, as long as they paint positive things. If it's legal, I think it's very good; what I don't think is right is the street being painted on.
If you could paint something in the neighbourhood, what would you paint?
A shopkeeperSomething educational, something that makes people aware. I might paint a heifer, to advertise what I sell.
Would you paint a graffiti?
A shopkeeperI'm no painter. But if they let me, yes, I'd paint one: a little dog, I like those.
The council is now providing walls for people to paint. What do you think?
A residentThat it should put up money so young people at the schools can paint a lot. This is very well done. How old is the person who did it?
Us, at school.
A residentGoodness, this is lovely.
Abridged version: direct quotes are kept; repetitions, overlapping speech and passages unrelated to the project are left out.
