Kicking off the month, May 2nd saw the launch of ‘Keep Australia Colourful’, a collective of dedicated street artists, academics, community workers and aerosol aficionados who want to promote some of the mad art that is being produced across the city in the face of initiatives such as the ‘Keep Australia Beautiful Graffiti Action Day’. Some of the CFY artists were involved, and one mural produced on the day featured in the Sydney Morning Herald (Overshadowing the efforts of the cleanup!), check out the following link, talk about some stylish thwarting! To keep up to date on future KAC projects (and there are some really interesting ones in the pipeline) check out www.keepaustraliacoulrful.org or look them up on Facebook.
The recent school holidays saw another successful workshop at Punchbowl Boys High to mural over a series of dingy walls in the playground. CFY provided the artistic support to a number of young people who volunteered their school holiday time to rock the series of nature themed murals shown below also featuring a slogan for the young gamblers in the place. The young people did a fantastic job, the entire space was completed (including a panel featuring the school log which is not shown) in approximately 4 hours, which has to be some kind of record. The young people involved didn’t stop there, managing to also rescue a bird trapped in a metal section of wall, it was a top day of fast painting, fun and good people.
In between painting jobs there is occasionally time to relax and paint, and in a rare moment of downtime CFY artists were invited to rock a wall with a young ex-workshop participant who had scored a wall and needed some extra aerosol firepower. The CFY crew were happy to get some wall space to do their thing, and after consulting with the owner who requested a flower theme and even sponsored some paint, the lads got to work. Shown below are some details of the wall, which featured bold typographic pieces intertwined with a trompe l’oeil continuing the ivy and plants across the background. The owner of the wall was stoked and we were stoked the young bloke who lined the wall up was happy with the result and the neighbourhood all came out with nothing but positive things to say.
But the down time never lasts long, and the following day it was game on with a series of art workshops at Dulwich High School Of Visual Arts and Design. The school has had CFY artists involved with a variety of projects and workshops for over 5 years, and this latest round saw CFY provide a mentor artist to help young people produce a series of artworks based on tribalism as it relates to art movements and their subcultures as young people. The students designed and then cut out of plywood a series of tribal artefacts and these were then assembled and painted. A team effort totem pole based design gave the group an opportunity to learn new skills and watch a professional aerosol artist in action, and to complete the day a signage based piece to promote the annual event and exhibition were even painted. Once again, CFY Illawarra produced a comprehensive arts programme which engaged a variety of clients and resulted in a range of great finished products.
Some time back CFY artist helped out with a series of pieces in Glebe, and when a local set of Glebe hip hop heads scored a gig at Megaphon Studios as part of ‘The Nest’ live music sessions they contacted CFY to supply a set of back drop boards to decorate the show. Painted in about an hour under extreme rain conditions on the studio rooftop the boards came up a treat and provided a cool backdrop to the performance. CFY specialises in painting fast under any conditions, and the company prides itself on the skills and professionalism involved in getting these jobs turned around in minimal time.
