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PROPOSAL:
The Bayshore Community Police Centre is in partnership
with Hydro One and artists to reduce the graffiti found on the transformer
station in Lincoln Heights located at 1290 Richmond Rd.
HISTORY:
It is known that graffitists attack surfaces that are
unattractive to them and that offer some visibility for their “art”. The only proven way to reduce graffiti is to
clean it up within a 24 hour period so that the graffitists understand that
their “art” is not welcomed. Also,
murals or artistic projects are respected by vandals, thus reducing graffiti on
those walls. It is proven that a
combination of cleaning up the vandalism and putting up some form of artistic
design will help to reduce graffiti found on this particular building.
ACTION:
We have made a proposal to have Hydro One clean up the
graffiti found on the transformer station located at 1290 Richmond rd and have
artists decorate the walls of the building with the owner’s approval of the
design. On May 2007, Hydro One accepted our proposal.
The project would begin in the late summer of 2007
with the clean up of the building by Hydro One. The arts’ students from Canterbury, Lasalle high school and the
youths from Pinecrest-Queensway Community Center have been solicited to submit
artistic projects on a specific theme.
As of July 24th, 2007, strong cooperation
with the community partners (Boys and Girls Club, Pinecrest-Queensway Health
and Community Center) in the neighbourhood have asked for the Ottawa School of
Arts help for supplies. The community
centers will also ask an arts specialist to help coordinate the mural project.
The deadline for confirmation is August 15, 2007.
On July 31st, 2007, it was established that
each wall of the transformer would be allocated to the youth from communities
of Britannia Woods, Foster Farm and Michele Heights. The fourth wall will be
collaborative work from all of the youths of those 3 areas. Their theme will be
on Crime Prevention and the importance of Neighourhood Watch.
Hydro One has agreed to clean up the transformer
station once we have found a group of youths willing to submit a draft for the
mural.
During the winter of 2007, it was determined that the
Ottawa School of Art was not able to commit to the project.
In February 2008, an ad on Kajiji.com was placed in
search for an artist that would help facilitate our quest to complete this
mural project.
On April 11, 2008 the following response was made:
Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2008
05:22:17 -0700
From: post@kijiji.ca
To: bayshorepolicecentre@hotmail.com
Subject: Reply to your "Looking for artists" Ad on Kijiji
You've received the following reply to your "Looking for artists" Ad on Kijiji:
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Since this response, Ms. Pittarelli (Bayshore
Volunteer) has been in contact with the artist.
The following email was sent:
HiClaudia,
First I'd just like to thank you for including me in the mural
project. I think its good for the lincoln fields area and will spruce up
the neighbourhood. I'd like to know if it is myself and fellow graffiti
artists that are to paint the mural or is there going to be a group of kids
helping us out?
If
you want us to cover the wall with a mural I can sell my paint at
cost ($7 a can) I was talking to my distributor about it the other day.
I’m only suggesting Belton Molotow because it will last a really long time and
its a high grade artists paint. Anything that you’ll find around the city
in Home Depot, Walmart, etc. is pretty watered down paint and is pretty
finnecky to use for a nice mural.
I’m
thinking there’s room for about 6 pieces on the one side, and with the
background paints Id say you’d need about 5 cans per piece, and probably about
3-5 buckets of primer, depending on the theme of the mural. The only
other supplies you'd need are a few rolling trays, rollers, gloves & spray
paint safe masks if the kids are going to be painting as well, most of the
artists I know already have a NIOSH approved mask for spray painting.
Also a ladder would be a plus. :)
As
for staff its all depending on what you guys want to do with the
location. I wasn't sure if you wanted to turn the event into some kind of
BBQ paint day kind of thing, or if you just wanted us to go in there and paint
a nice community oriented mural. Our time and labour is free as
long as we have a heavy hand in the execution of the mural itself.
I was thinking of maybe an Ottawa police
theme (My dads actually been a London Police officer for over 30
years, so I'd love to do a police mural) or Canadian theme as theres lots
of tourists coming through the area via the parkway. Ive actually been
persuing this wall for a few years trying to get permission for a mural, so I
would really like to put my best effort forth to make this happen.
Please email me back and let me know your thoughts on what information
I've given and we'll talk soon!
Takecare,
MikeMesa
Keepsix
Art & Design
(613)878-5117
On Wednesday, April 30, Cst. Keen spoke with Mr. Mesa
regarding Police Week. He agreed to attend Foster Farm Youth Drop in on
Tuesday, May 13th to “kick off” the Grafitti Mural Project. Mr. Mesa
will be doing a presentation on the differences between “Taggers” and
Muralists. Also, he will begin to facilitate ideas for the Hydro Transformer
Mural.
This kick off will commence at 7pm and conclude at 9pm
at Foster Farm Family House (334-1085 Ramsay).
Respectfully Submitted:
Claudia Pittarelli-Volunteer Bayshore Community Police
Center (Project Manager)
Constable Maria Keen-Bayshore Community Police Centre
Officer
