Guerilla ART

[Live] LIFE!

What is guerilla art?
Guerilla art is the surreptitious and often sudden, creation or installation of unauthorized public art, often with the purpose of making an overt political statement.  The term is often used interchangeably with “street art.”  It is a fun and insidious way of sharing your vision with the world. 
Guerilla art consists of reclaiming space and changing its dynamics with images or counter images, art that has been created anonymously and left on walls or in places such as public squares. 
It can be done for a variety of reasons, to make a statement, to share your ideas, or just for fun!

In my attempt for expressing gueirlla art in my community I wanted to make a statement and send a spontaneous message through the simple use of chalk and your very own street as your template!

OBJECTIVE: To send a meaningful and spontaneous message with the simple use of chalk

MISSION: try to evacuate and/or close down my entire street to perform the greatest shocking art ever…

IF that fails… which it did…

Plan B: Be Simple. Head out to the streets at night where not many people are out.


THE PROCESS:

What our message looked like on my very own street!

The sidewalks are also chalked with the message as well.

 
I had a lot of fun doing this blog, I loved it because it was spontaneous, it was related to art and school and most importantly I could hang with my friends while doing school work.  To me, it didn’t feel like schoolwork, just felt like a regular day just being silly with your friends.

For my guerilla art, our message was “ Live life”.  I think people are so focused with what they gotta get done that day when they forget to realize and look at the beauty of life.  Again people these days don’t stop to look at the beauty of life, and to live and cherish each day like it’s a new day, rather than looking at it as a chore or a task to complete.  So I thought in order to get my spontaneous message across I wanted people to see this message during rush hour, where everyone is rushing to work.

I decided to place my guerilla art in the middle of the street and on parts of the side walk because my street is always so busy and packed in the morning since my street is literally right next the subway.  Overtime, my street has been considered a giant waiting zone.  It’s a little annoying to come home to a bunch of cars waiting outside your home, but for this project… it really benefited me. More crowd the better!

So we went out at night, and drew our message along my street and on the sidewalks!

THE AFTERMATH:
I probably should have checked the forecast of the day after we had completed the art, because the next day it was raining. Ofcourse, my artwork had semi washed away, it was surprisingly still visible.  I manage to have woken up, when it had stopped raining and the sun had come out. It was about 7am, so there wasn't as many people out as i had expected, but i did catch one gentleman on his way to work and that was making a u-turn on my street, but had stopped infront of the message to read it

1st reaction: Gentleman walking and notices chalk along sidewalk

He then turns around to view the big message written on the road.

2nd reaction: Car making a U-turn on my street, and decides to stop in front of the message to look at it.

There was also a 3rd reaction, which was from a mother and a child. The child loved the spontaneous message, and was so intrigued by the side walk chalk that the child was playing with it (jumping on the giant message).  Unfortuanlty, i wasn't fast enough to capture this moment, but it was really great to see the reaction of the child, and how happy the child was!

As an Early Childhood Educator...
Create an art activity that focuses on freedom of expression.  Allow children to express what their feeling through art, using whatever they can get their hands on. After their products are complete have them go around the neighborhood and/or playground and post their artwork where ever they feel.  Its fun, spontaneous and gives children the opportunity to explore and have fun with their creations!

Art Word of the Week: Line

A mark made on something that is visible to the eye. It can be illustrated through crayons, paint, pencil or chalk (which I used in my spontaneous message).  It can have their own dimensions such as size, direction, length, width, and weight (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009).

The art word of the week can be seen in the way i formulated the letters into block letters, to make it more three-dimensional. 

 

References

Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J. E. (2009). Art & Creative Development for Young Children (6 ed.). Belmont, CA: Delmar.