July 19, 2020

#31 Murals & Graffiti: Flint Public Art Project

Flint Public Art Project a non-profit group has helped fuel the creation of over 100 new murals in the City of Flint. This year, the goal for 2020 is to add between 60 to 75 more and artists are needed to make that vision a reality. Local and international muralists have come to Flint and transformed many parts of the city with beautiful and thoughtful murals. This projects has evolved into a activity for those who want to tour the city. Each mural has a computer code enabled to give touring visitors the backstory of the mural, the artist and other information concerning.Sandra Branch who leads this project along with others in the group have not just transformed blight but they have mentored graffiti artists and those charged with vandalism giving them a new and positive avenue of expression. Sandra also has engaged projects in area parks by painting basketball and tennis courts, using area schools to engage in art education as well as cleaning up blight. Sandra Branch is a former police officer, a Flint native, a graduate of Bentley High School, and has bachelor and Masters degrees from the University of Michigan-Flint. Her enthusiasm and dedication to do something positive for the Flint area is remarkable. Listen in and enjoy a fascinating and uplifting story about Flint, Michigan Flint Public Art Project. Facebook Pagehttps://www.facebook.com/flintproject/Map & Locations of Flint Area Murals: https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2018/11/artists_aim_to_enrich_lives_he.htmlNews Articles and Television Coverage:https://www.flintside.com/features/flint-murals-070820.aspxhttps://www.abc12.com/content/news/Flint-Public-Art-Project-looks-to-add-60-murals-artists-encouraged-to-apply-568405901.htmlhttps://www.flintside.com/features/waveofnewmuralspositionFlintasoneofworldstopdestinationsforstreetart.aspx--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/radiofreeflint/message

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Transcript

WEBVTT

00:00:05.759 --> 00:00:10.880
Hey there, this is Arthur Bush speaking, host of Radio Free Flint.

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I'd like to bring some new information to your attention.

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Look at some of the things we've done in the past.

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We'd we'd greatly appreciate it.

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Take care.

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Here's our episode.

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Thanks for listening.

00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:08.480
Oh uh hey, how are you?

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This is Radio Free Flint.

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You're listening to Arthur Bush, and we have a great uh guest for us today, interesting as heck.

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And her name is Sandra Branch.

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She is with the Flint Public Art Project as well as uh Gallery on the go or galleries on the go.

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Uh welcome, Sarah, and thank you for taking the time to explain uh such a wonderful and interesting project that you've undertaken.

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Thank you, Sandra.

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Sandra, I'm sorry.

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That's okay.

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We called me Sandra up until now.

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But that's that's okay.

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They call me Miss Sandra around town.

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Yeah, and I shouldn't have any trouble with your name.

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Um so, in any event, uh, you are involved in the Flint Public Art Project.

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Tell us all about that.

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What is it?

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Well, the Flint Public Art Project is a nonprofit that was started in Flint by Stephen Sachs.

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We took over in 2016.

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Uh Joe Schippani uh was our director, and I was uh on the board of directors.

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Then we uh changed it to a pretty much a public art and mural project to beautify Flint.

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And we brought a hundred murals last year with artists that were local as well as artists, international artists.

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This year, since the COVID is here, we're having a problem trying to negotiate around these circumstances.

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But we have murals going on, it'll be much less this year.

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And if you see any of our muralists out there painting, just blow the horn, take a picture.

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But due to the COVID, we don't want you interacting with them.

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But you'll also see our little murals on the ground.

00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:17.759
Um, we also did something of for the Pride Project, and we put little rainbow hearts all around on the um on businesses that wanted to support the LBGT movement.

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So we did that also.

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But you will still see our murals and gallery on the go is still doing murals with the um aerosol artists that were graffitiing up the town.

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We're trying to change them into muralists and have them beautify the city.

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They also do the boarding project with the city of Flint where we paint the boards that decorate some of the houses in the more depressed areas where we have seven out of ten of the homes are boarded up.

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So that gives people uh neighborhood uh adjustaposition of um beauty to blight.

00:04:02.319 --> 00:04:05.120
So well, that's interesting as heck.

00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:13.759
Uh uh so your project uh it run through the uh the Flint Art project.

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That how is that funded?

00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:17.600
Where do they get their money?

00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:25.519
Well, we take private donations as well as we apply for several different grants throughout uh the area.

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We are now beginning to apply for international grants so we can get more money to pay the artists because they've done some beautiful work, but mostly they've done it for free out of out of the kindness of their arts.

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We pay for their um travel here and we house them ourselves, and then they paint these beautiful murals on, and this pretty much donated time because we don't have the money to fund all the paintings.

00:04:53.839 --> 00:05:10.160
So if somebody somebody in this uh stratosphere here that's listening to this podcast or who happens to stumble on to my many Facebook uh postings, where would I tell direct them to give you money?

00:05:10.720 --> 00:05:16.879
Actually, we have um donations set up through our Facebook and Instagram pages.

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You can go to Flint PublicArt Project and at FlintArtproject.com.

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So you can you can reach us through Instagram at Flint PublicArt Project, or you can go to our website and just look us up on Facebook.

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All right.

00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:42.879
So, you know, I've had a long interest in graffiti, uh, as you could probably imagine.

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Yes, and one of my previous assignments, actually, for a long time, actually, I didn't like graffiti very much.

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I still don't particularly.

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But, you know, years ago we had a guy named uh Robert Katrinik.

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And Robert Katrinik sometimes was known as the Leather Man, actually was known as the Leatherman on the south end of Flint, and he got the notion that he was sick of graffiti too, and so he started painting over all these uh tags, which is street language for graffiti.

00:06:18.959 --> 00:06:21.920
Yeah, that's their started painting up the town.

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I mean, it was an amazing thing what he did to South Saginaw Street.

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Well, yeah, we um kind of stepped in that slot in 2014 and we began to do that.

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I was sitting at a train track and I saw the beautiful tags that they had time to do.

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And I said, Well, that's not like what I see in our city, you know.

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I see a bunch of scribbling, and then I saw some of the same names.

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I said, Well, that must mean they have time to do that.

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And I didn't really get mad about the train wait.

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And so I said, Well, if we could do this to some of the houses on the north side, because I was working at Christ Enrichment Center off of Hamilton at the time, and in that neighborhood, everything was lighted and left open.

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They weren't even boarding the houses up, and the kids were going in there and playing, and it was getting hurt, and it was just ridiculous.

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So I said, What can I do being an artist?

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And I said, I can get these artists that are tagging up the town and try to give them some tips and skills and connections so where they could get paid for doing murals, and now that's what they're doing.

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Most of them are coming to me, getting assignments, and going out in the city and doing work for people and actually getting paid.

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So it has formed quite a few of the uh older ones.

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Now we've got a new crew that I've got to go under bridges and fetch or wait till the courts spit them out to me and get them for some uh community service work.

00:08:00.639 --> 00:08:02.079
That's another thing.

00:08:02.399 --> 00:08:11.920
If you all want something painted and I have some community service artists, we can probably work out a deal.

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So you would also want to contact uh Gallery on the Go Division through Flint Public Art Project to do something like that.

00:08:20.959 --> 00:08:32.480
And if your son or daughter got in trouble tagging, you might want to hook them up with me so we can transform them into muralists.

00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:36.639
So you I'd be all for this idea.

00:08:36.720 --> 00:08:38.639
I've I'm fascinated by it.

00:08:38.799 --> 00:08:50.159
Uh, you know, I have a friend in Seattle, Lori Spieback, who is in is is uh she's um in the in the anti-graffiti business.

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Basically, she does contracts with uh governments and companies that pay her to get rid of the graffiti, so they go out and and tackle the project, and they they're not doing murals, they're just getting rid of it.

00:09:04.559 --> 00:09:08.320
So uh when I heard about this, I was fascinated.

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Interesting because when you get rid of it, they see that as a blank canvas to come back and do more damage.

00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:17.919
Well, there's a battle, no question about it.

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There is a battle.

00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:26.960
Uh the one thing I always wanted to do, but never had time for, I guess maybe my next life I'll have time for it.

00:09:27.120 --> 00:09:30.159
I have time now, actually, is these graffiti.

00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:37.600
I should talk to the judges about this because the graffiti artists essentially telegraph what's going on in the community.

00:09:37.840 --> 00:10:01.519
And where I really started getting interested in it was I had a friend who I won't call her a snitch because that's not really what she was, but she had an interest in graffiti and started documenting it throughout the city, and then started to understand what all that scribbling, as you called it, meant, and it does mean something, and it sends messages.

00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:17.600
And at one point in my career, long time ago, we used that in gang prosecutions where there were murders or you know, serious violent crimes, and we occasionally we introduced it as evidence.

00:10:18.159 --> 00:10:26.240
So these things that you think are scribbles and don't make any sense, they're actually uh yeah, they're actually signs.

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They're actually signs to their their people, and it's uh a voice for the disenfranchised.

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It's definitely a language and they definitely speak out in times of turmoil.

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So they're kind of like unsung artists, yeah.

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But they cause a lot of damage.

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That's a kind of them.

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I educate them on the the possibility that they're preventing jobs from coming here because they're making places uninhabitable for businesses, and it runs their insurance up high, and that's why there are no jobs.

00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:11.519
So the symptom becomes the problem.

00:11:12.320 --> 00:11:23.279
Yeah, and then they also they also telegraph to people in law enforcement, although I don't know that they've even got anybody around today that understands this stuff.

00:11:23.519 --> 00:11:29.200
Uh telegraphs to the people they probably don't want to have telegraph to what exactly they're up to.

00:11:29.360 --> 00:11:37.440
So uh, but what a wonderful idea that you're doing and great, great idea to turn a negative to a positive.

00:11:37.759 --> 00:11:42.000
And I've heard people talk about this, and they were saying that they took a tour or something.

00:11:42.159 --> 00:11:43.039
Was it downtown?

00:11:43.279 --> 00:11:47.440
Yes, we have uh um a virtual tour that you can take.

00:11:47.519 --> 00:12:01.279
There's a map on our Facebook website so you can go and interact with the murals and go and see them in this time of social distancing and take a picture by them and send it to our page.

00:12:01.600 --> 00:12:05.600
Also, we um run contests like that where you can win art.

00:12:05.840 --> 00:12:12.000
Some of the artists that come here leave prints and we sell them for fundraisers.

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And uh you can win t-shirts and prints and stuff like that.

00:12:17.039 --> 00:12:20.720
Do you sell those through the Flint Council, uh Arts Council?

00:12:21.200 --> 00:12:37.440
We sell them usually at Totem Books in our events, but you can always pick up something that we've done, some of our artwork at Totem Books over there on um, I believe it's six, ten Grand Travers across from the White Horse Tavern.

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Um the owner uh is a partner with us, and he supports everything that we do.

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We really appreciate Dean and his efforts to change the environment downtown because we wanted to change the narrative of Flint with our murals.

00:12:57.120 --> 00:13:29.759
And now we have we're adding pixels sticks where you can go up and take the um the barcode or the URC code off of the um mural and it'll link you to the artist and the that did the mural and give you um kind of like an art gallery experience outside because it'll tell you about the artist, it'll tell you about the mural, the interpretation of the art, and it'll also link you to the website of the artist so you can purchase art from the artist directly.

00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:34.159
So we're trying to try to make it a happening.

00:13:34.559 --> 00:13:35.120
For sure.

00:13:35.279 --> 00:13:38.799
Well, you know, a lot of cities uh around the country do this.

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I know down in uh Florida, where I live a good part of the year, in St.

00:13:43.679 --> 00:13:49.279
Pete, they have uh murals and they're always trying to get people to take tours.

00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:53.279
We're linking with the Shine uh festival in St.

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Pete.

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So you will be seeing us down there in your other home because I too have a snowbird uh from Lake Wales, and we're gonna be visiting down there and bringing some of the artists from down there up here, and we're going to be participating down there.

00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:19.279
But this year in October, we're going down for the Shine Festival to see if we can get a partnership going, a sister city.

00:14:19.519 --> 00:14:20.960
Oh, yeah, what a wonderful thing.

00:14:21.039 --> 00:14:25.039
Well, if you need any help, I'll I'll uh run some interference there myself.

00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:29.279
Uh, how do you pick a building to do it?

00:14:29.360 --> 00:14:39.679
You know, I I keep thinking of this poor poor kid in Detroit, who is who is really quite accomplished as an artist nationally and internationally.

00:14:39.919 --> 00:14:42.799
He paints a building and they they arrest him.

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Well, see, we get permission.

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See, I used to be law enforcement art, and I was uh sheriff in New Orleans, so that's why I intervene with the um uh program and the and the courts and do community service work.

00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:05.279
And I also I understand that we need permission.

00:15:05.679 --> 00:15:15.200
So we actually put out um applications for people to get walls or give donate a wall, and then we put that on our list.

00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:27.440
We always have permission, so and we have so many people we we run out of artists to do the walls because so many people want their buildings painted for free, you know.

00:15:27.759 --> 00:15:42.000
Well, tell us a few of the few of the buildings that people might, you know, familiar landmarks that people might uh well if you go up Brush Alley downtown, you could see several murals up brush alley.

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And go all the start down at um first street and go all the way up to the end of Brush Alley, and you'll see one, two, three, four.

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You got about six murals over there.

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Then on Garland Street, we have um about four or five.

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So, and then when you go down university, you'll have about six.

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And Grand Traverse from downtown up through where the school of um the International Academy is.

00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:31.840
We have several going that way and then up the street to the International Academy, and then that takes you down where um Winslow had done Art Winslow had done the murals, so that puts you down to Saginaw Street and that carries the murals out.

00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:36.080
We did a few on Saginaw Street, we did one at Moffat Foods.

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Um Factory 2 has a mural.

00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:45.200
Hurley Hospital over by the Eastern Michigan Food Bank.

00:16:45.279 --> 00:16:48.080
There's murals, and oh, there's so many.

00:16:48.159 --> 00:16:49.759
There's a hundred of them.

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So actually, there's about 175 that we did in the last two years.

00:16:54.960 --> 00:16:58.480
Are there uh what do they use as a medium?

00:16:58.960 --> 00:17:01.919
We use exterior house paint.

00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:07.200
So do you you get donations for for for this?

00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:11.680
Or no, we take the money from the grant and we spend it on paint.

00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:16.079
That's the majority of the money goes towards paint.

00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:20.880
We just recently acquired a sponsor with the aerosol paint.

00:17:21.119 --> 00:17:29.119
We also go over it with aerosol paint for the details, and we we're with Cobra with a K, Cobra paints.

00:17:29.279 --> 00:17:38.160
We will be a distributor, and that's a specific special aerosol for graffiti artists or aerosol artists.

00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:48.720
Yes, that's it's a specialty because at a low pressure you can make fine lines.

00:17:49.200 --> 00:17:54.000
And with uh high pressure, you can you can make large, big lines.

00:17:54.400 --> 00:17:58.720
It depends on the airflow from the can going out the caps.

00:17:58.799 --> 00:18:02.559
The caps are used like brushes for the brush strokes.

00:18:02.640 --> 00:18:09.920
So they they have quite an interesting array of tools to uh make those murals.

00:18:10.160 --> 00:18:17.359
It's yeah, it's not as easy as just taking a can of uh rust soleum and going out there and going wild.

00:18:17.599 --> 00:18:19.119
Yeah, I've seen some of that artwork.

00:18:19.200 --> 00:18:19.839
It's not so good.

00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:37.039
I remember one time they they painted up uh Flushing Park with a bunch of uh offensive, racially uh offensive uh uh tags all over the park, and eventually it turned out to be a bunch of uh it was hate stuff, that's what it was.

00:18:37.279 --> 00:18:43.920
Yeah, it was uh and it was intimidating to uh to a family that was out there.

00:18:44.079 --> 00:18:51.680
They had a family reunion out there and they were painting up the pavilions, and uh eventually uh Judge Netta could have that case and they put them in jail.

00:18:52.240 --> 00:18:56.079
Yeah, well sometimes that's that is the outcome.

00:18:56.240 --> 00:19:04.240
It depends on if they're able to trans be transformed or or be reformed.

00:19:04.480 --> 00:19:07.599
If they are not, then that's their fate.

00:19:07.839 --> 00:19:15.039
And I kind of tell them this is this is what happens when you criminally damage someone's property.

00:19:15.279 --> 00:19:25.359
So when they get with me, I kind of give them an education as well as teach them a skill set that they can use to make money with.

00:19:25.519 --> 00:19:29.200
So you're doing mentoring as well with this project.

00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:29.839
Right.

00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:36.079
I've been mentoring, I'm I'm kind of known as the mom of graffiti artists.

00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:39.759
They know me and I don't know a lot of them, but they find me.

00:19:39.839 --> 00:19:43.680
And when I do find them, then I tell them, look, it's not fun and games.

00:19:43.759 --> 00:19:47.200
If you're gonna work with me, you can't spray paint up the town.

00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:58.799
And I learn their tags and I tell them I'll stand up for them in court if it's something that they had done, but if something that they're doing currently, no, I'm not gonna stand up for them.

00:20:00.799 --> 00:20:02.400
Well you're my hero.

00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:04.400
You're my hero.

00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:08.000
Where were you in the where were you in the last decade?

00:20:08.720 --> 00:20:09.359
Yeah, well.

00:20:12.160 --> 00:20:13.519
Oh my gosh.

00:20:13.759 --> 00:20:19.759
And uh so these artists are I mean the I I uh aerosol.

00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:20.640
What did you call it?

00:20:20.880 --> 00:20:21.839
Aerosol artists.

00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:23.599
Yeah, aerosol artists.

00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:25.599
That's different than graffiti.

00:20:27.119 --> 00:20:32.160
It gives an or of respect to to this to this activity.

00:20:32.559 --> 00:20:59.759
Now, not very I was gonna say that the uh when these guys are going out, now one of the things I learned from being the prosecuting attorney in Flint, Michigan, for so many years is that you can you can cover it up, but Leatherman got respect from those on the street, they didn't come and mess up his stuff, they uh they decided to leave his stuff alone for the most part.

00:21:00.240 --> 00:21:08.160
But each other rivals they tag on top of each other, and God knows how much paint they've used.

00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:09.440
That's a nuts.

00:21:10.079 --> 00:21:12.079
So, yeah, it is, it's a war.

00:21:12.720 --> 00:21:24.319
But that's right, with your people that are going out and doing this uh work with and some of it's absolutely gorgeous and and uh creative and magnificent.

00:21:25.359 --> 00:21:25.759
Thank you.

00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:27.440
Do they come out and wreck it?

00:21:27.519 --> 00:21:28.880
I mean, do they come out and tag out?

00:21:29.279 --> 00:21:43.359
Oh no, not often do they come out and go over the other artists' work because we introduce them to the artist, and there becomes a mutual respect, and they learn and get techniques from these artists.

00:21:43.599 --> 00:21:55.200
So it's a matter of actually communication and respect, and and uh oh, we lost her.

00:21:56.880 --> 00:22:01.039
Oh no, we have lost our our guest.

00:22:02.480 --> 00:22:07.599
So, in that case, we've lost a connection that's modern technology.

00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:11.279
We'll have to take a break here, and we'll be right back.

00:22:11.519 --> 00:22:12.880
Sorry about that.

00:22:14.240 --> 00:22:15.440
Okay, we're back.

00:22:15.519 --> 00:22:16.640
We have her back.

00:22:17.039 --> 00:22:28.799
I've learned not to get excited about this because I've had power outages uh living out here in the middle of the state forest, and uh so occasionally we have that as a problem.

00:22:28.880 --> 00:22:29.759
No, I forgot.

00:22:29.839 --> 00:22:35.519
Oh, yeah, we're talking about respect and artists coming back and not tagging over your beautiful work.

00:22:36.319 --> 00:23:00.319
And I take it so it's because we actually um have taken the time to get to know them, to see what they're talking about, what they're doing, and we give them a um an outlet to to actually express their art and to actually think it out and put something out there that's that's a well-thought out piece.

00:23:00.640 --> 00:23:05.599
So, what's the subject of these various murals?

00:23:05.759 --> 00:23:08.240
Is there any common themes involved in any of this?

00:23:08.319 --> 00:23:18.240
Or do you tell them hey, hey, this is what we want to have flowers, or we want to have uh you know, some kind of mess social justice message or something of the sort?

00:23:19.119 --> 00:23:26.000
Actually, it was to change the narrative of Flint and to include everyone.

00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:57.440
Um, in certain areas we went, like the um Hispanic Tech Center, Latinx, we went over there and we painted um things that were culturally relevant in that area, and so we give each area their due respect and we ask them what they want to see in their neighborhood, and we kind of do that, so it's a it's a matter of community involvement, they're all community art projects, so bring in the voice of the community.

00:23:57.759 --> 00:24:12.000
You're asking the community or neighbors or businesses what they like to see, and then they kind of they kind of reach agreement with the artists, yes, yes, and they're all all about Flint.

00:24:12.480 --> 00:24:32.319
Even some of the uh individuals that they paint are Flint residents, like the two girls, the love sisters over at the um Buckham Alley, those are Flint residents, and they love the festivals down there in downtown, and so we made them part of the scene.

00:24:32.640 --> 00:24:43.599
Um but it's all about inclusion, family, um, community, togetherness, harmony, peace.

00:24:44.079 --> 00:24:46.559
That's usually what the message is.

00:24:47.680 --> 00:24:48.319
Beauty.

00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:53.759
You're a you're you're a you're a saint uh to bring this to our town.

00:24:53.839 --> 00:25:05.440
And and I think people, if they step back and see what you're doing and follow you around for a couple weeks, we might be able to get, we might get to be able to take this to Grand Blanc and other places.

00:25:05.599 --> 00:25:08.400
Uh you don't just stay in the city, do you?

00:25:08.720 --> 00:25:21.119
No, we get requests all over, so that's why we're reaching out to other uh sister cities so we can help them and show them how to conduct a community art project.

00:25:21.279 --> 00:25:33.839
It's also we did it in depressed areas that were little micro um business areas, and paint just actually revived the area.

00:25:33.920 --> 00:25:48.400
It's one way to do like a remodel without investing much money, it's just paint, and it brings people to their stores and their business areas and makes it a lot more accommodating and friendly.

00:25:48.640 --> 00:25:51.039
So, have you taken it to the out county in Genesee?

00:25:51.440 --> 00:25:56.640
I mean, I'm talking about places like Grand Blanc or Flushing or Davison or Mount Morris.

00:25:57.359 --> 00:26:00.559
Uh have you been working in any of those areas?

00:26:00.960 --> 00:26:07.599
No, we mostly concentrate on Genesee County because it is Flint public art project.

00:26:07.759 --> 00:26:11.440
So we want to fix our own backyard before we venture out.

00:26:11.920 --> 00:26:15.039
So you know, I you might have misunderstood my question.

00:26:15.119 --> 00:26:25.359
Uh what I'm asking is do you just do the city of Flint or do you have murals outside the city itself?

00:26:26.400 --> 00:26:32.400
Okay, as the Flint Public Art Project, we don't have too many that have gone outside of Flint yet.

00:26:32.559 --> 00:26:32.640
Okay.

00:26:33.119 --> 00:26:34.640
But our artists do.

00:26:34.799 --> 00:26:44.640
Our artists get jobs in La Pier, and a lot of um work has been done in Fenton and Holly by uh scraps, Kevin Burdick.

00:26:44.960 --> 00:27:01.039
So he's gotten a lot of jobs just from working with us, and that's another way that the artists can get employment, is they see that the work that they've done for us and they get commissioned work all over the place.

00:27:01.359 --> 00:27:07.279
And he's gone up as far as Traverse City with um some of his work.

00:27:07.519 --> 00:27:11.119
So he's he's quite well known through the state now.

00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:12.400
Good for you.

00:27:12.640 --> 00:27:21.599
You know, the most unusual public art, which I think we lack in and uh at least my time when I was a county commissioner way back in the 80s.

00:27:21.680 --> 00:27:30.799
I was really in, I really wanted to see more public art downtown, especially uh where there was some of the development was going on.

00:27:31.279 --> 00:27:41.359
And uh, but uh my son lives in Seattle, and uh they have this, you know, in the old part of Seattle, they have this one alley.

00:27:41.519 --> 00:27:48.000
It reminded me a little bit about of uh brush alley, and they call it the gum wall.

00:27:48.240 --> 00:27:52.559
Yes, and the gum wall, everybody sticks their gum.

00:27:52.640 --> 00:27:55.839
That's kind of gross, but it's very interesting.

00:27:56.640 --> 00:28:13.039
Well, it is interesting, and occasionally they clean it, occasionally they clean it and they start all over, but everybody takes their gum and puts it up on this brick wall, they had to seal the wall, but it's all it's it's it's a gorgeous.

00:28:13.119 --> 00:28:21.680
Maybe I'll post a picture with your podcast of the gum wall in Seattle, but it has all these uh different colors, right?

00:28:22.079 --> 00:28:24.319
It's a rainbow of gum.

00:28:24.559 --> 00:28:25.680
It is indeed.

00:28:25.839 --> 00:28:35.440
And they uh I know my son, you know, he has a lot of guests from out of town come to visit him, and and they all want to see the gum wall, so it's it's well known.

00:28:35.599 --> 00:28:41.039
So so do you have um do you have a favorite of all the murals?

00:28:41.599 --> 00:28:42.319
Oh my gosh.

00:28:43.440 --> 00:28:45.039
Which one of your children do you like best?

00:28:45.119 --> 00:29:01.920
But I mean, you know, yeah, I know there's so many, but I happen to love Emily Ding's mural on Garland Street where the birds are flying and the girl is sitting there looking serene and it's rainbow colored in the background.

00:29:02.079 --> 00:29:06.319
I love that one, I just love it, it just brings me joy.

00:29:06.640 --> 00:29:09.440
But that's that's what we want to do.

00:29:09.599 --> 00:29:15.039
We want to bring people joy and change the narrative of Flint.

00:29:15.759 --> 00:29:19.119
Forget all the negative, let's make it something positive.

00:29:19.359 --> 00:29:19.680
For sure.

00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:26.799
And we also uh love to use the um artists coming out of Mott and U of M Flint.

00:29:27.119 --> 00:29:34.240
We fit featured a few of those, um, like Isaiah Um Baltimore.

00:29:34.480 --> 00:29:42.400
I can't, I can't I'm messing up his name, but he came out of Flint and he did the girl, the lady with the pearl earrings.

00:29:42.640 --> 00:29:53.759
That was one of my favorites, but it was gone over by another artist with uh a tribute to a memorial, a memoriam for someone that had died.

00:29:54.000 --> 00:30:10.400
But he's an awesome artist, and he had just graduated last year, and so we're making a um kind of a place for those artists to grow from so they can come from Flint and actually get international press.

00:30:10.559 --> 00:30:21.680
We had write-ups in Paris magazines, um we're in Brazil publications and in Acapuco and and Peru.

00:30:21.839 --> 00:30:27.839
We've had artists from all over the world, so a lot of the press comes from all over the world.

00:30:33.119 --> 00:30:35.759
Finally, I am so proud.

00:30:37.680 --> 00:30:39.519
What an accomplishment!

00:30:39.839 --> 00:30:42.240
Well, we we have a history now.

00:30:42.480 --> 00:30:47.200
Now you uh you also paint up basketball courts, I'm told.

00:30:47.519 --> 00:30:50.640
Yes, that's a gallery on the go project.

00:30:50.799 --> 00:31:02.400
Um, we are working with Keith Genesee Parks Beautiful, and uh we've done murals in Cook Park and Dewey Park, and we have some other parks on our list.

00:31:02.640 --> 00:31:20.559
We're going to do a um a human chess board in one of the parks, and we're also going to do some hopscotch for the kids and little games that we can paint on the asphalt, on the tennis courts that aren't being used as tennis courts right now.

00:31:20.720 --> 00:31:28.960
So we can do stuff like that on the edges, and and the kids love it, and they love playing on that type of um court.

00:31:29.119 --> 00:31:30.240
It's over.

00:31:30.799 --> 00:31:31.920
I'll give you a tip.

00:31:32.079 --> 00:31:34.480
Go over to Lakeside there, Fred Lake.

00:31:34.559 --> 00:31:36.720
You know, they've got some courts and stuff there.

00:31:36.880 --> 00:31:41.759
They they could use it, and it might discourage people from busting up bottles on them courts.

00:31:42.000 --> 00:31:43.119
Yeah, that's what I said.

00:31:43.200 --> 00:31:46.319
They have a lot of problems with uh vandalism over there.

00:31:46.400 --> 00:31:48.240
Maybe that might soften them up.

00:31:48.480 --> 00:31:49.680
It's an old story.

00:31:49.920 --> 00:32:00.319
Uh so uh well, I'm I'm speechless because you you have you have taken me to a new level here.

00:32:00.480 --> 00:32:06.640
Uh now, do you have projects that are group projects or are they just all done by a single artist?

00:32:07.119 --> 00:32:18.880
No, a lot of them are group projects, and gallery on the go always uses uh local artists in conjunction with international artists on our projects.

00:32:19.039 --> 00:32:22.480
So we we're kind of getting the best that they have to offer.

00:32:22.720 --> 00:32:27.759
And we keep them busy, too busy to go spray paint up the walls.

00:32:28.079 --> 00:32:31.039
Yeah, and I'm sure the police, I'm sure the police appreciate that.

00:32:31.680 --> 00:32:33.440
Oh, the police are helping us.

00:32:33.599 --> 00:32:39.839
The police actually guard them when they're painting and and and talk to them and bring them water.

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.799
They they have a new relationship with the police that they never had before.

00:32:45.119 --> 00:32:46.960
Oh, that's a beautiful thing there.

00:32:47.119 --> 00:32:52.160
Now, has the has the mayor and the city council have they been supportive of you?

00:32:52.720 --> 00:32:54.240
Yes, we've gotten awards.

00:32:54.400 --> 00:33:03.759
Galley on the go has gotten awards from city council back in 2015 for the Obama Little Miss Flint Mural.

00:33:04.000 --> 00:33:08.480
And um, we have been recognized uh by the Chamber of Commerce.

00:33:08.640 --> 00:33:12.720
We got an arts achievement nomination last year.

00:33:12.960 --> 00:33:17.039
So we we are getting recognition in our hometown.

00:33:17.359 --> 00:33:29.759
Well, good for you, and I have to say another one of my favorite murals is the tallest one in Flint and Brush Alley, done by Scraps, one of my favorite artists, Kevin Burdick.

00:33:30.160 --> 00:33:38.000
And it's six stories tall, and it's a crane in a sunset on a um a beautiful um river scene.

00:33:38.240 --> 00:33:39.440
It's really gorgeous.

00:33:39.599 --> 00:33:40.720
You gotta see that one art.

00:33:41.200 --> 00:33:41.759
Yeah.

00:33:42.000 --> 00:33:44.480
Now you have quite a neglect background.

00:33:44.559 --> 00:33:47.519
You you've been in law enforcement, you're an artist.

00:33:47.599 --> 00:33:51.200
I had a there were too many, too many different things.

00:33:51.359 --> 00:33:56.480
I didn't write them all down, but uh tell us a little bit about yourself before we sign off here.

00:33:56.559 --> 00:34:00.880
It would be neglectful of me not to let people know who you are.

00:34:01.359 --> 00:34:16.639
I'm a proud graduate of Bentley High School, and from there I went to U of M Flint when it was just the crop building and a few uh mop buildings downtown, and I majored in criminal justice.

00:34:16.880 --> 00:35:03.199
I went down to New Orleans and became a sheriff, uh deputy sheriff, and then went through the academy and became um indigent release counselor and syntap was the name of it, and I worked under Major Hunter, and I was a liaison to the magistrate court, the DA's office in the sheriff's department, and I went to every session of magistrate court in my 12-hour shift and and recommended people for a low or free bail if they uh qualified for the program, and then I would set them up with community service, and I noticed the frequency of the black youth and their recidivism.

00:35:03.360 --> 00:35:18.639
And some of them had a um arrest record as long as they were tall by the time they were 17, from juvenile offenses all the way up through adult offenses when they started charging them as an adult at the age of 16.

00:35:18.800 --> 00:35:20.719
And I said, This is crazy.

00:35:20.960 --> 00:35:27.039
They didn't even qualify for the program, and they weren't even old enough to go vote or fight in a war.

00:35:27.440 --> 00:35:34.800
And I thought, well, there's gotta be something we can do to stop these kids before they get to this point.

00:35:35.440 --> 00:35:50.239
And I decided to um go back to school and major in art and try to reach these kids through art at a different level, and that's kind of this my story.

00:35:50.960 --> 00:35:52.320
That's quite a story.

00:35:53.119 --> 00:35:55.280
Are you uh are you a Flint native?

00:35:55.840 --> 00:36:04.000
Yes, I was born in Flint and off of uh Church Street, church in Grand Travers.

00:36:04.079 --> 00:36:08.559
As a matter of fact, I lived in that area where the uh Red Cross building is.

00:36:08.800 --> 00:36:14.800
Well, there's a beautiful house in that neighborhood that went down for the count, but they still have now.

00:36:14.880 --> 00:36:17.119
Uh what high school did you go to, Southwestern?

00:36:18.000 --> 00:36:27.440
Well, I would have gone to Southwestern, but we moved out to Burton, and I live one one street from uh Home Depot.

00:36:27.760 --> 00:36:31.519
So we were close to Flint, but we were still in Burton.

00:36:31.599 --> 00:36:35.679
So I ended up going to the Bentley School System and graduated from there.

00:36:35.920 --> 00:36:37.840
But I love my bulldogs.

00:36:38.159 --> 00:36:38.800
Yeah.

00:36:39.440 --> 00:36:45.920
Well, I can see the people of Flint love you because you're uh doing some amazing things for the town.

00:36:46.159 --> 00:36:47.840
I appreciate the time uh here.

00:36:48.079 --> 00:36:49.119
Uh thank you.

00:36:49.440 --> 00:36:53.280
I I love Flint and I really support everything you're doing, Art.

00:36:53.360 --> 00:37:05.679
I appreciate you uh even giving back now after you've served us for so long in uh the county and the city, and now you're giving back uh to the community.

00:37:05.840 --> 00:37:07.199
I I appreciate you.

00:37:07.519 --> 00:37:08.960
Well, thank you very much.

00:37:09.119 --> 00:37:15.760
Uh it's it's been a lot of fun to do this uh project, uh Radio Free Flint, and I hope to get more involved.

00:37:15.840 --> 00:37:17.599
But I I do want to pass one thing along.

00:37:17.679 --> 00:37:25.440
If you need some help uh with grants or whatever, uh I'm happy to give you a little bit of advice here and there.

00:37:25.760 --> 00:37:30.400
And I know I know a few people out there I could shame into helping you.

00:37:30.639 --> 00:37:32.239
And uh keep up the good work.

00:37:32.400 --> 00:37:33.760
One of them would be Stephen Hetty.

00:37:33.920 --> 00:37:36.000
I'd get him involved as soon as I could.

00:37:36.239 --> 00:37:37.280
Uh all right.

00:37:37.599 --> 00:37:39.119
Hetty did paint up the town.

00:37:39.199 --> 00:37:43.039
Remember, we had paint up the town, and he led that effort for many years.

00:37:43.280 --> 00:37:48.880
And uh he knows how to turn old paint into uh into good paint.

00:37:49.519 --> 00:37:51.039
Now that's a good trick.

00:37:51.519 --> 00:37:57.360
I don't know what his technique is, but uh anyway, Stephen Hetty, my hats off to you, and uh I'll start painting.

00:37:57.440 --> 00:38:07.679
My nephew works or uh my my cousins uh works for Stephen and does all the historic, historic uh uh Mr.

00:38:07.760 --> 00:38:08.159
Hetty.

00:38:08.559 --> 00:38:14.000
Um, if it's the same one that was down at Flint Job Court, he he's a legend.

00:38:14.480 --> 00:38:23.280
He is a legend, and uh and Joey Katrinick, who is a relation to the leather man, was his uncle, he has taken up the tradition in a different way.

00:38:23.440 --> 00:38:39.360
If you walk in the Genesee County Courthouse, you'll see all the restoration of all the gold leaf and all that, and throughout the murals, and the and they re um, you know, they came in and uh fixed all that back up to how it used to be when they they built the courthouse.

00:38:39.519 --> 00:38:45.199
Anyway, I've got the run and thank you again for joining us and uh keep in touch.

00:38:45.519 --> 00:38:46.480
Thank you, thank you.

00:38:46.639 --> 00:38:47.280
I will.

00:38:47.519 --> 00:38:47.760
All right.

00:38:49.760 --> 00:38:50.639
Okay, very good.

00:38:50.800 --> 00:38:55.760
Now, uh one thing I want to say to you guys, I'm gonna put in a plug for this group.

00:38:55.920 --> 00:39:11.360
If you got a couple extra quarters to send along, send it to Sandra Branch at Flint Public Art Project or Gallery on the go and uh look that up on Facebook or on the internet and just Google it.

00:39:11.599 --> 00:39:17.679
And if you have any trouble finding her, get me a call here at Radio Free Flint, and we'll be happy to help you.

00:39:17.760 --> 00:39:25.199
And if you like our show and our programming, you can like us wherever you may or rate us because I haven't had too many people rate us yet.

00:39:25.440 --> 00:39:27.920
And uh, we appreciate all of your support.

00:39:28.159 --> 00:39:30.719
Thank you, God bless, and we're over and out.

00:39:30.800 --> 00:39:31.280
Thank you.

00:39:31.440 --> 00:39:31.920
Bye bye.

00:39:32.159 --> 00:39:33.119
Thank you, bye.

#31 Murals & Graffiti: Flint Public Art Project

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