Painting The Town In Graffiti

WASHINGTON, DC (WUSA)--Four teenaged boys paint graffiti on a restaurant building on U Street, NW in broad daylight. But this time, the boys won't be charged for vandalism. Instead, the graffiti is supported by the DC government.

"I want to show my mother and my friends and my brother," says 15-year-old Anthony Martin as he smiles broadly by the side wall of restaurant Lahore Kabob. The graffiti is a giant mural with a tree as its centerpiece. The artwork will be Martin's first experience as a graffiti artist.

The DC Commission on Arts and Humanities (DCCAH), DC Mayor Adrian Fenty's Office and the Department of Public Works (DPW) generated a summer-long initiative to combat illegal graffiti in the District. In addition, the local youth group Midnight Forum provides training on graffiti techniques.

Until August 20, area teenagers are painting mural-sized pieces of graffiti art under project MuralsDC. Twelve mural designs have been approved for areas considered graffiti hot spots.

"There's a huge illegal graffiti problem in the city. The city spends over a million dollars each year in [cleaning up] illegal graffiti," says DCCAH interim director Lionell Thomas.

Thomas adds, MuralsDC provides an opportunity for teens to create graffiti art legally and without creating an eyesore.

"Now it's a beautiful mural that the kids are taking part in it, communities [have taken] part, the businesses [have taken]part. It's a win-win situation for everyone," says Thomas. He says DC Ward One Councilmember Jim Graham allocated $100,000 to DPW for the graffiti initiative.

On U Street, a total of eight youths have been picking up the paintbrushes and gently applying blue, brown and green acrylic colors to the side wall. The word "Evolution," in a graffiti-styled font, runs across the length of the wall. "Evolution" represents the changes undergone by U Street and the Columbia Heights neighborhood.

"There is more business. U Street is changing. So we're actually a part of the change by doing this mural right here. So it's evolution of U Street." says Chinedu Felix Osuchukwu, the day-to-day operations artist on site.

Before beginning the mural, the eight youths aged 14 to 18 attended a graffiti art class taught by Osuchukwu at the Art and Media House (AMH) of the Latin American Youth Center in Washington.

"Graffiti is an artform like any artform. And this is giving them the time to do it and do it right and really learn about the history of graffiti," says Maria Mall of AMH.

Osuchukwu says the project has kept the kids out of trouble in the summer. He notices their maturity and growth.

Osuchukwu and artist Luis Peralta supervise and help paint the "Evolution" mural.

Peralta contributes his talents in making the mural consistent with the graffiti art style.

Peralta's personal story reflects the change in graffiti art. He says he had been a graffiti artist since he was 13 years old. Initially, he sprayed his work on public buildings and train cars illegally. But he wanted more-- to be recognized legally for his graffiti talents.

"If you want to be known, you want to be known for something good. Even though at the time, it was illegal, I still wanted the quality of the work to be good," Peralta says.

At 16 Peralta was sponsored by a fitness company to produce a mural. Now, he teaches art classes in DC high schools and is the exhibition designer at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center.

The evolution of the graffiti artist from vandalist to paid artist is something Peralta says gives aspiring graffiti artists a leg up from what he had to experience.

"There is a lot of graffiti artists that make a living out of doing graffiti...We are trying to make these kids change their mind set [to] go [away] from illegal things. They don't have to make the same mistakes I made. They can start ahead of what I started," Peralta says.

Mayor Fenty's Summer Youth Employment Program pays students minimum wage for mural painting a maximum of 20 hours per week.