5280 Magazine – August 2019

AUGUST 2019 | 5280 | (^101)
WORDPLAY
Cori Anderson—founder of the Street Art Network,
which connects clients in need of murals with artists—
helped us def ine terms you might hear at CRUSH Walls.
When Anna Charney returned to
her native Denver in the spring of
2016 after getting her BFA from
the Art Institute of Chicago, she
contacted CRUSH organizers
simply to volunteer to work that
year’s event. In response, they
gave her a wall. “I’ll be forever
grateful for the risk they took on
me,” Charney says. “I was pretty
forward about the fact that I’d
never used spray paint before or
worked large,
or outdoors—
all pretty daunt-
ing tasks.”
After
CRUSH, she
reached out to
festival founder
Robin Munro/
Dread to offer her help with
future projects; he gave her an
apprenticeship. Although the
skills and connections Charney
gained were instrumental to
her rapid rise, the 25-year-old
has still had some awkward mo-
ments. “I’ll have male friends
hanging out, and even if I’m
clearly the one painting, more
often than not, a passerby will
go up to the man first,” Charney
says. “I don’t think people think
there are females in this scene.”
Her bigger challenge has
been learning how to efficiently
scale up her studio work. To
speed up the process, Char-
ney uses an art projector when
possible. Another contentious
technological advancement she’s
embracing is anti-graffiti coating
for her permanent outdoor proj-
ects. Some argue the protectant
is antithetical to the transient
nature of street art—which is part
of the reason Charney doesn’t
call herself a street artist, instead
identifying as a muralist. She
credits that self-awareness in part
to her time with Dread, whose
roots are in the graffiti scene.
“Even though I don’t paint graffi-
ti,” Charney says, “I still have a lot
of respect for what those artists
built to allow us to do what we do
now.” @annacharneyart
eAnna
Charney
A
R
TI
S
T
S
P
O
TL
IG
H
T
“ I don’t think
people think there
are females in
this scene.”
HONOR THE CODE
How to be respectful of street artists and their livelihoods.
Buffing: When a property
owner, local government, or
artist paints over an exist-
ing work, either because it’s
unsanctioned or because
the wall is being prepped
for new art
Graffiti: Writing that is
normally spray-painted and
can be, but isn’t always,
illicit; embellishment
(think: bubble lettering,
shadows) distinguishes
graffiti from a tag
Mural: A large-scale artwork
created using spray paint
and/or media like traditional
paint, paint markers, and
3D add-ons
Street Art: An umbrella term that
encompasses many forms of art
(commissioned and illegal), from
graffiti writing and murals to
stencils and stickers
Tag: A one-dimensional, usually
spray-painted name or symbol;
almost always illegal and found on
blank spaces or atop other works
Wheatpasting: f
A form of street art in
which paper prints are
affixed to surfaces with
a clear, durable liquid
adhesive—traditionally,
wheat flour or starch
mixed with water (at
right, an example by
Denver’s Koko Bayer)
DO
cTag the artist anytime you
share someone’s work on
social media. Most murals
now include the creator’s
Instagram handle, but if you
don’t know it, use #tagartist
to encourage others to help
you ID the maker. This kind
of exposure is a major way
street artists grow their
reputations and, thus,
get commissions.
cRead the room—er,
alley—before you engage
artists at work in conversa-
tion. If they have headphones
on or are high up on a ladder,
they’re probably not inter-
ested in chatting. Otherwise,
feel free to ask questions;
many artists enjoy talking
about their processes.
DON’T
dTake pictures of artists
at work without asking
if it’s OK. Some of those
who still work underground
don’t want their likenesses
spread around.
dUse photos of murals for
any commercial purposes—
e.g., in photo prints to sell
or marketing materials for a
business—without permis-
sion. For personal uses such
as, say, the
background of
the engage-
ment photo
you use on
your wedding
save-the-date,
it’s good form
to credit
the artist.
d Tag @tukeone
when sharing Den-
ver graffiti writer
Tuke’s works.
CRUSHING
IT