Most Stowe parents would shudder at the thought of their kid drawing graffiti – conjuring fears of vandalism and police records – but the latest exhibit at The Current art gallery explores graffiti as an art form, offering middle school students the opportunity to craft their own tags.
“The Painters’ Hands” by Timothy Curtis, which went up at The Current in January, brings a touch of Philly to Stowe, exploring the relationship between 1800s Pennsylvania Dutch designs, popular in rural parts of Pennsylvania, and graffiti art, which, contrary to popular belief, began in Philadelphia with street artists in the 1960s.
Timothy Curtis, whose exhibit ‘The Painters’ Hands’ is on display at The Current.
The mediums are an unlikely pair, merging vastly different art forms and time periods, but Curtis, a New York City artist who grew up practicing graffiti in Philadelphia, makes a convincing case for their similarities.
“The Painters’ Hands” is multifaceted, featuring both artwork and supporting materials explaining Curtis’ thesis, including a collection of photos and a documentary about Philadelphia’s street art scene in the 60s.
A series of vases and large paintings combine the swooping lines and patterns of Pennsylvania Dutch pottery and graffiti art, and Curtis offers a glimpse of his process by providing photos of graffiti he’s observed in the city, some of which are from Philly’s subway system in the 70s.
Although the exhibit has been on display since January, Curtis took it one step further last week, inviting two pioneers of Philadelphia graffiti art, Cornbread and Kool Klepto Kidd, for an artist talk with Stowe Middle School students and a workshop where students drew their own graffiti.
Cornbread offers an autograph tag.
The discussion mostly centered around the social impacts of graffiti art, with Cornbread and Kool Klepto Kidd – their tag names – talking about the environment that surrounded the art form in the 60s and 70s in Philadelphia.
For them, tagging was both a liberation from the entrenched racism, poverty and drug abuse they witnessed at the time and something that perpetuated violent police responses in predominantly Black communities. Ironically, graffiti has largely been adopted in mainstream art scenes today.
Curtis, who is younger than the two icons, was introduced to graffiti art as a kid in Philadelphia. During a seven-year prison sentence, Curtis immersed himself in studies about art history, emerging from the carceral system with a renewed focus on his own art.
His career as an artist has since blossomed, with exhibits in New York City, Tokyo, Berlin and Paris.
Last week’s workshop, where students explored the craft of graffiti art, was hands on, with Cornbread and Kool Klepto Kidd working with students to create their own tags.
Philadelphia graffiti artist Kool Klepto Kidd demonstrates a tag.
The artists taught students how to embellish letters and write graffiti with fluid, confident gestures. Students worked on their own or partnered up to create tags for one another. Many of them also brought their parents to the artist talk, according to Kelly Holt, The Current’s gallery manager.
The reception to the exhibit and accompanying workshop has been positive, according to Holt, adding “The Painters’ Hands” was the furthest reaching show The Current has had, with guests — many of them from Philadelphia —traveling hours to see Curtis’ work. Local schools also piggy backed off the exhibit by conducting their own projects about graffiti art.
“The show is very timely,” Holt said. “We try to tackle contemporary art, but also art that has a social, political or environmental platform. What Timothy has been talking about is a whole different world than what the kids in Stowe know about, because, you know, it’s still pretty affluent. But he’s talking about social issues, about the prison system. Stowe can feel kind of withdrawn from those things, but it’s still important we talk about them.”
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