from YAPRap August 2006
by Damien Madigan 
A new program by Springwood Youth Project is opening up people's minds to the culture behind aerosol art.
You could while away the hours debating the artistic merits of David Hockney's Pop Art masterpiece at Canberra's National Gallery before moving on to a fervent deliberation about the meaning behind Jackson Pollock's Blue Poles.
Or you could drive down Springwood's main street on bin night.
Macquarie Road is fast becoming the most unexpected art gallery in the Blue Mountains on Wednesday nights thanks to a new program by Springwood Youth Project.
The council-funded initiative has seen young people turn lowly Otto bins into their canvases, creating art works for a growing number of Springwood businesses. 
"There's been a lot of emotion and anger in the community about graffiti and we just thought why not paint some bins," said youth worker Matthew Williams. "That way when the bins go out they are like a piece of art in the community."
The budding project has already attracted the interest of many businesses (including the Blue Mountains Gazette's trio of Otto bins), with nary a naysayer in sight. "Hopefully we'll be able to keep it going because the response from the community has been really positive," said Matthew.
The project costs nothing for business owners and they can even request a particular image or wording to be included in the design.
"One of the good things about the project is that it's a challenge for the young people because they don't have total creative control," said Matthew.
"They are learning to work with certain parameters. An optometrist wanting imagery relevant to their business painted on their bin provides a creative challenge for the artists."
Another good thing about the project that it aims to direct young people's passion for aerosol art into legal avenues.
Project volunteer Nick Margerison said there is a strong mentoring aspect to the program, with experienced artists paired with younger talents. Importantly, the older artists are able to show their protégés there is more to the art-form than tagging. "It opens them up to more creative ways of expressing themselves - a lot of younger guys predominantly do things like tagging," said Nick.
Young people are directly involved in running the project which also helps reduce antisocial examples of aerosol art, according to Matthew. "The important thing to remember with any legal avenue is that young people need to have ownership of the project," he said. "It's not going to reduce tagging or have any sort of benefit unless young people are actually directly involved."
Getting people of all ages directly involved is the aim behind another initiative of Springwood Youth Project - a documentary on aerosol art including interviews with young people, older artists, police, youth workers and members of the community. "Everyone has got an opinion on graffiti or aerosol art," said Matthew. The project has already helped create awareness on both sides of the debate, he said.
"It's a two way thing ... the young artists hearing about the cost and hassle of cleaning it up and how that money could be spent on creating more youth facilities; and the people in the community are having their minds opened up to some of the reasons why young people are engaging in aerosol art."
"This is one of the best things I've done," said Matthew. "Having young people involved and supporting youth culture is a great thing. Young people need to be more visible in the community."
[Reproduced with permission from the Blue Mountains Gazette review]
More information
"Bins 'n' Graph" project
Nick Margerison or Matthew Williams
Springwood Youth Project
(02) 4751 1005
