ACAD Students Decompressing -Graffiti, Gum, Cigarettes, Coffee

More about the ACAD students' graffiti stairwell where they go for decompression time. At the bottom of the stairwell you go through a heavy door and pop outside...

.

...to see this - another place for the students to decompress...

and make art.

ACAD Graffiti Stairwell

Here are some more views of the ACAD graffiti stairwell. I am fascinated by the place. The atmosphere is so palatable.

It isn't sinister, just loud/noisy. It feels like a place where the students let off steam. A place where they can say and do things to see what it feels like, without being committed to the results. They can be anonymous in the crowd. It must be quite the opposite experience to being in a studio or a small class of students where expectations are so high.

I love this knitted graffiti. It is so ironic to put such a slow process amongst the results of speedy painting process. How does the knit graffiti artist not get caught?

Alberta College of Art + Design

On the last day of our residency in The Banff Centre, we all drove back to Calgary in the morning. Ingrid & ReBecca weren't flying home until the next day so once we had unpacked the cars, we walked over to the Alberta College of Art + Design campus. Fortunately we caught the Fibre Department's Fibre Fort-Night Exhibition. There we ran into Annamaria Zutko who is a final year fibre student. She had set up a loom for a community weaving project she had initiated. ReBecca, above, is an experienced weaver so she had no difficulty in adding to the cloth. Donna & I had never woven before so Annamaria had to give us a lesson before we could produce anything.

As we left the campus we went via the graffiti stairwell. This is the sign on the door before one enters 'The Stairwell'.

And this is what it looks like. It is a fascinating trip down the stairs.