Yorkton has a new piece of street art to enjoy.
And it took only a day to materialize.
Two 'street artists' who had attended a 'Graffiti Jam' in Saskatoon Saturday, were looking for a canvas to work with Sunday. In their case the canvas they sought was a blank wall.
And they found one on the south side of Maria's, Your Jamaican Store, along Betts Avenue in the city.
"We were at the Graffiti Jam in Saskatoon yesterday, and kind of wanted to have a wall to do today," said one of the artists, who asked his name not be used. He explained there is a sort of code among street artists where identities are left to the signatures on pieces.
"We just wanted to a have a wall to paint."
With a wall offered to them, the artists went to work.
"We had a good idea of what colours we wanted to do," said the artist, but added past that it was creating on the fly. "We had no sketches to work from."
One artist, A.J.A. Louden (who actually handed out business cards and has an extensive Internet presence), went to work creating a large portrait of famous reggae artist Bob Marley, the other went with a more psychedelic writing of his name.
The pair added in details to bring the two works together, and some eight hours, and about $500 in aerosol paints, later the street art piece was complete.
The artist said they tried to create a piece which would fit with the business, catch people's attention, and which also would not ruffle community feathers.
So was the artist happy with the completed piece?
"You're always your own biggest critic," he offered. "There's always parts you would do differently when you get looking at it after.
It is the hope of both artists that others in Yorkton might be open to 'street art' pieces, noting they would love to come back to the city to do more pieces, and they know other artists who would be interested as well.
