Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.Three Omaha South High School students are used to keeping a lookout for police while they spray graffiti on walls, but on Monday they received compliments from officers at the southeast police precinct.
Oliva Rodriguez, 18, and Eder and Joel Barron, 18 and 17, respectively, were commissioned to paint a mural of the Omaha Police Department badge and mission statement. Their canvas: a prominent wall inside the precinct station.
The three are members of the Packasso Project, a South High graffiti group aimed at applying students’ artistic skills to positive projects.
“All these kids have been caught doing graffiti, or they were like Oliva, where police could recognize her work but couldn’t catch her,” said Fairouz Bishara, sponsor of the Packasso Project.
“The second time they’re caught is a felony, so this group helps prevent that,” she said.
Capt. Kathy Belcastro-Gonzalez called the school requesting some artistic students for the mural, and she got these self-titled “graf artists.”
“It gave us the opportunity to talk about what the police department has to offer and to help them recognize that the police are our friends,” Belcastro-Gonzalez said.
The graphic mural now gracing the precinct’s wall “looks good,” she said. “Truly, art is a talent, and these students are good at what they do. We’re just putting it in a positive light.”
The students found it to be a weird but wonderful experience.
“I think many people don’t like graffiti, and the police fight against it,” said Joel Barron. “It’s crazy doing it here. It’s nice that they asked us.”
“I can’t believe I’m doing this right now in a police station,” Rodriguez said.
The three students worked together to create a vivid background of blue, purple and shades of green surrounding a giant scroll, where they placed the badge, a buffalo and the mission statement.
They sprayed the acrylic paint with total confidence, even when surrounded by officers giving the mural a critical look.
Rodriguez said with each project they are assigned, the students try to show that graffiti art is different from tagging, marked by simple lines or signatures.
“That’s just vandalism. It doesn’t deserve to be called graffiti,” she said. “Real urban art requires skill. You have to learn can control, how to stabilize and different spraying techniques.”
Eder Barron explained it more simply: “Every time I paint a wall, I try to make it better than it was.”
Belcastro-Gonzalez said she hopes this is a start to more people in the community seeing the art in a different light and opening their blank walls to other talented students.
Contact the writer:
402-444-3131, sam.womack@owh.com
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
