We've Got The County Covered
We've Got The County Covered
In one of their beginning art lessons, students at Turner Public School learned about ThankYouX and decided to create a mural in the artist's style. Under the direction of their art teacher, April Fox, the group designed a community art project.
Fox distributed invitations, explaining how students, school personnel, and community members could participate by designing a cube. "Try to be creative and tell a little bit of the 'story of you' in your cube," she invited.
The completed, decorated cubes were then collected by Fox. She and her team of artists cut out and assembled the cubes to make one large community art piece in the style of ThankYouX.
ThankYouX, whose given name is Ryan Wilson, began his artistic journey on the streets of Los Angeles in 2009 as a graffiti artist. Under the cover of darkness, he spray-painted stencils of Andy Warhol's portrait, tagging buildings with his art. Wanting to pay tribute to one of his giant sources of inspiration, he wrote 'Thank You' on the posters and signed them with an anonymous X. After that exposure, bloggers began posting reports of Wilson's activities and referred to the artist as 'ThankYouX.' Wilson embraced the nickname.
Wilson has continued to gain fame as an artist. Anyone who has occasion to visit Snapchat's headquarters in Venice, California, will see Wilson's work. Snapchat CEO in 2013, Evan Spiegel commissioned Wilson to decorate the start-up company. To honor other famous innovators-like Nelson Mandela, Tina Fey, and Daft Punk-Wilson created a series of portraits that reveal an intersection of the art and tech worlds. Completed in bright blues, reds, and yellows, each of the celebrities is shown through a cellphone screen, as if they were taking a selfie. They are titled "Selfie Portraits."
Wilson's multifaceted artistic identity has expanded to embrace modern abstract designs. He has also gained attention for his geometric, mixed media cube paintings and other large-scale abstract work.
Imitating these giant cube paintings, every cube in the mural at Turner tells a story. Some of the individual cubes feature flowers, fish, or other scenes from nature; others reveal favored interests like basketball, quilting, writing, or pets; while many simply depict abstract or geometric art. Some even imitate the drip painting of Jen Stark or the geometric art of various artists. The mural-comprised of 57 cubes-is on display in the cafeteria at Turner Public School.
When asked what inspired her to curate the cubes to create this piece, Fox responded: "I was inspired to introduce this art and artist while looking for ideas for a collaborative art project. I like to start the year off with schoolwide projects that allow the students to show their personalities but also to emphasize how we all fit together in our school. The artist inspiration for the cube shape, ThankYouX, also ties in nicely with a graffiti project that I typically do with eighth graders as their first large project."
According to Fox, most students were attracted to the freedom the project offered. "I was also told by some of the staff that they thought being able to make art was relaxing for them," she commented.
"I love how varied the results were," Fox added. "Everyone was able to show their unique personality and interests with what they created."
Although not part of the mural, the third and fourth graders drew rockets to indicate that they were "blasting off to a great year!" Their work is also displayed in the cafeteria at Turner Public School.
