Muralists mark Creston

Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part series about the artists behind Creston’s newest murals.

Rainbow Park became a bit brighter, and a lot busier, as a traveling group of artists freshened up the park’s restroom structure and hosted a free pop-up art camp June 30.

“I was just very surprised they were going to drive across the country to paint. Very surprised,” said Bailey Fry-Schnormeier, Creston High School art teacher.

The creative caravan, comprised of muralists from New York, Chicago and Los Angeles spent nearly two weeks working on six murals. The murals at Rainbow Park feature a nod to the 42nd Infantry Division, the word “Together,” a heart surrounded by faceted jewels, and faces of diversity. The “Grow” mural tucked in an alley off Montgomery Street features the quote, “Wherever life plants you, bloom with grace.” On the eve before their departure, they put the final touches on a mural prominently displayed on the side of Oetken’s Office Machines, above R Realty on North Elm Street. The message reads, “Creston cares.”

“While they’ve been here, they’ve just been showered with love from the community from young kids being a part of the mural project and their art camp to older women stopping by to drop off cookies and cold water,” said Fry-Schnormeier. “They’re not used to such an outpouring of support from communities where they paint, so they see it as a huge difference from the city environment to paint in rural Iowa.”

Blake Fry-Schnormeier said the interaction between the artists and their interactions with the students and community members was incredible to witness.

“I didn’t really expect them to have that much compassion and go beyond just this mentorship,” he said. “Eric has been down here at Rainbow Park painting kids’ bikes by request and now there’s a group that all have custom paint jobs on their bikes. Seeing those kids come here day after day, morning to night, just to hang out and to paint and be a part of this is really neat.”

The Fry-Schnromeiers said the artists became so connected to some of the children, some even bought kids food and clothing.

“It’s a whole new generation of artists we’re tapping in to this year by painting in this community,” Bailey said.

“Eric said this morning that he wasn’t expecting to have such a connection with these kids and to this community in such a short time,” Blake said. “They are just blown away.”

Eric Cheung and Theresa Kim

Eric Cheung and Theresa Kim, born and raised in New York, have been painting for four years together. Their murals focused on hope, social justice and community span walls coast to coast.

They met nearly seven years ago. Kim saw Cheung’s graffiti and was interested in meeting him. They became friends but had lost contact for three years. On the streets, Cheung started seeing Kim’s work, which he said was becoming “better and better.” He eventually asked her to paint a train together.

“And we haven’t been apart since,” he said.

Cheung and Kim said their parents are supportive of art, but not necessarily of their street art lifestyle. Cheung’s mother was an opera singer in China before moving the the U.S., and his father was an aspiring architect. However, they pursued more stable careers in America as an accountant and in construction and real estate.

For Cheung, his love of anime started as a child and spent time drawing characters. As he grew up, he became attracted to graffiti art, eventually making it his career.

“Before her (Kim), I didn’t even realize that painting murals was a feasible career path,” he said. “Every time I did it, I did it just because it was therapy for me.”

Kim said her parents supported her art making since she was young. They didn’t want her to pursue a career as an artist, but maybe work in an art-related field such as a curator. However, after she was fired from her first job, she set a goal of becoming a self-employed artist, which was a challenge at first.

“I had the privilege of living with my parents, so I didn’t have to worry about rent, I just had to worry about getting better as an artist,” she said. “Having my parents support definitely helped in the journey.”

Before spray paint, Kim said she’s experimented with different mediums of art – acrylic, oil, watercolor, charcoal – but became interested in the complicated letter forms of graffiti, such as wild style, in which the interwoven and overlapping letters and shapes make up an intricate letter formation.

“I thought it was really beautiful art and I wanted to learn more about it,” she said. “That’s when I started learning about spray paint as a medium.”

As she experimented with spray paint, she focused on more traditional subjects like portraits and characters. Her start in the public realm was painting characters next to graffiti pieces on walls and other structures in New York.

“Then it just escalated in to bigger walls and bigger opportunities,” she said.

Together, Cheung and Kim have opportunities across the U.S. to paint, which he described as the “ultimate freedom.” But Creston was unlike any place they have been to.

“It’s really moving for me to see how much of an impact we can make with our art here because it’s not the same in New York. There’s thousands of artists in New York,” Kim said.

Cheung said meeting the kids at Rainbow Park and learning their stories was the best part of his visit.

“Even though this community has problems, it seems that everyone is looking out for each other,” he said. “When I come out here, I really get a sense that the community’s got love for each other, for us. The whole community came out to love us versus in New York, where you could be dying on the street and no one would [care] because it’s not their business. It’s like, ‘There’s 8 million people. I can’t look out for 8 million people. There’s just too many people. But out here, you all know each other, everybody has history, so when someone gets hurt, it hits different.”

Away from the excitement and fanfare, there were quieter moments the artists enjoyed, like star-gazing and seeing a swarm of fireflies in an open field.

“I’ve never seen that,” said Cheung. “There were the big hay bales, open field with little waters, tall grass. The fireflies were blinking like stadium lights and just waving up and down. I’ve seen a firefly once or twice in my life, but not like that. Not a 100,000 fireflies. I felt like I was in a stadium of fireflies and all the fireflies were taking pictures. For Jose, who has never seen a firefly in his entire life, that was mind blowing.”

Jose Robles

Jose Robles of La Puente, California, quit his day job weeks ago to join Cheung and Kim on the road. They met through mutual friends, and when asked to join them, Robles said he had to take the opportunity.

“Last year, I thought, you know, I’m 30, it’s time to grow up and try to do things right,” Robles said. “Everyone was telling me I’m blessed and just do everything right. So I got a job and it was cool.”

But then he met Cheung and Kim.

“They were always asking how I was doing,” Robles said. “I was stressed. He asked me, ‘What’s stopping you from doing what we’re doing?’ And that hit me. Nothing is stopping me from doing what they are doing. That was it.”

Robles said he didn’t realize he had a particular interest in art, but sketched three-dimensional structures and lettering on everything, such as his name on a hat he wore in his formative years.

“I didn’t know I was into it, but I was,” he said.

Robles said, as a teen, field trips to Los Angeles were inspiring. Not the destination, but the journey.

“Going on the bus and seeing the freeways, everything was always bombed. Everything was tagged up. I was in to it,” he said.

There are numerous fan sites and social media pages dedicated to the photography of train art, and Robles is said by his peers to have been one of the most prolific artists.

“To me it was go big or go home type of thing. I have little pieces on trains, but if you want someone who doesn’t read graffiti to see your name, you do the whole train.”

In 2010, Robles was shot. The experience gave him a greater appreciation for life and made him contemplate the lifestyle. He said he’s been giving a second chance at life – one he doesn’t want to waste.

Last month, he purchased a school bus in San Diego County and joined the traveling caravan. Robles said he was nervous coming to Creston.

“I didn’t know how everybody was going to be out here, but everybody was nice. Everybody at this town is so great. I feel welcomed,” he said. “Going through what I’ve been through, I became an introvert. Not that I was scared of people, but I felt I had to watch myself a little more. Coming out here, I didn’t have to worry about that. Just meeting new people was the best thing.”

Robles said connecting with children was profound as he had never been in charge of leading anyone else.

“If I could help out somebody, even if it’s just one, I’m cool with it,” he said. “I think that’s why I’m still here. I got a second change to help somebody and I think that’s something I have to do.”

Lindsay Mattig

In her home town of Chicago, it was her bestfriend’s mother who inspired Lindsay Mattig from an early age.

“She was the first person I saw that could do it as a job and she always had art supplies around. Neither of my parents are super artistic at all, but they’ve always encouraged it.,” Mattig said.

At the Montessori school she attended as a child, Mattig said art and creative freedom was heavily embedded into the school’s curriculum.

By 12 years old, the graffiti art she saw across the city started to influence her work. Because possession of spray paint by minors is illegal in Chicago, she started creating stickers.

“It’s like a $1,000 fine just to have paint, so I thought stickers was my best way to do that at the time,” she said.

To create her stickers, Mattig took mailing labels from the post office and stuck them together to create a larger surface upon which she’d draw her name in bubble letters.

“I’d make them as cool as I could,” she said. “I’d draw them, cut them out and stick them everywhere.”

Mattig has always felt compelled to mentor others. She worked as a gymnastics coach and also became an art teacher for Los Angeles Unified School District after attending Santa Monica College in California.

“I loved teaching gymnastics, but I knew, whatever my purpose on this Earth is to help kids,” she said. “I’m super happy I can do art. Art is therapeutic for me and if it can help me, it can help other people of all ages.”

Mattig’s love of exposing children to art is what prompted her to start her Super Sick Art Camp program, which she hosted with the support of Creston Arts June 30 at Rainbow Park. The marketing consisted of a few poster boards placed in grocery store parking lots and through word-of-mouth by the kids and community members who showed up to help paint. More than 75 children from four counties attended the pop up art camp. Bailey said a number of people donated financially to Mattig’s efforts just because.

“It meant a lot to her for her to have this love from people she just met. She wasn’t expecting that at all,” said Bailey.

Mattig’s goal is to host the camp in as many communities and reach as many children as possible.

“Every kid is an artist. They just haven’t found their medium,” she said.

Mattig said connecting with children in Rainbow Park was her favorite part of the trip.

“The kids that need attention and need love, they are dying for it and we are giving it,” she said. “That’s what’s hard about leaving.”