MELANGE-Summer 2019

IMAGES CHEYENNE RIVER YOUTH PROJECT
Did you know there’s a graffiti festival in South Dakota?
An event that brings together celebrated graffiti
artists from all over the world to leave their marks
of hope, beauty, and inspiration on the walls of
a tiny little South Dakota town? It’s the RedCan
Graffiti Jam, and it’s kind of a big deal.
In 2015, some really notable artists working in an unusual medium
convened at the Cheyenne River Youth Project campus in Eagle
Butte, South Dakota. Rattle-cans in hand, these renegade creators
applied their talent in the form of spray paint to buildings throughout
the community, and CRYP director Julie Garreau held her figurative
breath.
burst to life with color and imagery that spoke to
the heritage of the residents. Messages of hope and
peace and encouragement littered the town, and
“people loved it,” Garreau remembers. Even as the
first event wrapped up, community members were
pressing her for details on the plan for next year.
To this day, even Ms. Garreau doesn’t quite
understand the infatuation with the RedCan
Graffiti Jam. But she can see the positive impact
in her community. The murals are a celebration of
indigenous heritage, “a reminder of who we are and
where we come from.” They stand as an inspirational
beacon of pride to a community thrilled for just
such a transformation. Every year, more and more
businesses request consideration as mural space,
more and more people turn up to watch the artists
work, and more and more youth participate in the
workshops offered by artists. Eagle Butte loves
RedCan. In fact, most of the murals have stood,
unmarred—save for the weather—for years.
The art—combined with workshops for emerging
artists, practice space and time in the art park
at CRYP, and a live concert to wrap up the
event—has laid the foundation for a festival that
offers something for guests from anywhere and
everywhere. “It’s a great community event,” Ms.
Garreau observes. “I would love to have people
come from everywhere to see what’s happening
here. It has reached its fifth anniversary for a
reason, and I don’t really understand it myself. I just
know artists really find it fulfilling,” as evidenced by
loud bragging from graffiti artists across the country
and around the world, about an invitation to RedCan.
During this year’s RedCan, the First Peoples Fund’s
Rolling Rez Arts Bus, Dances With Words, the
Sampson Brothers (Luhme and Samsoche Sampson),
DJ Micah Prairie Chicken and the annual Lakota
Dance Exhibition will appear in CRYP’s Waniyetu
Wowapi Art Park, and everyone is invited. The
drive from Rapid City is a small price to pay for the
chance to meet world-famous graffiti artists in a
very intimate setting, participate in some incredible
creative work, and enjoy youth art workshops, music
and live performances. So get in the car, and go.
Enjoy. As renowned rapper and 2018 performer Frank
Waln iterates, “The caliber of artists and beauty
RedCan brings to the area is as inspiring as it is
healing.” That’s a lot of good from a few cans of
spray paint.
The idea had come to her a year prior while she strolled the streets
of her hometown. Graffiti was present everywhere: the artistic,
albeit jagged lettering of youth looking for an outlet, a means of
expression. But on the whole, it wasn’t particularly aesthetically
pleasing. So, Ms. Garreau invited artists of the spray-can persuasion
from all over the country to come and paint her town beautiful. A
few businesses agreed to have their exterior walls painted, and the
community gathered to watch the stunning, large-scale murals come
to life.
There were some skeptics, at first, to be sure. But by the time the
last drop cloth and ladder had been removed, and the artists had
flown home, Eagle Butte was a community of converts, advocates
for graffiti art. All around them, the walls of once-forlorn buildings
48 melangeblackhills.com | SUMMER 2019 MÉLANGE | a mix of Community fun 49