Aerosol Control gave those interested in Graffiti a chance to refine their skills and work as a team to deliver several street art and graffiti projects around Bendigo.

Organised by Yo Bendigo with funding from the Department of Justice, Reece from Nacho Station was enjgaged to facilitate a series of workshops and planning sessions that would untimely deliver a large scale graffiti wall in the Bendigo CBD. It was off to a great start with an awesome group of young people signing up to the graffiti skills project.

Video - Graffiti prevention program in Bendigo

The team from Hebron Films did an excellent job in capturing moments throughout the Graffiti prevention program and an interview from Reece that summarises the project.

During 2016 the City of Greater Bendigo, with the assistance of the a grant from the Department of Justice and Regulation, ran Aerosol Control - a graffiti prevention project in the CBD.

There was a mix of participants from Bendigo, all had various skill levels using aerosol cans, some with lots of experience with graffiti and street art, others were simply interested to learn a new art medium and get involved with the graffiti scene in Bendigo.

Aerosol control - Graffiti workshops

Our skills building workshops were relaxed graffiti sessions where we experimented with various graffiti techniques and styles, a nice mix of experienced and beginner graffiti artists led to a great sharing of knowledge and collaboration.

Graffiti workshops allowed our young street artists to refine their skills.

Bendigo Street Festival - Open to public graffiti session

We teamed with Bendigo Street Festival to hold an open to public graffiti session where any person could come and have a crack at graffiti, we set up our temporary graffiti boards in a laneway in the Bendigo CBD and supplied paint and face masks for all participants. It was amazing to see the enthusiasm of so many locals who dropped in to have a paint for the first time or used it as a chance to refine their street art skills.

The open to public graffiti session during the Bendigo street festival was a great way to get more interest in the graffiti prevention program

Weeroona College - Graffiti Workshop

We held a one off day workshop with the boys class at Weeroona College in Bendigo, with help from Vern from 'Learn with Vern' we held a workshop that not only taught the young participants the basics of aerosol art but used graffiti as a means of connecting with the students about their mental health and wellbeing. The session also had a visit from the Bendigo police with a very informative question and answer session surrounding the laws on Graffiti.

The Graffiti workshop at Weeroona College was a great way to connect with students around their mental health and wellbeing and educate them on graffiti law.

Bendigo CBD Graffiti wall - Music Man laneway

Our final team project was revitalising a laneway in the Bendigo CBD with a fresh graffiti wall, four young graffiti artists worked together to develop ideas and a colour scheme for the wall, it was decided that rather than having a theme for the wall, each artist would come up with their own graffiti piece and would make sure they fit together to suite the existing features of the wall.

Four local street artists got involved with painting a graffiti wall in the Bendigo CBD

Pennyweight Lane - Bendigo Street art laneway

Several of the artists who took part in the program were also invited to paint a board in their own style to be hung in the street art display along Pennyweight Lane.