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Have you ever felt as though a piece of art changed you? Forever altered the way you see the world? It sounds idyllic, but I like to believe it’s true – not as an artist teaching, but as a student, constantly engaging with the many forms of expression I encounter each day. Today was one of those days that a work of art moved me. 

"Art is not what you see, but you make others see" - Edward Degas, www.pinterest.com/zatista

I stumbled upon a YouTube video a friend posted on Facebook. It was a short documentary about the story of a 17-year-old boy living with terminal cancer. He was faced with months, maybe weeks to live – and so he did. Zach Sobiech turned to music as a means to say goodbye to all of his loved ones. Zach’s song “Clouds” has reached millions on Youtube, and is now available on iTunes.

“And we’ll go up, up, up


But I’ll fly a little higher


We’ll go up in the clouds because the view is a little nicer


Up here my dear


It won’t be long now, it won’t be long now


When I get back on land


Well I’ll never get my chance


Be ready to live and it’ll be ripped right out of my hands”

As I watched Zach tell his story (albeit through some tears), I started to wonder about the way in which we are all living. I also wondered about art’s place in this life. What if someone told you you had one year, or one month, or one week to live? What would you do with that time? Would you travel? Would you run a marathon? Would you write a song? Would you tell someone you loved them? Would you get married? Would you mend a friendship? Maybe you would paint a masterpiece. Or visit a renowned artwork in a foreign country.

“You don’t have to find out you’re dying to start living.” – Zach Sobiech

Perhaps we should change the question: What would you do, if you knew you could not fail? Would you run a marathon? Would you write a song? Would you tell someone you loved them? Would you paint a masterpiece?

Fear is what stops us from determining our greatness. Zach reached his family, and people everywhere with his music. It will go on forever, even if Zach cannot.

"The worst enemy to creativity is self doubt" - Sylvia Plath, www.piccsy.com

Millions of people are remembered today because of what they left behind – a little piece of them. Whether it be the ceramic decorated mosques of the Ilkhanids in the Middle East, the water lilies of Monet, the crooning of Frank Sinatra, or the forever relatable words of Dr. Theophrastus Seuss, we remember these icons for their art and their message.

"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened" - Dr. Seuss, www.blissfulroots.com

So, the next time you contemplate drawing, or writing, or singing – be sure to do it. It’s sure to be extraordinary, and it’s bound to have an effect on another human.

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Described as a “global art project transforming messages of personal identity into works of art,” the INSIDE OUT project encourages any citizen of the world – man, woman, elder, child, religious or not, to share their face. By sharing our portrait, it is believed we are sharing our message.

"Rising Souls, Haiti: the resilience of Haitians," Port of Prince, Haiti, www.jr-art.net

Inspired by renowned street artist, JR, the project brings coworkers, activists, friends and communities together by asking them to create a group action. A statement to define who they are, and what they are standing up for. A group could be as little as five people, or bring together an entire city, like the group action witnessed in New York’s Time Square this past month.

INSIDE OUT Project in Time Square, New York City, www.insideoutproject.net

INSIDE OUT has reached the far corners of the world. Meaning we, the citizens, are standing up for what we believe in. Some of the outstanding group actions are standing up to issues of oppression, apartheid, gender-based violence, youth-based violence, and climate change.

INSIDE OUT's locations, www.insideoutproject.net

INSIDE OUT’s project “Esperanza” (meaning hope) was a collective action that brought to light the faces of mothers in Caracas, Venezuela, whose children were victims of violence.

The Mother's of Caracas, Venezuela, www.insideoutproject.net

In Afghanistan, the INSIDE OUT project meant lifting the stigma that the media has laid out of what living in this country is really like. Collaborating with ISAF HQ, the people of Kabul proved that there is in fact happiness in the neighbourhoods – laughter can be heard, and living in Afghanistan is something to be celebrated.

INSIDE OUT Kabul, Kabul, Afghanistan, www.insideoutproject.net

JR’s innovative project has even landed in the Arctic, as activists of the #savethearctic movement created a massive eye at the top of the world, trying to rid the icy land of the destructive industries that are encroaching.

The Eye on top of the World, the Arctic, www.insideoutproject.net

Another project facilitated by JR, Face 2 Face has been his largest illegal call to action yet. Meeting people on both sides of the separation wall, in Israel and Palestine, JR pasted massive portraits along the separation wall on both sides of the conflict. Groups of portraits were posted together of people – from either side – doing the exact same job. One pasting presents passers-by with the face of a rabbi, an imam and a priest; another with the face of a Palestinian cook, and his equal on the Israeli side.

The Holy Triptych, Seperation Wall in Bethlehem, Palestine, www.insideoutproject.net

INSIDE OUT is putting all of us face-to-face. With our own issues, and maybe the ones we haven’t opened our eyes up to yet. Anyone can take part, so perhaps this is our call to action. What are we standing up for, yelling about, whole-heartedly caring about? Let’s paste!

“I wish for you to stand up for what you care about by participating in a global art project, and together we’ll turn the world… INSIDE OUT.”  - JR

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Uncommon to the commuting world, I am a rare-breed of traveler who loves my daily public transportation time – it unearths the underground world of street art.

Balloon Boy by Spy

The practice of street art is one that is truly astounding. “Street art” is an umbrella term for graffiti, stencil graffiti, sticker art, wheat pasting, guerrilla art, public mosaics, and yarn bombing. Street art around communities and urban settings brings an aesthetic to spaces, as well as a message.

Yarn bombed tank Copenhagen, 2006

Often, street art gets a bad wrap – stigmatized as vandalism, territorial tagging, or just another corporate advertisement.  In fact, this art movement, per say, requires a great deal of compositional theory and great attention to detail. Street Art, in any medium, often carries socially relevant themes, along with the flourish it adds to an ordinary brick wall.

Inside Out Project New York City, 2013

The INSIDE OUT Project, that recently took over Manhattan, is one that distinguishes the significance of street art, and art in the public forum. Through large-scale wheat pastings, the project enables everyone to share their personal and political views with a grandeur view of their own portrait. Participants can take their own photo, and take part in one of the photo booths set up for the project, and print their face, then paste it anywhere in their community. What a gift it is to be able to look up at the inspiring and driven faces within our own communities, and not just another ad for the latest automobile.

Inside Out Project New York City, 2013

As we integrate art into the streets around us, whether it is filled with political anarchy or is simply an intricately designed work, all thanks to the paint aisle at Home Depot, we also integrate this art into our homes. For the INSIDE OUT project, this means integrating our neighbours, and our sisters, and our uncles into the environment around us, and sharing the issues that matter to them.

Inside Out Project New York City, 2013

Perhaps here at home, we can do that same. Street Art doesn’t just have to be something we pass on our morning train. That same unsanctioned, underground passion can find a place in our homes as well – literally with artworks, like this photograph from Jon Bidwell, capturing street graffiti on the side of a train compartment.

Fourteen by Jon Bidwell on zatista.com

We can also incorporate the fervour, and graphic imagery found so commonly in graffiti, with mixed media, or graffiti-inspired paintings such as Deanna Fainelli’s “Slice of the City”.

Slice of the City by Deanna Fainelli on zatista.com

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Ever notice how the window displays at Anthropologie are completely out-of-this-world-awesome? Every time I go by, or go in (and sacrifice my pocket book to the altar of color, pattern and style) I just want to go live inside the magical world of those windows.

photo: plentyofcolour.com

Sure, I notice the clothes on the mannequins and often buy them, but in my heart of hearts the clothes are just a gateway to the amazing 3D artwork that frames them.

photo: plentyofcolour.com

Masterpieces of form, composition and color made from brilliant installations of objects ranging from ordinary found objects to marshmallows, these artful window displays always capture my interest and attention. Who’s with me here?

photo: plentyofcolour.com

I don’t know the story behind the artists who come up with the concepts or the artists who install the work, but I do know it sounds like a really fun job and these artists have imaginations that are inspiring people every day in cities across the country.

photo: plentyofcolour.com

Look at that color! Don’t you just want to eat it up? And also buy that jacket?

photo: plentyofcolour.com

If you are privy to Anthropologie’s secrets of fabulous window installation art – do tell. Anthropologie lovers here on WallSpin want to know. We like our original art on our walls at home, AND in our favorite stores. Thanks, Anthro – you could have been just another store with ordinary windows, but no – you take windows to another level.  Anthro – we love art and we love you!

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I admit it – sometimes various forms of junk can interest me. I don’t have a junk collection of my own, per se, but I don’t mind looking at other people’s junk.

Over the past three decades, Arthur and Cynthia Wood turned their four-story home into a work of art.

According to npr.org, “A New York landmark of sorts is in danger of being wiped off the map. The building now known as Broken Angel was an ordinary 19th-century brick structure until self-taught artist and sculptor Arthur Wood started building on top of it in the late 1970s. Now Wood faces eviction from his own masterpiece — a towering structure that looks like a cathedral built out of salvaged junk.”

The building, which was featured in the film Dave Chappelle's Block Party, once towered nine stories over the street. Arthur took out most of the floors, creating a soaring open space with stained glass windows.

NPR goes on to say, “The building was featured in comedian Dave Chappelle‘s film Block Party, which follows Chappelle as he puts together a free hip-hop concert in the Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn in 2004. “[The house] is a monument to Brooklyn, my dear,” Cynthia Wood, Arthur’s wife, explains to Chappelle. But after the film was released, a fire broke out in the tower, which had been built without permits or plans. After that, the New York City Department of Buildings cracked down on what they considered an unsafe structure.”

In October 2006, Broken Angel's tower caught fire. The New York City Department of Buildings declared the structure was dangerous and sought to demolish the home.

“He took a tenement and he transformed it with a lot of materials people have classified as discards and tossed away into dumps,” says Carl Zimring, who teaches at the renowned Pratt Institute art school a few blocks away. “And turned that into a coherent form of art — a folk art, an art that very much relied on the materials that Brooklyn had to offer.”

Old bottles and salvaged glass make up the "stained glass" windows in Broken Angel.

“The Woods bought the property in 1979 for $2,100 in cash. They gradually transformed the 19th-century brick building into what’s been hailed as a work of 21st-century art.”

Cynthia Wood died of cancer in 2010. Her husband, Arthur Wood, is once again facing eviction from his home.

NPR continues, “To some, the building has been an inspiration. “People come here from all four corners of the earth,” a neighbor says. “People wait, literally wait outside … for hours waiting for Arthur to show up just to talk to him. That’s what you’re taking. You’re taking a bit of history and very much of our future right away from us.”

Broken Angel in 2006, after a fire photo: Liz O. Baylen for The New York Times

“Hoping to avoid demolition, Arthur struck a deal with a local developer six years ago to turn Broken Angel into condos. The five-story tower was dismantled. But Chris Wood says the developer never held up his end of the bargain, and the bank foreclosed. So, is it art? Or just a pile of junk? Share with us here on WallSpin.

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