Spotlight On Artist Octavia Thorn
In September, seven new murals on Black and Brown owned buildings painted by Black and Brown artists were unveiled. The murals were revealed as part of non-profit The Diatrib's 49507 Project, a collaborative effort focused on shifting the perception of the 49507 zip code towards positivity. In this interview with the Grand Rapids Times, artist Octavia Thorn of Diatribe discusses her love for art as a child, changing her major in college to graphic design, the challenge of during her first mural and more.
GRT: Where are you from?
Thorn: Originally I am from Chicago, Illinois. I came to Grand Rapids about six years ago.
GRT: How did you get involved with art?
Thorn: I got involved with art through my mother and it kind of just stuck. My mother would always have me drawing a lot as a kid and I usually fell asleep with a pencil in my hand and a pad of paper near by. Originally I went to college to study Anthropology but I took a graphic design class and decided to switch my major to graphic design and I didn't care if I had to stay in college for another year to graduate. GRT: Where is the mural that you painted located in the city? Thorn: My mural is on the side of The South East Market building, located at 1220 Kalamazoo Ave SE.
GRT: I understand that the artist took part in listening sessions before painting their murals, what was your take on those listening sessions and what inspired you to create your mural?
Thorn: When we did the listening sessions I was really impressed because often times you don't really see people who are employed to put art into the community by asking the community members what they wanted to see in their community. They usually just discuss it with where ever the mural is going to be but it was different with these sessions because we asked the elders and we asked the children, which is super important because they are often forgotten. We asked the people who lived here and would see the murals everyday, what they wanted to see. For the younger kids in school, they really surprised me because they wanted to see historic Black and Brown figures. They wanted to see positive affirmations, bright colors and things that symbolize that it is beautiful to live here. We have a lot of culture and they are not the negative stereotypes that you see on the news. We are extremely positive here, we are all about community and we have a great since of culture and they really wanted to display that. We pick and chose a few scenes that they gave us.
GRT: And what did you choose as a theme?
Thorn: I chose positive affirmations with super bright colors that included Black historical figures who were all about moving us forward as a community and the importance of helping each other out.
GRT: What kind of experience was this for you?
Thorn: It definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone as an artist because my art is usually digital art or illustration so to be able to take aspects of all pieces of my art and then be able to make something larger than myself was really cool, especially to seeing the process come together. This is my first mural so I was very analytical and wanted to make sure that I did every thing right and to the best of my ability so it definitely was a learning process. Some of the other artists reached out to me and helped me with things like picking different materials or how to go about painting because I also work a full time job so I had to fit in the mural when I had free time. My husband and I would paint at night sometimes with floodlights. I didn't think that I would be able to do it, but it was cool seeing myself do something that I really wasn't too sure about.
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