Graffiti as an Art Form

Every Sat., 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., $12, Hawthorne Cultural Center, 1200 Carpenter St., 215-978-8774

There are five kids in my graffiti class. They're all donning baggy pants and oversized hoodies and seem to know an awful lot about tag art.

And then there's me: totally unprepared.

When assistant instructor Tom Smith asks us to introduce ourselves and what we "write," I mumble something about a generic interest in art and take a seat at an empty table. Strike one.

Time to practice sketching letters. I check my bag. No sketch paper, no pencils. Strike two.

I make do on the back of my March Madness bracket printout and begin drawing different graffiti designs of the alphabet. Not exactly the glamorous cultural experience I anticipated.

"We want to give kids instruction to their art," explains Smith, emphasizing his desire to teach kids the basics of graffiti writing before turning them loose in the concrete jungle.

Half an hour after sketch practice, everyone tromps outside for the fun stuff: spray-painting. An open lot across the street gives the students a space to practice tagging in all its monitored notorious glory. Within 40 minutes, the freshly rolled wall looks like a freight boxcar from the Bronx.

I, of course, do not have any paint, so I just stand and watch.

And he's out!