Graffiti 101, Street Art and Where to Paint in Miller
Coming from Chicago and having met people in various crews (i.e., graffiti teams/clubs with their own painting hazing rituals and crew “tags”), one thing that attracted me immediately to Miller Beach was the street art.
Street art is really just a form of graffiti called permission walls (which we’ll get to in a minute). Permission walls tend to feature images rather than just “tags” (see below). I’ve not met a single permission painter who also does has not technically done illegal stuff too, at least in the past.
I find graffiti and tag structure fascinating (every painter as their “tag” which is basically a signature they repeat and adapt). Personally, I look at even illegal graffiti as art, especially when the “rules” are not broken (e.g., not painting on the front of occupied buildings).
To put street art in Miller in context, for those new to painting, there are what I would describe as four different approaches to the broader class of vandalism art known as graffiti.
The first approach, on one extreme, is what I call (not an “official” phrase): missions. These would be like intercepting a passenger or el train at a station, somehow holding it with a diversionary tactic and tagging it — all as your friends scout for security and police (ideally whilst taking drone or other photography of the “mission” in progress).
Mask up for this type of effort. Risk is very high for missions (both safety risk and getting caught). Artistically, you occasionally see some good things to come out of these approaches, but not usually. They are often very well planned and choreographed (timing is key) and require a lot of team work with your crew and/or friends to pull off.
The “Mission” model is not common in NWI, but you see it occasionally in and around Chicago.
The second graffiti model, like the above, also involves illegal painting, and is often just called “hitting a spot”. But in this case, it is the painting of static walls, billboards, subways tunnels, commuter trains at rest, e-ways (expressway sides/overpasses) and more. Here, the goal is visibility and painting active, high traffic area targets that people will see.
Risk is moderate in these efforts, although safety risk can be high (except in “chill spots”), especially when climbing or avoiding trains in subways or yards. And spots often get painted over or sandblasted quickly by owners.
For those who don’t know the painting scene, it is considered “war” between crews when they paint over each other’s work. War does not get violent in these cases, but does mean using a lot of paint to mark territory!
You see the graffiti model of hitting a spot sometimes in Miller, but not a lot.
The third painting model is to paint freight trains (freights) at rest. Painting freights is captured in the documentary Rolling Like Thunder. It can be quite dangerous (as trains can move unexpectedly or you can be so deep in your work, as to not see a train coming down another track), but Miller does offer one spot down before 65 which is known to be very relaxed (where trains sit for a while and which in the past has not been that well policed).
I’m not condoning illegal painting of any sort and painting freights is incredibly dangerous, but this is arguably the only spot in Miller people go to with consistency.
The advantage of freight painting (besides beautifying trains, at least in my view), is that they roll around the country and remain on trains (usually) for years if not decades. Have art, will travel on the rails!
The fourth model is to paint permission walls. These are cases in which the property owner gives you permission to paint. Some permission walls are painted over frequently (by design). Others stand as lasting murals and street art to a town or region.
And that is what we have in Miller, just off of Lake Street, thanks to a number of artists who last plied their skills on permission walls a number of years ago (in organized events).
But that’s not the only street art in Miller. There’s “moving art” every hour too.
If admiring street art pulls you in, don’t get upset when a freight train boxes you in when you’re trying to get into or out of Miller.
Open your eyes and stop checking your phone.
Then take a meditative breath and spend a few minutes watching the tracks, as the hundreds of daily freights make their way East and West from the crossroads of Northwest Indiana.
It’s an industrial art museum on wheels.
A rolling aesthetic as economy.
The author does not condone illegal graffiti (nor does he practice it). Above all, be safe!
The artists-in order of how they appear in this post are: Felix Maldonado, Nico Villanueva, Felix Maldonado, Henry Brantley, The Unwonted, ATT Crew, ATT Crew, Radah, Jennifer Taylor, unknown, XMEN Crew, Ish Muhammad Nieves and Justus Roe, CISA Crew and Omen 74, unknown. The first mural was commissioned by Pat and Karren Lee, the rest were part of several Lake Effekt festivals put on by the Miller Beach Arts & Creative District in 2013, 2015, and 2017
Don't forget to credit the artists if you can. FLEX did the dog in the boat behind the dumpster, and I"m certain ISH did one of these. HAILEE painted along the side of Indie Indie Bang Bang. The first two would know who did what. Lauren Pacheco would as well. The railroad box was painted by Jennifer Taylor of the Sparkle House studio.