Montserrat Students Propose Beverly Wall that Draws Artists From All Over
BEVERLY — A graffiti mural that began as a response to the growing problem of obscene messages scrawled upon a prominent wall has become a local institution with a national and even international following.
In the process, this wall at the Clemenzi Industrial Park has also become one of just a few spaces in the region where graffiti is officially sanctioned, which may help protect nearby walls from unwanted images and messages.
John Clemenzi, who manages the property that his family has owned for four decades, said that when he began allowing artists to paint on the building’s rear wall, Beverly was in the midst of “a horrible graffiti problem.” But in recent years, he said, “I rarely if at all see any graffiti elsewhere in the city.”
“If. . . there’s very little of it, it’s because they have a place to go and do it legally instead of tagging somebody else’s private property and ending up in jail if they get caught,” Clemenzi, 60, said in a telephone interview Sunday.
The change began about a dozen years ago, when two Montserrat College of Art students approached Clemenzi with a proposal to decorate the wall, which faces the tracks for the Newburyport/Rockport commuter rail line.
Clemenzi had grown frustrated with the frequent repainting necessary to cover up profane and often sexist messages that were routinely painted on the wall, so he agreed to let the young artists decorate a small section, 40 feet of what he estimates is a total length of about 800 feet.
He set three ground rules: Clean up after yourselves, no offensive messages, and don’t paint on the building’s brick faces. The students agreed to follow those rules and to help police the area, and over time, the sanctioned graffiti grew to cover the wall.
“I’d be struggling if you gave me oil and canvas and brushes and lessons, and these guys do this with a half a dozen spray cans,” he said. The wall has become well known among graffiti artists, Clemenzi said, drawing painters from New York, Florida, California — even France. Some of the work has even impressed Clemenzi, who admits he was not immediately a fan of graffiti art.
Click here to read the full article on The Boston Globe!
Published by College Relations Intern Josh Ramsey