23-year-olds Clean Up Metro With Legal Graffiti

By Rusty Surette, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Two Oklahomans are hoping to clean up metro streets by teaching others the art of graffiti.

"You can look at graffiti as vandalism or you can look at graffiti as art," Dusty Gilpen said. "Kind of a forbidden fruit of art if you will."

Dusty Gilpen and Kaleb Nimz are hosting several workshops this summer called "Express Yourself" at all Oklahoma County libraries.

"When we told people that we were going to teach kids graffiti we got a lot of funny looks like ‘Really? I don't know about that,'" Gilpen said.

The 23-year-olds are hoping to have a positive influence on younger crowds and show them how to legally express themselves with graffiti.

"I'm hoping that they have a positive outlook on graffiti and not the negative part that goes with vandalism," Kaleb Nimz said.

And there's plenty of negativity associated with graffiti this year. Just a few months ago Oklahoma City police made a plea to the public for more information about the people responsible for various acts of vandalism.

It's the kind of thing these 23-year-old artists highly discourage.

"I get frustrated when I'm driving from my house to work and I see on a stop-sign with ‘Sam '08' and I'm like ‘What? That doesn't make sense,'" Nimz said.

That's why the workshops encourage young artists to practice the artwork on a canvas or a designated area. With enough practice and determination the colorful work could one day evolve into a career-building hobby.

"We want to show others not all graffiti is vandalism," said Nimz.

Learn more about the "Express Tourself" sessions that are free for teens ages 12 -18.