Spray practice!

Deck fun.

Customized boards.

Race to the finish!

“I felt completely comfortable with my limited skills. The instructors helped when needed but really let me jump in head first and explore my talents. One of the coolest things I’ve done in San Francisco.”-Allison

“1AM workshop blew me away! One of the must-dos in SF and in life!”-Candice

“The 1:AM crew was friendly, knowledgeable and completely authentic. They guided our team through the process of creating original art for our office space and helped us to throw up a sweet mural. It was a fantastic experience. I want to do it again!”-Raymond

Racepoint reppin' hard.

And to think, it all began months ago with a chance encounter between 1:AM’s Marketing Director and Racepoint Group’s executive Vice President Bill Orr at the S2 Consulting Company Holiday Party.  He wanted a dope activity for his team and 1:AM did its best to deliver.  If you’re also interested in having a private workshop for your team, business or group of friends, please contact Class Director Gina at: gina@1amsf.com for more information!

More photos on flickr.

Under the direction of Nate1 and Roman, they met every Saturday in May and one Saturday June.  Check out the photos chronicling their experience.

Practice.

After the letters, comes the background.

Muralizing.

A simple but strong message: "Girls Stick Together"

Thanks YMCA Bayview!  We can’t wait to see your next creation, girls!

A team from Facebook wanted to celebrate the completion of one of their big projects.  But being a leader in innovation and out of the box thinking, Facebook was looking for something different… something with a little bit of creativity, ingenuity, and something with a lot of awesomeness. With their cooler of drinks in tow, they headed to 1:AM to get down on the corner of 6th and Howard.

Nate1 and Robert Gonzalez, one of our in-house artists, took the team under their wings and showed them the way of the graffiti artist.  Below are photos that capture the play-by-play of their day at 1:AM.

Q&A with Mr. Nate1

Robert instructing how to spray stencils

And they're off on the wall! Concept was created by Facebook-ers.

Nothing but smiles at the end of the day.

Facebook's creation: H A C K

WHAT AN AWESOME DAY!  Thanks to Facebook for spending their day with us and having a fun-do attitude!  The minute we saw that cooler roll in the gallery, we knew this group of people were ready to throw down and have lots of fun.

If you and your team are in desperate need of something fun to boost morale, look no further, 1:AM gotchu.  Contact gina@1AMSF.com and let her help you customize a graffiti workshop for your company today!

GlobWorld.com, a part of wish B LLC, wanted to celebrate the soft launch of their website with style and that’s why they approached 1:AM to do just that.  Daniel Castro, the studio manager of the Globworld team, contacted us months ago about customizing a graffiti workshop that was just all about spraying. Our kind of guy.  He brought his team of 20+ people and they got down and dirty and lived the life of street artists for the day.

Practicing!

Having so much fun stenciling!

Spray painting fun!

Mural time!

GlobWorld Team!

Nate1, teacher of our Art of Graffiti class, and Roman, 1:AM’s art director, really did a good job of sharing their knowledge to the group and giving them a taste of life as street artist.

GlobWorld is a 3D social media space designed to safely connect kids with their close circle of friends and family. Set in the crazy colorful world of globs, their site was built for kids with curious minds and creative streaks — and for parents who value online safety, privacy, and ridiculous fun. There are no strangers on GlobWorld — it’s a place to connect with only those your children are closest to in real life.  Visit their site and sign up for GlobWorld!

Finished mural.

If you and your team are ready to kick the habit of boring offsites, contact gina@1AMSF.com and let her help you customize a graffiti workshop that your company will be talking about for years!

Chaz and Pengo droppin some knowledge on Nate1's Art of Graffiti Class

To sign up for Nate1′s April class, click here.

Brian Goggin and Attaboy finally meeting!

Attaboy came through to support Brian Goggin’s “Operation Restore Defenestration“.  They have been running in the same circle for almost 5 years but they had never met each other.  1:AM gallery was happy to make the intro.  Numbers were exchanged and even Hi-Fructose magazines passed hands.  By the way, Attaboy and Annie Owens are having a great exhibition running at Copro Gallery in LA right now.  Peep the art here.

Mark Bode and Dan talking shop

Mark Bode came in on Friday to discuss his June solo show at 1:AM gallery with Dan.  We started to get excited because he was talking about his new works, Bode broads, original sketches…  We’ve probably given away too much.  Just be here June 25th for his opening reception.

You never know who is going to walk through 1:AM’s doors…

We did a q&a with Pedro to learn more about how he became such an awesome teacher:

Can you tell me how old these kids are?

7th grade / 12 yrs old

What school do they go to?

Ring Mountain Day School

What class did they do this for?

Studio Art class

How did you come up with the idea to stencil on skateboards for one of their projects?

I’m always exploring how to integrate art and its many different forms into my students’ daily lives – whether it’s the design on their t-shirt, a graphic on a skateboard, or an interesting photo they took on their cellphone – getting them to think creatively will benefit them now and down the road. This is the first time I did this project and the idea came from watching some of my students skate to class. A friend recommended the book, Disposable: A History of Skateboard Art by Sean Cliver and then put me in touch with DLX skate shop in SF where I bought the used decks. After the first “Stencil” class with Roman, I thought of bringing in one of the boards and the Skate Art Project came to fruition. An old skate deck is a great “canvas” to work on. You can leave some of the original scratched paint, wood, stickers, and artwork showing as a sort of glimpse into the history of the board and let the viewer visualize where it has traveled or you can choose to paint it over and create a completely new and unique statement. It also serves as reusable / functional art – add some trucks/wheels and you’ve got basic transportation (if there are no cracks in the board that is ; ) .

How did you get into teaching?

As a practicing artist I always knew I wanted to teach and share art with others someday. I was hired two years ago for the New Teacher Institute program in SF and this is my rookie season as a head teacher.

Man, Pedro, you are one cool teacher.  We wish we were as lucky as your students and had a teacher like you growing up.  We need more teachers like you engaging students positively and making true connections with the youth. THANK YOU!

Keep the creative juices flowin, kids!  You guys rock!!!

Check out more of the student’s artwork on our flickr.

THE URBAN ARTIST / HUSTLER’S HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

1.  Montana Hardcore Guacamole Green: A great color to add freshness to any art piece  – $6.00

2. Black books:  Get graff writers and artists to add some funk in his/her life by always carrying a sketch book for them to hit up.  This is a must have for all urban artists, aspiring and established, and graffiti appreciators   – $13.00 & up

3. Gingko Press’ El Mac / Retna book: Simply put, this is SIIIICCCKKKK.  Shows off their amazing collection of work – $19.95

4. 94 Turquesa: A poppin’ color and a favorite for everyone who comes by – $6.00

5. Sento book: Learn letter styles from the OG from New York – $25.00

6. Steel Tip Krink Markers: Ink that will go on any surface, won’t tear like the mop tops – $12.00

7. New Skool Onesies: Make sure the kids look as dope as their parents – $23.99

8. Blackbook Sessions: Need inspiration for pieces? This will open their mind to new techniques and styles – $22.95

9. KidRobot Fatcap: Channel that inner child in everyone and start a collection of designer vinyl toys.

10.  CLASSES! CLASSES! CLASSES! CLASSES!:  Give the gift that keeps on giving.  Urban art classes a perfect way to tap into anyone’s creative side.

Stenciling with Roman: An easy to learn step by step process to creating and applying a stencil – $50.00

Art of Graffiti with Nate1: A great introduction to the Art of Graffiti from an old skool writer with a New Skool style – $40.00

Toy Modification with Lily Black: The many diverse techniques of toy fabrication/modification are made incredibly simple in this class – $70.00

Sign up here.

Finish your holiday shopping with us!  Gift certificates available, too!

We got an email from a gentleman named Shailesh from eBay’s User Experience design team.  He wanted to have his team, which consists of 25 people, learn more about graffiti.  Instead of taking his team to a, yawn, white elephant brunch, he wanted them to get down with the funk.  So, 1:AM responded by creating a customized graffiti workshop for them, that included history of graffiti, a mural walk tour, painting on the wall, and stenciling t-shirts.  Here are some pictures from the day:

Listening to Nate1 and Roman talk about graffiti

Of course defenestration is part of the mural walk!

Shailesh getting down!

Special treat for the eBay-ers, Mike "Bam" Tyau on site to drop some knowledge

Wall crazy!

Stenciling!

When they were told that they were allowed to paint on the wall, they just went for it and didn’t look back.  You can see the excitement in everyone’s eyes, so the teachers, Nate1 and Roman, stepped back and let them just go at it.  People painted hearts, Maneki Neko (good luck beckoning cats), Iron Maiden, Bart Simpson, letters and more.  The eBay-ers were such naturals at the wall.

Nate1 and Roman did a fantastic job teaching the eBay crew about graffiti.  We also had a special cameo appearance by Mike “Bam”.  The eBay-ers were lucky that they had all three of these guys dropping their knowledge on them.  We were grateful that Shailesh approached us to do this at 1:AM.  One of our goals as an urban and street gallery is to educate people about graffiti and dispel some of the negativity that surrounds this art form.   After the workshop was completed, I heard “Today was a good day” by Ice Cube playing in my head.  Indeed it was, a good day for the team from eBay and the crew at 1:AM.

eBay crew represent!

For more pictures, visit our flickr account.

If you are interested in our classes or group workshops, please email gina@1AMSF.com or visit www.1AMSF.com/classes/

Special thanks to Gina and Rocio for making this day happen!!!

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Hi Twick,

Just a note to let you know I finally got a really good slide of your beautiful Lady Xoc mural at 24th and Capp, and we are using it in our mural slide show as a very fine example of innovative use of spray can. Thanks again for giving our community such an inspiring mural, people LOVE it!

Patricia

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This an awesome email for Twick to receive about his work.  If you haven’t seen it, here are some pix… but I do advise you that it is so much more inspiring in person (especially since there were cars parked in front of the wall when I took this).

He is also going to be part of the Estria Invitational Graffiti Battle on October 10th at deFremery Park (Little Bobby Hutton) in Oakland.  Make sure you go root for him because he is reppin’ the streets of San Francisco. Visit www.estriabattle.com for more information.

Saturday, 9/19/09 from 4 – 6pm: Lily’s FREE Toy Modification Demonstration

Friday, 9/25/09 from 7:30 – 10:00pm : SHOPWARS!!! hosted with Delicious Drips

Click here for more information about Shopwars.

Saturday, 9/26/09 from 11am – 3pm (even though it goes through 6…we’ll play it by ear): 1:AM has a booth at Expo for Independent Arts at Golden Gate Park’s Music Concourse

Click here to learn more about the Expo.

Thursday, 10/08/09 from 6:30 – 9:00pm : “Don’t Sweat the Technique: Can Film Festival” with Estria Invitational Graffiti Battle

Saturday, 10/10/09 from 11am – 5pm: Estria Invitational Graffiti Battle Finals @ deFremery Park

Click here to get more battle info.

Saturday, 10/17/09 from ???? : Public opening of “Wonderland” (Even though Roman and Robert are going to start working on the mural a week before opening…if you are in the ‘loin, make sure you say hey!)

For more information about Wonderland, click here.

Then, CLASSES throughout September and October!!!: Stencil, Toy Modification, the Art of Graffiti, Mural Production…

If you are interested, holla at gina@1amsf.com or sign up here.

Phew!  I am tired already and I feel that I am missing something…  Hope to see some of you at these events!