All children are born artists, the problem is to remain an artist as we grow up.
— Pablo Picasso.
I don’t know how to paint. I never took an art class after 9th grade. I thought it would be fun to try throwing paint at a big canvas, but I didn’t want to hang up tarps in my apartment and get paint all over the place.
I built a wall out of plywood and put it in my friend’s backyard. I hung canvases on it, and, without a real plan of what I was going to create, I started throwing paint everywhere. I didn’t think too much; I just let it happen.
One of the beautiful things about experiential art like this is that you can’t really mess it up. Anything you do becomes a new part of the painting. For someone like me with no artistic training, this was the perfect way to make something new.
It went great. The painting is still hung in my apartment, and every time people come over, they ask me about where I got it. Then, I get to tell them the story of my artistic afternoon.
I knew I’d want to do it again, but the set up cost and the time it took me to build the wall, not to mention the fact that I couldn’t keep using my friend’s back yard forever, made me think I wouldn’t be able to.
That’s when I came up with the idea for Splatter Charlotte.
There must be people like me in this city. People who want to express their creativity but feel they can’t hang drop cloths up on their apartment walls and get messy. People who want to make their own art, but are afraid to lose their security deposit or damage a public place and then have to pay for it. I want those people to experience the same feeling of accomplishment I felt when I realized that I could create valuable pieces on my own.
This is a space where painters of all skill levels can come, relax, and create one of a kind works of art. They can experience the satisfying sensation of cups of paint messing up a blank white canvas. They can make art by themselves, with a loved one, or for someone else. Then, when someone looks at the wall in their house and says, “Where did you get that painting?”, they can say with confidence,
