The “Together Mural” at Raycam Community Centre
In advance of the Strathcona Street Party in 2018, we worked with the youth at Raycam Community Center to collaborate with graffiti and text artist, Ben Johnston, for a mural that faces the community centre.
Project Description
Savanah and Adrian from VMF and Jodi Gibson, the Youth Programmer at Raycam, gave the youth from all the after-school programs at the Raycam Community Center the chance to shape the message in Ben Johnston's mural. The youth were asked: What inspires you? What Makes you Smile? And asked to draw or write their answers on a big sheet of paper. The answers were sweet, funny, and even practical. The theme that stood out from the answers was the importance of friends, family, brothers, sisters, moms and dads! Almost everything that inspired the youth was about feeling connected and supported. What makes them smile? Togetherness! This became the theme for the mural and the word “TOGETHER” was painted in 20 foot high letters.
Raycam Community Centre
Raycam is an incredible community hub. They like to say that they are not a Community Centre, but rather Raycam is "The Centre of The Community."
Meet the artist
Ben Johnston
Ben Johnston is a creative director specializing in art direction and custom typography for advertising, murals, installations and events helping bring to life numerous types of projects. In addition to running the studio he is continuously creating new fine art pieces to be shared in exhibitions. Raised in South Africa and currently splitting his time between Canada and the US, Ben has also been involved in various conferences and mural festivals around the world. As a multi-disciplinary artist & designer winning numerous awards for projects with Fortune 500 companies to working with a variety of NGO’s, his main focus is on finding unique approaches to each opportunity drawing on inspirations from his encounters throughout his travels.
Ben Johnston's Mural was funded by Low Tide Properties.
