As the Brantford Arts Block prepares for its Deck the Walls skateboard-art exhibition, former Brantford resident Sam Bradley is spending most of the weekend turning part of an old crate into a piece of art.

In the alley behind the Arts Block, using a 12x6-foot piece of wood as his canvas and spray cans as his paint, Bradley is creating a graffiti mural which he expects will take around 15 hours to complete and will be part of the Arts Block exhibition which is scheduled to run from October 9 to November 1. 

Bradley, now a 27-year-old artist for an animation studio in Toronto, is using the piece to challenge people’s concept of art by using the word virtu , meaning fine art, as the focus.

“It’s kind of a juxtaposition between graffiti and fine art,” he said.

During four years of college, Bradley says he regularly made street art but stopped since he started working as a location designer for George Elliott Animation.

Now, he says that Deck the Walls has given him the opportunity to contribute to his hometown’s art scene.

“This is a lot of myself in this art because nowadays I don’t do this type of thing,” he said. “It’s nice to be able to come back to Brantford and make art because I never really did that before. I was never really a part of an arts movement and there wasn’t really these opportunities here before.”

Bradley believes the Arts Block is opening up opportunities for local artists, opportunities which Arts Block executive director Josh Bean is glad to provide as he believes the city has a lot to offer.

“I think there’s a lot more talent in Brantford than people realize,” Bean said. “This exhibition should open it up more and showcase that we’re trying to create opportunities for all aspects of culture.”

Deck the Walls is being run by the Arts Block in conjunction with Indecks Skate Shop and will tap into the skate culture by featuring skateboarding photography as well as about 15 skateboard-deck art pieces designed by local area artists.