{"id":113,"date":"2020-10-16T17:42:43","date_gmt":"2020-10-16T17:42:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capradio2020.nextgenradio.org\/?p=113"},"modified":"2020-10-16T19:39:54","modified_gmt":"2020-10-16T19:39:54","slug":"muralist-in-chico-sees-increased-demand-in-the-time-of-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capradio2020.nextgenradio.org\/2020\/10\/16\/muralist-in-chico-sees-increased-demand-in-the-time-of-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Muralist in Chico sees increased demand in the time of COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio alignleft\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/capradio2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2020\/10\/KIM_Jedrek.mp3\"><\/audio><figcaption>Chico muralist Jedrek Speer has been surprised by the growth of commissions during the pandemic.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Wall-filling murals with flamboyant, colorful letters that spell out words like \u201cunity,\u201d \u201clove\u201d and \u201cgrow\u201d are sprinkled across the city of Chico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Muralist and graphic designer Jedrek Speer, also known by his moniker <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.seizerone.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Seizer One<\/a>, has created these works of art and witnessed firsthand the community\u2019s increased interest for murals amidst the ongoing global pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI was actually surprised at how many people approached me during the literally full-blown pandemic,\u201d said Speer. \u201cLike everyone&#8217;s at home, everything&#8217;s shut down and people are like, &#8216;yeah, we want to paint this mural.&#8217; And I was like, weird.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, Speer painted a mural for the Boys and Girls Club organization in Paradise, a neighboring town to Chico, where Speer spent the majority of his adolescence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The mural, depicting a forest and an outstretched arm covered with the words, \u201cHere we grow!\u201d was a project that had personal resonance for Speer.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video alignwide\"><video controls poster=\"https:\/\/capradio2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2020\/10\/Kim_01.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/capradio2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2020\/10\/JedMural.mp4\"><\/video><figcaption>\u201cHere We Grow\u201d mural with the Boys and Girls Club of Paradise, California. (Video courtesy of Jordan Claverie)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\"><figure class=\"alignright size-medium\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"230\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/capradio2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2020\/10\/Kim_02-230x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-88\" srcset=\"https:\/\/capradio2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2020\/10\/Kim_02-230x300.jpg 230w, https:\/\/capradio2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2020\/10\/Kim_02.jpg 459w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 230px) 100vw, 230px\" \/><figcaption>Jed Speer (Screen shot courtesy of Jordan Claverie)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt was an interesting reflection because it wasn&#8217;t the best time in my life growing up there,\u201d said Speer, now 43. \u201cI was often on my own quite a bit, which gave me a lot of freedom and it gave me independence as a person and I think it made me who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Speer was also approached to create a mural outside of Catalyst Domestic Violence Services during the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s four large words: love, safety, support and respect. Two of those words, ironically, are part of \u2026 a long time vision of mine to paint a series of words in Chico: peace, love, unity and respect that comes from rave culture back in the \u201890s,\u201d said Speer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Chico, the response to Speer\u2019s murals has been mostly positive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI just can&#8217;t believe how many people are super stoked to see any kind of mural going down,\u201d said Speer. \u201cPeople were like, \u2018Oh, two days ago that was a massive gray wall and had been that way for 50 years,\u2019 and now it&#8217;s these big, huge, beautiful, drippy letters and people are pretty stoked, honking and wailing with tons of thumbs up and all that kind of stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"682\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/capradio2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2020\/10\/Kim_03-682x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-84\" srcset=\"https:\/\/capradio2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2020\/10\/Kim_03-682x1024.jpg 682w, https:\/\/capradio2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2020\/10\/Kim_03-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/capradio2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2020\/10\/Kim_03-768x1153.jpg 768w, https:\/\/capradio2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2020\/10\/Kim_03.jpg 999w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 682px) 100vw, 682px\" \/><figcaption>Speer uses facial protection when working with spray paint, which is his primary medium. Previously he was a graffiti artist in Los Angeles. (Photo by Trevor Claverie)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>But in Los Angeles where Speer has also painted, he said that people swore and threw eggs at him while he was working.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Speer, his own perception of his work is complicated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s interesting that the things that I put out there are super positive, beautiful and awesome, but 90% of the time I don&#8217;t really like them,\u201d said Speer. \u201cThey&#8217;re not enough for me.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But he finds joy in the process. \u201cAnd in the end, it\u2019s something beautiful and awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>\u201cNow more than ever, people need any kind of small nudge in the happiness direction. And I think this checks that box.\u201d<\/p><cite>Jed Speer<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"660\" src=\"https:\/\/capradio2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2020\/10\/Kim_04-1024x660.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-85\" srcset=\"https:\/\/capradio2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2020\/10\/Kim_04-1024x660.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/capradio2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2020\/10\/Kim_04-300x193.jpg 300w, https:\/\/capradio2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2020\/10\/Kim_04-768x495.jpg 768w, https:\/\/capradio2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2020\/10\/Kim_04-1200x774.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/capradio2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2020\/10\/Kim_04.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>In communities like Chico, art brings people from all kinds of backgrounds together. (Photo courtesy of Jedrek Speer)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jedrek Speer uses spray paint and blank walls to bring joy during the coronavirus shutdown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":399,"featured_media":124,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[8],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capradio2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capradio2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capradio2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capradio2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/399"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capradio2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/capradio2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capradio2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capradio2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capradio2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capradio2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capradio2020.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}