By Christopher McGruer

"Graffiti all starts with sketching; a good graffiti artist is always sketching."

In a town of brick, stone, and siding, the vibrant and colourful tend to stand out. Three years ago, as the painting of a bright green vine crept across the façade of local restaurant Villa Nina's, a nebulous splash of luminosity took shape in the Belfast born, spray-can wielding symmetry of Billy Goodkat.
In the summer of 2016 I documented the creation of The Vida Mural Project. A project created by Morag Budgeon of The Artist Co-op and funded by The Community Foundation of Grey Bruce. Over a few weeks a group of art students from West Hill, OSCVI, and St. Mary's spray painted a large mural in downtown, Owen Sound. Billy GoodKat was tasked with designing the mural and leading the students in its creation. The mural stands as a testament to what can be created when like minded and passionate individuals come together.
We sat down recently in my front room over a couple of pints of beer to have a follow up chat about: graffiti, sustainable arts, home towns and new towns and the magical place every human can enter when they are fully engaged in something they care about.
Tell me about the difference between spray painting and graffiti.
Graffiti is like letter writing, so some may not consider what I do as 'pure' graffiti. I do, as I came out of that world. But the pure graffiti writers would see me as a spray paint artist. They'd probably have lot less respect for me because I don't write letters.
When did you start to graffiti?
I was fourteen, living in Belfast, Ireland. My younger brother introduced me. Our community had legalized graffiti within their block in a place called, 'The Walkway'. It was along an unused railway line, lots of concrete slabs and walls. Everyone would go down and paint. My brother and I became close after that. In the summer, we'd graffiti all day and in the evening as the sun went down, we'd play chess and have a cool drink.

Did you continue to paint as you got older?
Yeah, I eventually went to Southampton University in England and received a fine Art and Illustration degree. In the end, when they went through the lists of all the possible jobs and career choices, I didn't really want to do any of them. Going the fine art way means you have to get well known and then you can sell your canvases; it's a really long grind. I just wanted to paint right away, the money was never really a consideration.
What did you decide to do?
So, I knew how to spray paint and I thought instead of doing it for fun I'll do it for others. Essentially it's 'art as service, rather than art as product'. Basically, I take myself out of the equation, so I'm not the centre of it all. Provide a service for people and their business, paint in whatever style they wanted that would best fit their business.
This is in Belfast?
Yeah, I walked from shop to shop, and it started to become more of a thing, and I began to do more and more. It went really well.
When did you move to Owen Sound?
Five years ago, and the first thing I noticed was the people in Owen Sound are so relaxed and open to new creative things. They're very encouraging compared to other places. When I painted in Belfast not a single person would stop and chat, or even seemed interested or cared. They didn't bat an eye. When I began to paint Villa Nina's on 10th Street in Owen Sound what struck me most was how much people appreciated what I was doing. People stopped and chatted, honked their horns.
How did you find other mural projects?
After I'd done a few businesses, I was contacted by Morag Budgeon of The Artist's Co-op, to teach spray painting to a group of kids at a skill learning day funded by the Ontario Trillium Foundation. They had 20 different artists teaching kids from all across the area. The kids could come and learn any craft they chose; glass-making, print-making, candle- making and spray-painting, from one of the artist/instructors. They wanted to encourage students to try something new and learn a new skill and maybe discover a new passion through it.
This seems to be important to you. Passing on skills and starting a fire in people.
If you show people that there is an environment for them to be creative, and it's nurtured, it opens doorways. It gives people an option to express themselves. Creativity is what sparks thought and fuels everything else. It puts the idea to work. One great thing they did in Belfast, was to make it legal for any artist to move into any non-rented building for free. They'd put in a request and be able to use it as an art studio. It went from artists being unable to find a space to having whatever space you want.
Sounds fantastic.
Yeah, and once a building is being used it comes back to life. It has a positive effect on the other business around. All the empty building and properties come back to life. They can be used and put to work. The arts fuels industry. It's not all about the money though, it's about inspiring people.
Thanks, Billy.
You're welcome.