A native of Illiana (Illinois-Indiana) now residing in Denver, East graduated from the Chicago Academy of Fine & Performing Arts in 1988. This classically trained scholarship recipient and teacher’s apprentice excelled in the arts of Intaglio printmaking and color theory. His love of technical lines and color spilled over into his passion for urban art, and East became a leading influence in the Illinois underground art scene and is a founder of Midwest graffiti styles. With more than 30 years’ experience, East continues to surge forward — through his consistency and perseverance, he has earned the title “Midwest Master.” East is the lead instructor for CRYP’s Waniyetu Wowapi Lakota Youth Arts & Culture Institute, and he continues to pursue his passion for letters and lettering styles. This will be his fifth visit to RedCan.

Scribe lives in Kansas City, Missouri, and is well-known for his animated public murals and gallery shows throughout the United States as well as in Canada and Mexico. His playful and often humorous work features a menagerie of animal characters that he has developed over many years. He intersperses personal iconography, biblical and fairytale references, animation and metaphor in works intended to serve as contemporary parables. Through accessible idiom and image, Scribe incorporates humor and play in the conveyance of serious messages regarding personal integrity, attainment of knowledge and adventure. He currently serves as art director for Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, and he is producing a chapter book for kids ages 8-13 titled “The Scribble Squad,” which will be available in September.

www.scribeswalk.com

Wundr is populating the space we live in with his playful, mischievous and always evolving illustrations. The characters he creates are not meant to represent any specific individual, but are stitched together from pieces of all of us. Wundr is currently producing artwork in multiple mediums, including murals, illustration, toys and fine art. Influenced by traditional graffiti, cartoons and comics, Wundr’s work provides a fresh take on designing characters that are constantly creeping into our known habitat.

www.wundr.org

Muralist and painter Ryan James Ryoe leverages color and scale to create his works. With strong roots in the freight train graffiti art movement, Ryoe captures the stress and excitement that often comes with train painting, using identifiable levels of chaos and control within his work. Natural elements, human figures, and typography are commonly juxtaposed to create his individual style.

Biafra Inc. (pronounced bahy-ah-fruh or bee-ah-fruh) is an artist residing in the Twin Cities. He took his name in part from Jello Biafra from the band Dead Kennedys, the first band he got into that had content in their lyrics. His work is a visual retelling of stories that are apart of his life; much of it takes a critical look at “white” culture. Biafra is a multifaceted artist who uses a variety of mediums, including spray paint, screen printing, stencils, stickers and posters. As his work spreads across North America, he continues to work tirelessly to get his imagery out to the public.

“My work is a reflection of the culture around me. I retell stories that I have experienced or been told through my illustrations and large-scale murals.”

www.biafrainc.com

179 is a muralist and teaching artist in Seattle, and works with the community on public art projects and workshops. Her goal is to create safe and beautiful spaces for community members by engaging them in mindful installations. She loves working with youth and challenging their brilliant minds to think about their roles within the rapid growth of our city. Her work strives to engage the viewer to be a part of their environment through observation, critique, and participation. She believes community engagement is vital to successful art planning, and art should be accessible to all. Her focus is education and leading by example.

Lawst uses his Potawatomi, Menominee and Puerto Rican heritage to influence and shape his visual artwork. His murals and photography examine social and political issues such as the criminalization of immigrants and indigenous populations, urban life, and self- identity. He has been a part of many collaborative mural events across the country, is a member of City Mischief Murals, and is the Founder of Intertribal Styles BIPOC Graffiti Jam. 

Rock Cyfi Martinez is a native to Tucson, Arizona. He is now lives and creates in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Pulling from elements of his surroundings in nature and life, Martinez uses these themes throughout his work. He is influenced by his Mexican American heritage and native descent. A self-taught artist born in 1980 with more than 18 years of experience as a freelance muralist, Martinez has produced more than 300 murals throughout his career.

www.cyfiart.com

I was born in Mexico in 1972, but I was raised in the Northside Uptown community in Chicago. Arriving in 1976, I attended Chicago Public Schools and graduated from Nicolas Senn High School in 1991.

I went on to attend the American Academy of Art in 1992-93, and the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1995, where I took general courses in liberal arts and sciences. I hold a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia College with computer, technical and animation skills. At Columbia, I also was able to gain skills in screenwriting and developing other multimedia disciplines.

I have experience teaching art in classrooms, which I’ve utilized at Roosevelt High School, New Trier High School, and Evanston Township High School, to name a few.

My expertise is in street art and Aztec cultural imagery and mural paintings. It has been featured in the Chicago Sun-Times, Redeye, La Raza, and other print publications; it also has been featured on WGN News, Fox News, CNN, NBC, ABC News, and LatiNation. My mixed-media designs and creations have been displayed in Chicago galleries, on Michigan Avenue (three times), and in the National Museum of Mexican Art.

I live in Chicago with my family.

Hoka Skenandore was born in 1982 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. His multicultural roots include the Oneida of Wisconsin, the Oglala Lakota and the La Jolla Band of Luiseño, as well as Chicano heritage. He grew up in a home where he learned to appreciate traditional native art as well as fine art. On his own, he embraced the DIY ethos of punk rock, hip-hop culture and painted graffiti art. He transitioned from painting graffiti to working on murals in the Albuquerque metro area. After a year in AmeriCorps, he attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2006. He is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of Oklahoma. He also has written for First American Art Magazine and Contemporary Native Art Magazine, and he recently contributed his perspectives on the intersection of graffiti, street art and indigenous culture to a chapter written by Matthew Ryan Smith, titled “Indigenous Graffiti and Street Art as Resistance.”

Lucious/Lucid is an enrolled tribal member of Marten Falls Anishinaabe First Nation and has paternal ties to Constance Lake Oji-Cree First Nation. She is an active graffiti artist and muralist. She is a project coordinator for an all BIPOC artist collective called City Mischief Murals. She utilizes art to elevate community voice, healing, and advance change. She has been part of several community arts-based events and mural projects throughout the United States, Canada, Africa, and Mexico. She uses acrylic paint, aerosol paint, traditional Native American artforms and dance as a personal and political tool to address, explore and portray contemporary indigenous struggle.