Four days. Fifteen youth artists. Infinite creativity.
GraffLab 2026 brought promising young artists into Portland's Central Eastside Mural District to learn the craft, history, and practice of public art directly from local professional artists. The camp kicked off with a tour of the Mural District led by Executive Director Tiffany Conklin. Teens explored street art from local and visiting artists and discussed placemaking, third places, and the intention behind public art.
Each day opened with a short presentation, followed by hands-on activities led by working artists that helped teens build their skills lesson by lesson. Inspired by what they learned, on day 3 the teens refined their creative voice and began crafting their own mark.
On the last day, a massive new mural came to life! Each teen created their own letterform and filled the space with techniques learned earlier in the week. It was amazing to see them apply their new skills so quickly and creatively!
LEARNING FROM WORKING ARTISTS
Artist Devin Finley
Artist Galen Malcolm
GraffLab was led by veteran artist Devin Finley, who taught 'Can Control 101,' which focused on line weights, dot sizes, shading, blending, and layering. Board Member Galen Malcolm assisted throughout and taught 'Style Writing' and 'Letterform Basics.’Alongside foundational classes, guest artists Nia Musiba, RX Skulls, and Wokeface shared what life as a working artist looks like and led hands-on, small-group lessons.
Legendary wheat paste and sticker artist RX Skulls led a Linoleum Carving & Block Printing workshop, where teens printed custom symbols onto black books and sticker sheets, the same technique behind RX's classic skull graphics.
Nia Musiba led a Bucket & Roller Fills workshop, where teens learned basic mural techniques and practiced their creativity by filling in the letters of "Portland Street Art Alliance" for a mini mural.
Illustrator and merch wizard Wokeface closed out camp by sharing her journey from street artist to entrepreneur, and then led a workshop where teens created wood art inspired by characters and personas they'd developed at GraffLab. Teens even left with a swag bag of Wokeface goodies, the perfect way to wrap up camp!
““It’s a privilege to have a big chunk of time with young people who are interested in street art and want to throw their hat in the ring. I thoroughly enjoyed sharing my experiences and advice with them.” ”
YOUTH IS KEY
At PSAA, we don't just support working artists; we also aim to educate and uplift the next generation! That’s why programming like GraffLab is so important to the creative growth of our community. As part of our commitment to lifting all creative voices, over half of GraffLab students were able to attend camp on scholarship.
Learning hands-on techniques from working artists gave the teens a unique opportunity to gain real-world experience. The passion and creative talent of this year’s crew was phenomenal! It was a joy to see the work each day, and we were thrilled to see the progression of the students over the 4 days of camp!
““My teen had such an amazing time at the camp. By the end of the four days, they truly did not want it to end! She was so happy to be a part of the winning design team!””
COMMUNITY THROUGH CREATIVITY
The 2026 GraffLab mural, titled "Paint Does Xist," is a manifestation of shared knowledge, learned technique, and individual expression, coming together in a fantastic public collaboration. The beauty of the mural comes from each artist's individual style coalescing into one message, with each letter becoming part of a whole.
Thank you to the fifteen participants for your dedication, creative risk-taking, and endless creativity. Congratulations on creating a wonderfully collaborative, creativity-infused piece of public art for the community!
A huge shout-out to those who made GraffLab possible behind the scenes! Thanks to PSAA's GraffLab Program Coordinator and former camper, Saphya Razaqi Lones, PSAA Board Member DeAngelo Raines, and Assistants Roxana and Daisy.
GraffLab 2026 Mural - 1535 SE 3rd Ave. Portland, OR.
GraffLab 2026 Crew!
SUPPORT GRAFFLAB
Programs like GraffLab are essential to a thriving creative community! With half of the teens being able to attend free of charge, support from our sponsors, grant funders, and donors is paramount. Interested in sponsoring GraffLab 2027?
GRAFFLAB IS SUPPORTED BY
Scenes from GraffLab 2025
“Such a great experience for my kid! They had an amazing time and enjoyed all parts of it (guest speakers, history, collaboration, etc). I loved seeing what the group created at the end of the day. My kid we be definitely be interested in more opportunities like this.” - GraffLab 2025 Parent
