Jumped Up in July

In June the test boots arrived. A dozen. These were for the participating artists. We had no idea what we were getting into. We had leather samples as well. Just plain boot leather to test.

What type of paint do you use for leather?
Will the waterproof treatment prevent the paint from sticking?

Johanna first tested tattoo inks (there's a story there too - maybe later).
Tattoo ink DID not work - it was runny; it got on EVERYTHING; the colors did not work well with the boot color. Not a great solution.




She then tried fabric paint. This had potential on a piece of leather.






Johanna wanted to make sure the boots could be worn. She set the test leather in a swimming pool for 24 hours. It still looked good, even after a soaking!

How the Project Started

Johanna McKenzie had long been interested in an arts project for the Art League of Rhode Island (ALRI) to engage a different population than the membership. She was really interested in kids. She was also interested in something that might involve an anti-graffiti project.


In November 2006, she read about the Timberland boroughs project. In this project the Timberland company (http://www.timberland.com) used boot leather to create billboards for New York graffiti artists to paint. (Image thanks to Gabriel Jeffrey at flickr). These billboard were part of a bigger campaign, the 10061.com project that aimed to strength ties with the hip-hop movement.

Discovering a company that was interested in doing something with artists and a tie to graffiti on a surface other than someone else's building knocked down the biggest wall!