DIY Green Graffiti: Making Moss Murals

61 by LiveOAK Staff on September 8, 2008

I came across a cool article on Environmental Graffiti about Anna Garforth and her Mossenger street art project that involves adorning public walls with green graffiti made from moss. Using the method that Garforth is using, disaffected youth can turn their tagging terra-friendly by making moss murals.

The Moss Green Graffiti is completely natural and organic, as opposed to traditional enamel based sprays that are ridden with CFCs, VOCs and a host of other scary acronyms that make mother nature cringe. The best part is it's relatively easy to make...

So if you are a Highway Vandal with a conscience or an eco-friendly artist check out these tutorials and recipes to get you started...

Instructables

Stories From Space

Category: Art, DIY | Tags: Art, Design, DIY, graffiti, green

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http://www.greenecoservices.com cathy

This is so cool! If moss didn’t take so much water, i would try doing this in our drought southern california!

Loga

You know, there is a special type of desert moss that you might be able to try. Dont know if the recipe will work with this stuff though.
http://n/a lindley

moss requires 1/1000th or less additional water than grass does. it can be mixed with water retention gel (about 15 to 20 bucks for 30 gallons of slurry)… and yes it can be used as a ground cover to save water. i have found some varietals that can tolerate quite a good deal of direct sunlight. find out what the soil makeup and ph is in the various parts of your yard, keeping in mind to note the amount of sunlight the individual ares receive, then find corresponding mosses and either propogate or make a slurry… many recommend beer and sugar… i’m a yogurt and water retention gel guy.

http://www.eylos.com eylos

Wery gorgeous a work.
Thanks
http://modernurbanliving.com tracy

I really love this idea! We shall see if it catches on in NYC.
http://ouija-board-store.com DragonOak

Great idea!!!!!
Sudsy

Quote:”disaffected youth can take turn their tagging terra-friendly by making moss murals”
Great idea. I love its green creativeness but this will never catch on with taggers as they are all about defacing, not enhancing the environment…

http://Website(optional) БPATAH

Пока успел прочитать только эту одну запись, если и все остальное также хорошо, то автору респект
ruckus

well that’s a bit of a generalization, and as such has many exceptions
http://n/a lindley

you are wrong.. gangs leave trash, artists leave art. most taggers belong to the latter category. some artists have a distorted sense of self worth… if you want examples check out banksy’s work. he was actually chastised by israellis for making the wall ‘too beautiful’
Becky Striepe

I agree. There are taggers who aren’t interested in beautifying the landscape, but many are artists. Like Lindley mentions, Banksy is an excellent example of a graffiti artist who adds value rather than detracting from the landscape.

http://www.naturallyearthfriendly.com Brianne

That is beautiful graffiti. I agree with Sudsy, “taggers are all about defacing.” Maybe the police who catch them and make them clean it up, can also make them do this type of graffiti after they clean up the paint? It’d be nice if they had to put up inspirational quotes or poems or something we would want to look at.
blargh

These commenters seem very ignorant about the art of graffitti. I think this moss idea is lovely, and definitely an eco friendly way to adorn walls, but more “traditional” street art is not all about defacing public property. Of course, sometimes it is intended to deface or even mock a pice of property as a form of protest, but in many cases a viewer would not have to stretch very far to call a piece of graffitti an art piece. While I’m not a fan of the environmental impact of paint sprayed from cans with damaging propellants, that’s no reason to disregard a long standing and beautiful art form as simply destruction of property. Do a google search for Banksy if you would like a vast array of recent examples.

http://n/a lindley

right on.. banksy.. maybe we could use his stencils with moss.. and what about mud stencil designs?

http://yahoo susie holdman

gross…how does it smell?

http://n/a lindley

it’s moss… not molds or mildew… so… uh.. like the color green. nothing.

http://url.ie/h1b?426902500/426902500426902500/426902500/426902500/426902500/426902500 web design company

Green Graffiti

…disaffected youth can take turn their tagging terra-friendly by making moss murals. The Moss Green Graffiti is completely natural and organic as opposed to traditional enamel based spray that are ridden with CFCs, VOCs and a host of other scary acronyms that make mother nature cringe…
http://www.fatfoogoo.com Microtransaction

Dang! That’s really cool! Sadly, I’m not sure how many taggers are going to stuff their pockets full of moss instead of spraycans, but I have to say, if my building was tagged with moss…i’d be far less irritated, and much more likely to leave it up. Perhaps even frame it?

Nicholas

Well said, you read my mind on that one

Abigail Lewisohn

This is an excellent idea, taggers would not use it though. But it looks great and saves the environment.
Paulie

This is a wonderful idea! So beautiful!

I don’t think that taggers are actually trying to deface property, they just see it as a blank page that they can fill with their artwork. And they have no empathy or respect for the owners so defacing someone’s property means nothing to them. Parents no longer teach their children bounderies and so they think the whole world is for their taking.

Cheryl

Taggers ARE trying to deface property. Graffiti artists are not taggers. It is a completely different thing. Graffiti artists make murals which are artistic. Taggers just spray initials, names and swear words. Totally different concept. If you called a graffiti artist a tagger you would likely get slapped upside the head. They hate it as usually taggers not only deface property but other people’ s artwork. Taggers are scum.

http://n/a lindley

the art of tagging involves laying down a tag.. or an image of the graffiti artist’s moniker. almost all graffiti artists tag.

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becky

wow. just stop leaving comments concerning things you have no idea about.
Ross

obviously not to manny “taggers” here to defend themselves, i can’t speak as a tagger, but i think some would definitely use this.

type in “banksy” into google image search if you dont believe me.
http://www.lu-n-am.blogspot.com/ Lu n’ Am

I would love to see these in my town.
It’s hard to believe these are relatively easy to make…but “shrugs”
very nice
-Lu
autumn

I love the idea
AND
not all graffiti artists are taggers
don’t be mean : (
Seraph

From what I understand, there is a difference between Graffiti and “Tagging.” Taggers often try to tag impressive targets, to prove they can as much as anything. Tagging is usually just a name or symbol done in spray paint. Graffiti is either the gang-related and marks a particular gang’s “territory” but can also be the works of art mentioned above.
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http://www.evergreenroatan.com William Engel

Thats great I’ll post a link on my blog http://howtogogreen.wordpress.com, it’s a great place for people that don’t quite think the way we’re supposed to. Keep trying, don’t give up! We recently started a solar company in Honduras, only to find ourselves being squeezed out by one of the largest solar distributors in the world. Why? Because we were not going to charge enough for the panels! Check out the Blog or go to http://www.evergreenroatan.com and see more!
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metaphysicsbob

taggers will not use this? im sorry how many of you guys know any taggers, and i mean real taggers, ones that do it for a life style, ones that view it as art and not as just another way of getting there name or gang on walls?

one of the worlds best taggers in the world is a vegan who cares about the world greatly and ive met him in person, and trust me he would love this, sure not ever tagger will like this but then again i bet the same percentage can be said about the general populace as a whole, please dont stereotype a group of people

who knows maybe you will see a banksy doing it
http://www.gogreentube.com Beth

I love this idea, you really can make this into artwork.
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SpeshalD

Graffiti is ALL about recking shit. Fill-ins, outlines, burners tags. Art comes second- maybe.

Nicholas

Graffiti is just a name given to writing in walls, and “green graffiti” is just a catchy name. There is much more that can be done with this, a lot even in your own back yard.

By the way, there is great art made with this stuff, just browse a bit more http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/moss-grass-graffiti/2147

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http://www.djeeno.net Light Graffiti

not bad …
http://mcgregorsdaughter.blogspot.com Mr. McGregor’s Daughter

Now that’s graffiti art!
Thomas

Too bad it only works in areas with humidity. Here in the West, some people think humidity is just a myth.
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http://Website(optional) Максим Кузьмичев

Ну так и без недостатков и достоинства незаметны
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http://yamazon.org yamazon

I’ts nice!!
thanks for sharing.
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http://www.buildcheapsolarpanelsguide.com/ Robert Allen

This is a huge point, I wish I would have thought of this earlier.
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http://www.egenergy.com/ load shedding

Graffiti is still graffiti – and moss can be destructive. Whether it’s written in moss or in paint, graffiti is still only a self-important message from someone marking territory that isn’t theirs alone.
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[...] growing paint. You can cover entire surfaces, or you can create stunning like the ones seen over at GreenUpgrader. For a primer, try Instructables. Image: Hamed [...]
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Very cool. I wish we had this in my area, though I think the temps here would kill the moss pretty quick.
http://www.egenergy.com/ Energy savings

Graffiti is still graffiti – and moss can be destructive. Whether it’s written in moss or in paint, graffiti is still only a self-important message from someone marking territory that isn’t theirs alone.

rwt

Energy savings > you comment is pitiful. Art has always been an extremely important part of society, whether on a canvas or a wall. It’s a excellent way to express your point of view freely without passing through any “system”.

Your narrow-minded way of thinking clearly shows that you are chained to those systems and that because someone tells you (e.g. your authority) graffiti is bad, you don’t ask yourself any questions as to why?

If you paint on a concrete wall, you might be changing the appearance of the wall but you’re not destroying it. And anyway, the wall destroyed something else in the first place (e.g. nature, another wall).

Hope you get to think a bit more about what “property” and “destruction” means.
Nicholas

On all fairness, I must say that there are many ugly walls which can be improved by some green graffiti. Besides, this is a pretty, completely washable form of painting.

And yes, graffiti can be art and can be a transforming tool. I personally would have a big smile if I walked into a graffiti of this sort.

And last but not least, a graffiti does not need to have a negative message. Why cant we make one that makes people smile?

Poofs

Does it come out as neat as they show us in the pictures? I’m afraid my art will be messy once I make it and wait for a long time for it to grow.