Almost a year ago, some of our team had the opportunity to go on a study trip to Iceland through Erasmus+ funding. This gave us the opportunity to visit local youth centers in the capital, Reykjavik. We got to meet the staff there, see what their youth centers look like, and learn about what youth work entails there. One of the main things that caught most of our attention was that the interior of these centers was very cozy and creative—there were lots of pictures, drawings, paintings, and graffiti on the walls, all made by the young people themselves. This made us, especially the Lille team, think about whether and how we could bring more of the young people's own creativity into our youth room. Until now, we have had boring, empty white walls, on which we occasionally put up information posters. However, we already have a very cool passageway, which was designed by one of the young people and decorated with graffiti spray paint – a big thank you to Anna-Triin Pensale! When we returned from Iceland, we kept dreaming about the idea that we could also have more eye-catching wall paintings to add some sparkle to the room.
First, we gathered input from the young people themselves about what they would like and what ideas they had. Next, we created a few idea sheets in Canvas, where we put rough sketches of what could be put on the walls and where, giving them the opportunity to indicate whether they liked the idea by checking the "Yes" or "No" boxes on the same sheet. We adjusted our plans accordingly and tried to involve the young people and their opinions in the process as much as possible. Once we had reached final decisions on where and what exactly would go where, it was time to start drawing outlines on the walls. We had discussed that we definitely wanted to let the young people color and paint them themselves, but since drawing the outlines was a very long, detailed, and patience-demanding process, we decided to do it ourselves. To do this, we used a projector to project a large image onto the wall and then traced everything with a regular pencil. By the time we got to this stage in April-May, unfortunately, not many young people were coming to the youth center anymore, which made it more difficult to involve them, but it gave us a good opportunity to do the first part ourselves so that we could then give the young people more freedom. During particularly slow moments, we also painted some lighter or smaller pictures with the staff to create some effect in the room that would inspire the young people even more.
It has become a tradition that when Car-Free Avenue is held in July, the Lille youth center is closed at the same time. In connection with this, we decided it was the perfect time to invite young people interested in painting to the center, so they would have a calm environment to realize their work. We posted a call on the Lille youth center's Instagram story to find specific young people who genuinely had an interest in doing something like this. It went incredibly well, and we found two very enthusiastic and skilled young artists who came to paint in our youth room at the end of June/beginning of July, resulting in much cooler walls now!
We also asked young people themselves for feedback on the process, which you can read here:
Teele Lestal
1. Please introduce yourself briefly and tell us how you came across the opportunity to paint for us
I am an 18-year-old girl studying interior finishing at Tartu Vocational College. I got this opportunity when I stumbled upon a Lille youth center Instagram story that offered such an opportunity/experience to make the youth center more appealing and colorful for young people.
2. What was the most difficult part of painting the picture? Why?
Working on the picture wasn't very difficult; it was even easy. Although sometimes there were young people who made a bit of noise, and I would have preferred to work in silence, it wasn't a major problem.
3. What did you enjoy most about the process?
What I enjoyed about the process was being able to create a new look for the youth centre and be a part of it. Additionally, coloring it was very calming and offered an opportunity to shift my thoughts away from the environment. I have also simply drawn out thoughts and feelings, which is very calming. What I liked most about this process was that I could leave my footprint in the youth centre and the picture with my good will, care, and love.
Juliana Klement
1. Please introduce yourself briefly and tell us how you came across the opportunity to paint for us
Hello! I am Juliana Klement, a member of the fifth composition of the Tartu City Youth Council. I also attend Tartu Children's Art School. I follow the Instagram of Tartu youth centers and saw a post inviting people to come and create a mural.
2. Which picture was harder to create – Bart's or the Minecraft figures? Why?
It was harder to create Minecraft because it required more details and thorough planning.
3. What did you enjoy most about the process?
What I liked most about the process was watching how the picture on the walls became increasingly real. My friend Emilia Bulattšik also helped me, and I am very grateful for that.
Many thanks to Liisi Soo, a youth worker at our center, who was very actively involved in this project and contributed the most artistically from our team! Special thanks to our wonderful young people who contributed to making our youth center more enjoyable and homelike for them now!
Article author Helen Voogla
