Shanna Sloyer| Special to The Capital-Journal
Graffiti artist Jason Riedel promotes community through art, using the city as his canvas.
Riedel got his start painting over graffiti in alleyways and on the walls of businesses. He would often approach business owners and ask if they would like him to create something for them.
Now, he has commissioned works all over Topeka and northeast Kansas.
“I used to get chased for it, but now I get paid for it,” said Riedel, joking.
Artist had to relearn craft after suffering serious head injury
He began painting at 6 years old when his grandparents, Joe and Leona Williams, taught him to airbrush. Despite being color blind, Riedel excelled at his craft. Following a serious head injury as a young man, he had to relearn everything he knew about art.
Riedel’s business name, Spacin Jason Art, makes light of the challenges he faced after his injuries.
“I have a bad memory honestly," he said. "I’m a little spacey sometimes.”
Riedel’s work can be found from one end of Topeka to the other, including at the Kickstart Saloon and NOTO Arts Center, a local skate park and the Brown v. Board of Education historical site, and at Happy Basset Brewing Co.
He also created a mural inside of Thornton Place senior living residence to honor veterans and another at Mirror Inc. residential re-entry center, with messages of hope for those re-entering society following incarceration.
His favorite projects involve collaborations with others. He often invites local artists to participate in graffiti jams, where anyone in the community is welcome to contribute to a project.
“Community art helps give everyone a voice and an outlet that they may not know they had before,” said Riedel. “I used to go by [a mural] and think, ‘that’s my wall,’ but it’s way cooler to hear other people say ‘that’s our wall.’”
Murals are way of bringing communities together
Riedel is celebrating the five-year anniversary of one of his largest community projects to date. Work on the mural titled “Common Ground,” located outside the of the Topeka Law Enforcement Center at 320 S. Kansas Ave., began in May 2019 and was completed by September.
At that time, Riedel said it was the only outdoor mural on a police station in the United States.
The mural evolved into a community-wide effort, with local businesses sponsoring the project and providing meals and supplies to the artists. Riedel said community members would stop by while they worked to tell their own stories, including a woman in her 80s whose husband had been a police officer decades before. Each artist also had the opportunity to leave a piece of themselves hidden in the mural. One painted in the name of a deceased pet, while others included likenesses of family members.
“The whole community came together. When whole communities come together, we can do that with other things too,” said Riedel. “There are studies on community murals that show that if a community takes ownership, it lowers the crime rate within a five-mile radius.”
Fear can be obstacle for budding artists
In addition to bringing communities together through his art, Riedel gives lessons to help others find their voice. He recently taught an art class to students at Jefferson West Middle School. He said youths already believe they’re artists, but somewhere along the road to adulthood, they lose that belief.
“If they can have an outlet to express themselves, they eventually grow up to be an artist,” said Riedel. “A lot of people who are artists are introverts. They don’t know how to express themselves; they may not have that skill yet. I always think about how many Jimi Hendrixes haven’t played a guitar.”
One of Riedel’s biggest challenges is helping budding artists move past any fear they have about making art.
“People are scared to paint on the canvas," he said. "You have to expect to make mistakes.”
Riedel began making art as a way to express himself and tell his story. He sometimes includes hidden messages in his work. Dots are representative of an individuals’ struggles, while bricks depict the walls people put up to keep others out and protect themselves.
He also illustrates an individual’s progress or growth through vines of flowers, with the flowers growing more beautiful as the vine progresses.
Adults can sign up for art class with Spacin Jason
Spacin Jason will offer an adult art class at Jessie’s Bar at 5011 S.W. Topeka Blvd. on June 29. He also has future commissions at a local pediatrician’s office and plans for a brand mural at The Drunk Bernard Tavern in Scranton.
Riedel said the cost of a mural can range anywhere from a couple hundred dollars to a few thousand, depending on the project.
“A lot of businesses may not think they can afford a mural," he said, "and they get scared to ask.”
He said business owners will often put up a commercial sign instead, which can be more or just as costly as a mural. While murals aren’t perfect like a digital product, Riedel said that’s what makes them stand out.
“That’s where the real beauty is," he said, "in the individual artist’s style.”
The public can view and purchase individual pieces of Jason’s work during the NOTO Art Fair in Veteran’s Park on Aug. 3.
