Termed “artist alley” (yes, super original we know) by someone at some point, this alley is host to bursts of color, thousands of bottle caps configured into murals, wall-art memorials to a beloved bar employee, and graffiti from the most talented spray-can handlers in town. In the middle of dumpsters and broken glass is a whole lot of unexpected beauty.

We conducted our interview in the middle of a paint day for some of the guys, who finishing up a wall they’d started before winter set in. dozens of spray paint cans surrounded us, 90s hip hop set the tone, and some Carmine’s pizza relaxed our stomachs as we sat behind the restaurant itself.

We talked about the origins of art in this alley, and about graffiti, community, tips for young artists and much more.

Here’s the transcript of our time.

-Mark


photos by Mark N & Cole Mead

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Mark: Let’s start with some introductions!

Eric: Hi, my name is Eric Haun. I’ve painted some vintage recreation metal signs up in the Roanoke neighborhood, about five of those. I’ve painted, I got a little free library up there that me and my girlfriend are the stewards of. In this Alley, I’ve done some bottle cap work, and I’ve got a mural back here. That’s about it. [for more about Eric’s work, check out our toadcast here].

Derek: I’m Derek, I’ve done all the Simpson pieces you see around town, and just random stuff here and there... a Pinky and the Brain car, a Transformers truck, Ren and Stimpy on 4th street, and Simpsons all over the place. And then, a Kansas City and Cardinals mural and empire and just a few random jobs. Mostly for businesses now, mostly do it for hire.

Mark: What have you done here in the alley?

Derek (laughing): Well it’s all covered now, it’s all gone. I wrote “Nerd”. So I did that. I actually didn’t roll a lot of this cause your timing, dude!  (points to Darryl)... you get up way [toad] too early. Like, I paint at three in the morning, and he gets up at like five in the morning ready to drink coffee and go paint… meanwhile I’m going to bed. (Darryl laughs).This was probably one of the coolest moments I’ve had in Joplin. We pulled Joplin Ave table #37 into the alley, sat 5 guys around it, and had an amazing conversation about the art that surrounded us in that very spot.

Eric: Was the laser shark a pokemon go stop? Its probably is still on pokemon go.

Derek: Ya, actually it was! There’s that trailer on Rangeline, I’m bummed that’s gone, and I did the Pikachu and that became a pokestop. There was a green dinosaur I painted in this alley, that was a pokestop. Or in the vicinity of the alley. I don’t even know what I still have in this alley!

Mark: As you create, you’re also slowly getting erased. (everyone nods knowingly)

Derek: Mhm, they’re rolling over our stuff.

Kevin: I’m kevin, I helped roll this alley. I got a couple pieces, like I got a piece at the shop.

Derek: You still got a boxcar sitting out there too I saw.

Kevin: ya, we got a couple boxcars around town. I just got into it so I don’t have too much started yet.

Ieane: I’m Ieane, and I’m about the same as kevin, we both started around the same time, most of my public art career stands from this alley, and i’ve hit a few small spots around town but nothing i’d be proud about. This is really my pride and joy, the only time i ever really get out is in the alley.

Darryl: Im Darryl, I write “sink”. I got tags here and there. A lot of this alley, these guys are all in my crew. Got stuff on the side of my tattoo shop, got stuff inside his tattoo shop (gestures to Derek), we got some stuff on walls, down the alleys with other guys from Kansas City. I got a lot of stuff in St. Louis… (pauses)... maybe... I don’t know, actually I haven’t been there in a minute. Here, there, and everywhere.

Derek: We’ll be in Kansas City this year in June in the masterpiece mural thing. First Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of june.

Darryl: Yeah, big mural thing in Kansas City we’re going to be a part of this year.

Mark: So my first question for you guys is, why this alley? What got you guys started back here? What makes it such a great place to work?

Derek: Ironically I started painting back in this alley years ago, because of the bars (blackthorn and Whiskey Dicks sit in the storefronts on one side of artist alley). I’d get a drink up here but- social anxiety maybe- I’d rather be out here painting. I kind of had permission, kind of sort of. Like the Blackthorn was I think owned by Roger back then and I think he wanted art on the back of the building, I don’t want to say that he owned it, maybe he did maybe he didn’t I have no idea. But I was granted permission so it just kind of happened. Kinda spread. Ironically this building is owned by family by marriage, so i kinda got granted permission by this wall (points to different building), now we’re trying to keep it within certain bounds, and basically we’re just trying to keep nice art on the wall that way, I mean all this stuff is gonna happen anyways you know what I mean? So if we’re putting up NICE art, what’s happening around town is- so far- where the nice art is stays. For the most part you don’t end up with random stuff, what we call “toys,” on the walls. Or [the inexperienced] wind up finding a different wall.

Mark: What are toys?

Darryl: Inexperienced writers [graffiti artists].

Mark: someone just throwing their name up with no real training?

Derek: Someone got a couple cans out of their dads stash in the garage and learning that this will do them many favors.

Darryl: Joe loves bobby or something like that.

Derek: Or my apprentice put a name in the alley. Name and dated it! (shakes his head, laughing).

Mark: what do you guys think of Joplin, as artists- what’s the atmosphere like here for creating and artistic community?

Derek: Cost of living is cheap and art supplies are expensive.

Darryl: I second that.
Mark: How much money do you think you’ve put into this alley? I’m just looking around and you’ve got a lot here...

Derek: Oh God, thousands? A couple thousand at least. In this alley I’d say there’s a couple thousand in wasted paint.

Darryl: Well yeah, there’s a lot that’s covered up now!

Derek: But I mean, how long has it been going on?

Darryl: Three or four years?

Derek: It’s been longer than that, If I got on facebook and scrolled back I’ve been on facebook for about 9 years and I have posts about this alley the whole time.

Darryl: I got my first piece here three years ago.

Derek: Yeah I guess we started painting together three years ago.

Darryl: Before that I found a couple spots where I painted trains.

Derek: It wasn’t as busy back then I mean, it took awhile for us to find each other as artists or whatever. And come together. I’d bump into eric out here in the alleys you know, and see his stuff. (looks at Darryl) Honestly, I didn’t know it was you doing it at first. I was inspired by the art you’d done, but the bottle caps was a new one and I was like ‘who’s doing that? (looks at Eric)’ you know what I mean, so It was definitely getting that kind of wild factor.

Eric: And I was being inspired by these guys and I kinda had a silly idea of, “hey i think i can do this!” I talked to the business owners, and they were like ‘go for it’ and everybody is super excited, everybody I talked to. And to me, if something works out then its cool, and if not then it’s not going to be there forever but you can contribute something now. To get on instagram and facebook, and see all of this art show up in senior photos, and people doing photo shoots down here, it’s pretty cool  to be a part of that- pretty [toad] cool.

Darryl: I’ve seen [the art/graffiti] as people’s profile picture on facebook and stuff.

Derek: i think the most awkward one was, we were down here painting and I got lost in it, I just get lost in it all. And a buddy was like, ‘hey, hey there’s a bunch of people coming.’ and I back away from the wall and there’s like a schoolbus parked down here, and the whole bus is unloading and it was like a soccer team or something that was coming down to do their photoshoot. And it’s cool you know. I’ll have somebody tag me in a picture and they’ll be like ‘hey these are my cousins senior pictures’ or whatever and they’ll be in the alley. It’s kinda motivating to put something good up you know? We know it’s going to be seen. I’ve been at Spiva and I’ve seen our stuff in the background of photos, that’s how they get away with it, if it’s in the background of a photo of a kid in the alley.

Mark: So there’s a question. I’m a photographer, I’ve used this stuff as backgrounds myself, you know. How do you guys feel about that? Does it feel like someone is stealing your work or does it feel like an honor?

Kevin: It is what is it.

Ieane: It is an honor, I think.

Derek: I mean it’s a gift.

Darryl: It’s here for everybody.

Derek: when I saw it at spiva, and first off I’m not making any assumptions, I’m not saying this is what they’re doing. It raised a question for me: what’s going on with these pieces of art? Is this a photo hanging up saying, “look at the photo i took” or is this for sale? Then yeah,  I mean, it sucks being poor, (gestures at the wall w/ the same phrase in gigantic letters) I would love my cut, you know what i mean! So just as a starving artist, I mean, if you’re making a profit off of it- well, we’re probably not going to see it cause you’re not going to tell us. But at the end of the day it would be nice. It’d be polite, it’d be the right thing to do [to donate some $$ to the original artist], you know? Like I’m not going to sell prints of someone else’s art and then not give a cut to anybody.

Mark: Where’s that line for you? If it’s a picture of just the graffiti, as opposed to a picture of a senior where the grafiti is blurred in the background?

Derek: If it’s a picture of the grafiti and its taken in a shot where someone uses it on facebook, or someone takes a picture and uses it for something (personal), that’s one thing. But i think when a price sticker gets put on it- I think that is a weird line. I don’t care about whoevers’ daughter is turning 18 and they’re having photos taken of her with my work, so i don’t care about those photos, I get that. But also they’re not selling those. It’s more an aspect of, there’s people out there running around taking photos of graffiti and they’ll sell that (as their own art).

Ieane: Or like downtown Joplin, is a historical spot, so people are just down here taking pictures of buildings all the time.

Derek: I mean, if you want to come down and take some photos and then hang them up somewhere, that’s awesome. I think it’s just at the selling point.

Mark: So Eric, changing topics. What was your progression as you started working on the alley? I know you did the bird back here, I don’t know how much the grafiti stuff was here when you did that a couple years ago, so talk about what all you’ve done back here and what led to what.

Eric: I painted this bird mural and then… it all evolves. At the recycling center I came across a bunch of bottle caps, and I was like hey, that’d be cool- i could do some sort of mural with those. I did some art with some metal can lids and i was like thats cool, let’s make a collage! And I could do a collage with bottle caps and started gathering those, talking to different restaurants and getting more, having enough, you know. But now I have 4 of those bottle cap pieces back here which, i think are cool.

Darryl: they are cool. Seems time consuming.

Eric: Super time consuming! But it’s worth it, because it is a gift, it’s a gift to the town.  That’s how you feel when it shows up in somebody's photo- I love it.

Derek: How much time do you have to work on your medium tho? Cause with mine I can [toad] up, and 12 seconds later its dry and I can come back to it.

Eric: Well some of these bottle cap pieces, i’m doing them at home on a piece of plywood and setting them all out and taking it all away and then doing it all again and have my girlfriend look at it and say yes or no. She’s taking pictures, and then when it’s all done then I caulk it all in and seal it up.

Derek: so the process doesn’t start with walking out [to the alley] with a bag a bottle of caps?

Eric: No, I’m taking it from that [pre-formed work] and then installing it.

Derek: Right, that’s cool. I didn’t know that either. I didn’t know if you were out here for three hours on a ladder.

Eric: I have done that before, the first one I did that. I was up there on a ladder with cups, sorting colors and trying to do it that way.

Derek: I guess I would [toad] it up. I’d get down and I’d say ‘i spelled route wrong!’ looking at your route 66 over here. (everyone laughs)

Darryl: R-o-o-t? Ha!

Eric: but thats some of the organic process. I know that you guys draw out stuff, I know you have a little drawing of a piece (Darryll holds up the drawing of the piece they’re painting today), but if that’s the idea of what you’re going to do. Which is cool, so it’s planned out, but I’ sure some of it is organic and I’m sure at the time it doesn’t end up being exactly like,  “hey I’m just going to run with this” [and not plan it out].

Darryl: Yeah, like this is just a general concept (points to wall) and I came in later and brought some other stuff in.

Eric: So it evolves.

Mark: Tell us about the wind chimes, Eric.

Eric: Well I hung some right there (points up), you think of the alley like, this is cool, people come here and they take pictures, you get to be apart of creating something cool in Joplin and it’s all volunteers and I mean all these guys, the time, the money, the energy, the thought- everybody is just volunteering to make the place better. So yeah, I was looking at that and I was thinking, yeah you got the smell of Carmine’s pizza, and the smell of restaurants and food. And then you got this visual of art and I’ve seen people out here picking up trash and I don’t know why but they’re doing it. But yeah you’ve got the visuals, and the smells… and there’s these weird pipes that hang out at the end of this building. So one day at Tj-maxx i was looking at these wind chimes, and they got these big ones for $20. Bought the wind chimes, came over here to the alley behind carmines pizza. The carmines guy was out here and he had this giant ladder, and he was working on something. I was like ‘hey man will you help me hang these up?’ and he said ‘sure!’ and here he is, this big tough Italian guy, he  came out here and held the ladder for me so I could hang that up.

Derek: Most of the neighbors seem pretty excited about what we’re doing.

Eric: But it’s kinda cool to add one more element you know? The sound, something kind of whimsical, and it’s cool that people are on board.

Mark:You guys are kind of creating a different perception to what this art is. How often are you met with kind of negative reactions to grafiti?

Kevin: it just depends on what kind of grafiti it is, if it’s just this stuff then its different, its art.

Derek: It depends on the owner of the building.

Kevin: Yeah that too.

Derek: Depends on age, and there’s a lot of other factors.

Darryl: You’re going to have people that like it and people that don’t, like in any aspect of art.

Eric: Some people are like do whatever you want, go for it. Show them pictures of stuff that you’ve done and go ‘hey this is some stuff i’ve done’ and they’re totally cool. And other people want to know exactly what it’s going to be, they want to know what it’s going to be to a T. And that gets complicated because...

Darryl: and that’s the people we charge.

Derek: Ya that’s what we’re actually charging for. We’re charging for the control.

Mark: So as you guys continue working, say you’re talking to the city of Joplin, How can Joplin like be a more conducive environment for this type of really good outdoor art?

Derek: grant a couple free walls and regulate areas where it’s allowed. Just like skateboarding, the skaters have a place to go and you know not every teenager wants to ride on a skateboard, some of those skaters do other [toad] than skateboard. You give the younger generation more [toad] to do and and they’ll do less [toad]. Cause then they’re occupied.

Darryl: keeps them busy.

Derek: Art is fun, I don’t care if you’re so called talented at it or not,  that’s a whole other debate. But give a kid a spray paint can and see him turn it down, you know what i mean? I got a couple of them at home they’re gonna go to town, and they might, they’re gonna make a [toad] mess. Give them a place to do it. And not only that. but that gives the community a chance to sit back and go, “we got a couple gems over here! We got a couple diamonds over here, lets contact them.”

Darryl: I gave my 8yr old a can of spray chalk that washes off in the rain, she sprayed her whole playhouse and everything out in the backyard. I look out the window and I’m just like “wow.”

Eric: Because of social media we get to see what’s happening in other areas and other towns. I know in fayetteville, they have the metal electrical boxes around town and they broke up the town into divisions, and one section is all butterflies and another is all aquamarine fish, so they get to paint on the boxes and that’s through the city assigning art.

Mark: So the city said ‘Hey we want you to paint on these boxes, go do it?”

Eric: Yeah! I don’t know the process though, the application process of “this is what I want to do,” If you submit that and they say ok go for it and to see that, and that’s a way to sprinkle art throughout the entire town. And you know that’s something an hour and a half away that’s a beautiful acceptance of public art. And or you could tie other things in you know- there’s a university here. We should have the Missouri southern section, and different lions. There’s like the five of us- each person could do a different lion head. Those should be on all those electric boxes. But there’s all kinds of red tape, and a lot of this [currently existing outdoor art types] is red-tape free. Its just you going to the business owner, and saying ‘hey man here’s my idea’ and they say ‘go for it’ and the red tape is nothing. Sometime... the owner grabs a ladder and says ‘dude i’ll even hold this for you.”

Derek: yeah. Ggoing to the city can be difficult, but I’ve kinda broken that barrier, now if you want to go up there with me, i mean these ideas are great you know and thats some [toad] I can see them getting behind too. We’ve been talking about doing a mural fest, and just the reality of cost, of what is wanted and what can be done is just not a reality right now. But that’s something that could be done on a smaller scale- we could do it throughout the city and it could be really cool. I think we should totally pitch that to the city!

Ieane: I’d like to bring up a point. After the tornado the city was kind of pushing people to create art.

Derek: Graffiti started going up and they didn’t stop it. Art started going up on destructive buildings and they didn’t stop it and it did kind of open up a bit of a window and I did see that too. I left town for a little or I would’ve been all over the place. But when I came back I started seeing [toad] start popping up in places and I was like ‘what?!”

Eric: Like that spirit tree, i mean i had nothing to do with that, but that sucker popped up and it was cool. It sucked to see it fall.

Derek: We suspended three individuals off of that tree one time. I hate to see that tree gone actually. Yeah that sucks.

Eric: But you still got that little feed the birds thing. And i don’t know who does that, but that’s awesome! And I appreciate the person for doing it. I’m glad they’re out there. Yeah i didn’t know most of these guys until we started crossing paths. But I respect the [toad] out of everybody for what they’re doing, cause they’re contributing to the town.

Derek: It’s fun to give something you know that we enjoy to do. Back to what you were saying earlier about the people who come and take the photos, it’s motivating. Makes us want to come back and do something even cooler next time. And every time we come we try to throw down something cool, but now we’re trying to collectively do it. As opposed to coming out here individually getting spots, we’re trying to collectively do it.

Darryl: more of a theme

Derek: Yeah, more of a theme. And there’s a big difference, you can see it. You know, it’s more uniform. So it’s fun. I know a lot of people will come out to see it and then they’ll come out to see what changed, cause the people who know it’s here know it’s going to change.

Mark: you were talking about your little daughter out there doing stuff and young kids that are getting into this art form. Talking to those young people for a minute, what advice would you give them? To teenagers especially.

Darryl: Draw, draw, draw.

Derek: Don’t be afraid to ask for advice, if you got people doing something that you’re interested in, don’t be so hesitant to ask them about it. You’d be surprised how willing other artists are to share what they know. I see that alot, i’ve been around a lot of people that are kinda hesitant to ask, and i’ve been there. There are artists i look up to and if i got to meet them i got questions for them and I don’t wanna bombard them with them but at the same time that’s my opportunity to learn, you know. So don’t miss out on opportunities like that.

Kevin: my big thing is respect. If you go, and you tag somebody’s stuff that looks like this, you know it’s disrespectful to the time they put into it. You know you need to do better than that, if you’re going to come out here and cap his [toad] then you better do something better.

Mark: I remember seeing that at the joplin depot, like there was some fantastic stuff down there years ago and then it’s all got covered up with junk.

Derek: it’s just they’re younger- and the people that get referred to us, their knowledge is not there, their respect isn’t there, i mean I get it, they’re new to it. you know, i mean it’s a new thing to them that they just found, some of them will find a passion for it and recognize their level, like i did. Like dude. i ain’t producing on the wall what i want, what I’m seeing these guys doing. That’s what inspired me to do it but when I put it on the wall I’m like, I’ll just roll over that real quick.

Mark: Where did you practice? I mean there is limited wall space, so where do people practice?

Darryl: sheet of plywood.

Derek: depends on your surroundings you know. The right neighborhoods will grant you those walls, garages, trains, trailers, a lot of trailers i’d hit a lot. My house, my entire basement is covered head to toe. My entire basement and garage is kinda my playground. Now that i’ve got kids at home you can’t really play with spray paint because then you’re getting the whole family high and that’s kinda frowned upon. And not only that but the kids will stay up all [toad] night. We found out that the glow in the dark cans have something else in them, we had one of them spit on us and it turned ice cold. Like it froze to his hand. He was reaching to get it out of the building, cause we were doing a job and we didn’t want to ruin the floor, basically the top popped and sprayed out a little volcano of paint everywhere.

Mark: your art is hazardous!

Derek: Right? There’s plenty of those things- like falling off ladders, I’ve done plenty of those. (everyone nods).

Mark: Any closing thoughts from you guys? In regards to the city of joplin, to other artists, to the community,? In regards to people who want to come see this alley after reading about it .

Derek: Get involved. I want to see more people out here doing stuff and it doesn’t have to come out of a spray can. There’s so many mediums that you could come out here and play with- bring glue and glitter! I think it’s cool to beautify the city and make it a little more artsy and to get involved with that. It’s a feel good thing. It’s a pick me up, it makes me feel better doing it and it makes people feel better coming out and checking it out.

FOLLOW the alley artists on instagram::

Eric: @erichaun
Derek /“dirt bird”: @n3rdone
Darryl / “sink”: @d_w_becker
(not present): @sez_ke
(not present): @silver_perez13

VISIT the alley for your own outdoor art installation experience in downtown Joplin MO: between 5th & 6th, Joplin and Wall.