2.2.2021 klo 12:28
ARTI – Time to paint
The 3rd of November was the day it would all happen. The day we have been working so hard towards. We gathered at the electrical boxes in the city with our paint, spray cans and cardboard templates, but to our surprise a problem occurred at our arrival. Construction workers were busy around one of the electrical boxes we were planning to paint. Therefore we called it off.
So the 4th of November would be the day it would all happen. The day we have been working so hard towards. When we arrived at the boxes everything was fine luckily. So we started painting.
During the day of painting we had some challenges. “Working outside was a different experience for me,” Veera explains. “The street was really busy with cars and people walking past me. The biggest thing that was different was that it felt like everyone was watching.” While we were painting and a lot of people stopped to ask what we were making. “It was nice that people were interested and to hear people liked our art,” Janneke says.
Painting outside was also a challenge because of the weather. “At some point it started to rain”, Joni describes, “so we had to be careful that it wouldn’t ruin the paint. And also, I wanted to do some more details in my painting, but it was just too cold.”
Our paintings were finished just before it was getting dark. We were all really proud of our work and of each other’s work. Our messages were now out there for everyone to see.
Veera’s message is about the well-being of her favourite animals, cats. “I added them in the hair of the woman and I painted a cat in her hands. The message I wanted to show is that we should do more for the well-being of cats, or stray animals in general. Because so many cats are abandoned every year in Finland and that should stop.”
Joni’s artwork is an action against bullying. “Bullying happens a lot, not only at school but also at home, online on your phone or computer. Bullying someone is not funny at all and can have big consequences for the victim. I want to send that message to everyone,” Joni explains.
Janneke’s painting is a sign of acceptance. “I’m an exchange student at OAMK and I have been welcomed and accepted by this city and everyone here. Being accepted and to accept others is very important because everyone should be able to be who they are. My painting shows how I’ve been accepted here in Oulu.”
Marjaleena took photos of the finished paintings on the electrical boxes. Now another exciting part started: the AR animations. Using the photos of the boxes, Marjaleena could start making the animations and put them in the AR program, Zappar.
Creating the AR animations was not easy. “I already designed 3D models before the paintings were finished but simply put the models didn’t work in the AR program. So I had to make new models. Another problem I had was putting multiple 3D models into the AR program. It didn’t work, so I had to connect the objects somehow. I’m really happy I fixed these problems and everything works now.”
After finishing the paintings and the AR animations, the last part of the project started, promotion. We started promoting our project on Instagram. We made an account for ARTI (@artioriginal) with behind the scenes photos. We documented the whole process and are posting every week to show people what we did during this project.
By: Janneke de Wit and the ARTI team