Sheri Barclay and Make It Not Suck
When I was in elementary my school library ran an “ugly book beautification program.” Kids were allowed to pick a book with a worn cover and replace it with their own, homemade drawing. The librarian would laminate our artwork and fashion a brand new student designed book jacket.
Like my elementary librarian Sheri Barclay has initiated a similar program on the streets of Edmonton. She is the mind behind Make It Not Suck, a project that organizes a group of artists who appropriate construction walls in downtown Edmonton creating impromptu art galleries. So far three different sites have received Sheri’s treatment. All of the images here are from Make It Not Suck 3. You can see more of the project online at The Make It Not Suck website or at Sheri’s personal site. Better yet, walk down Jasper Ave beteween 104th and 105th streets or 100th ave between 105th and 106th streets.
IOH: A little background on yourself?
SB: I’ve never met anyone that had a remotely similar upbringing to myself, so that sums that up. I’ve always had a vivid imagination and many media/artistic/computer and organizational skills that I’ve built up over my several jobs in several industries. I moved back to Edmonton in 2006 after living in Brooklyn for 3 years, and I needed to keep myself busy.
What is “Make it Not Suck?”
Make it Not Suck is sort of like temporary graffiti, but more interesting and a completely different aesthetic because artists are asked to create the work at home and then wheatpaste it (preferably but the lazy ones just staple) onto the site. It’s sort of the same idea as a billboard for an advertisement but instead it’s straight art. The idea is to make the canvas as big as possible, to cover the entire space, and also to make something cool to look at. Downtown Edmonton has a ridiculous amount of these empty spaces with all the construction, and the beauty of it is, the construction is temporary anyway, so how long it stays up is irrelevant. But it looks so much better in the meantime then some board with a big cock spray painted on it.
How did the idea for this project / show / movement originate?
I’d been really into the idea of making huge billboard versions of my photographs and also wall murals in my apartment, and I thought it would be cool to do one publicly and I kept seeing these boards everywhere with graffiti and advertising on them and just thought, what a perfect spot for that, but then I wanted it to be bigger and cover the whole building. I thought it would be cool as well if no one really knew what the fuck it was about or why this image appeared. I couldn’t cover a whole building by myself so I thought that if I asked a bunch of people if they want to do it as well, we would have no problem covering the site within minutes. There would also still be that mystery for people downtown scratching their heads. I thought of an easy system to organize this online (I have a strong web background, and I was a club promoter so I know how to use these skills together to organize shit and make sure that people are committed.)
Who are the people involved and how did you find and organize them?
I already knew a lot of artists per se. I say that loosely because they’re more just creative people who want an outlet once in awhile but aren’t making a career out of it, and just want to have fun. I set up a blog with a photo of the site and each chunk of plywood was numbered. You chose a number and put your name next to it. Once that was done I sent out a date and time to meet and put the work up and told people since there were so many that it was strictly yes or no. And like I said, I already had a large pool to work with due to social networking sites. It’s like a social networking site’s wet dream actually, to use the internet to organize and create an event. Except this one was rad and not some stupid band nobody cares about.
The public response to “Make it Not Suck” is mixed, some love, some hate. Have you heard much criticism from people involved in the art scene specifically?
Yeah a bit, but those people are all losers and I could care less. They also don’t understand that I don’t give a shit about the art scene or art in general. And they’ve written me off as some nothing punk so we’re even. Except I won because the general public and the press fell in love with the project, and how could you not really? Oh wait, unless you’re some pretentious asshole.
Have you or anyone involved had any run-ins with the law?
No, there is nothing overtly illegal about what we’re doing, it’s not like we’re ruining glass windows or something, we show complete respect to the temporary site, and I hope the cops have better things to do. A couple people definitely pussied out of the project because of this aspect, but for everybody else it gave us a little rebellious rush. It’s fun to be a punk once in awhile and it’s even better if you’re doing something worthwhile.
The street-art scene in Edmonton has been gaining momentum slowly. Make it Not Suck acts like an avalanche, taking over entire city blocks in one morning. Are there any artists involved who had never done any work in the street before?
I think so, I’ve seen little bits here and there but you don’t notice them as much because they’re not big enough. What makes me so happy about it is that people are now taking their own initative and putting up even more stuff on the site without me having to organize it. I walked by the latest one the other day and this giant cat poster had appeared out of nowhere. Someone also drew a giant heart with my name in it, which was about the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen in my life, but not exactly the idea.
The newest installation took place in November. Do you have plans for the next one?
Sort of, the winter is kind of rough and I get a little discouraged from some of the new people involved because they’ve built it up in their heads as so epic and I mean, it is but I don’t know it’s like they expect more from it than what it is or something but I’m trying to weed them out.
I know a few people who want to be included in the next round. How can someone get involved? Is Make it Not Suck exclusive, like a crew that I have to get jumped into or can someone just tag along?
Well, you already figured out how to find me so you’re on the right track, and I have a radio show so I’m pretty accessible. I send out the blog and it’s first come first serve, and then there’s a period where people ‘can’t do it anymore’ which really pisses me off, but I then send it out again to the people who missed the boat. I also let people know it’s not that black and white, there’s room on the site for little things but the idea is billboard style. A lot of the people that did it I had never met in my life. They just showed up and we didn’t even hang out after; we all split. But for a moment when everyone showed up they all helped eachother wheatpaste and it was kinda magic.
How do you see the project evolving from here?
Like I said before, it has started already. People are just making huge shit and putting it up, it happens in other cities too, it’s not that unique but I think Edmonton has more motivation now, and they just really ‘get’ the idea without me having to explain it. And I looove the mystery, like you don’t know how it got there but there you are on your way to work and this giant cat is like “hey what’s up?”
Personally, Latitude 53 asked me to curate a show at their gallery and I did, but they sort of misunderstood me and I didn’t really know what the fuck I was doing. I had a great time and I thought it looked better than whatever other stuff they usually have there but you know, that’s just me. I don’t think it will happen again but that wasn’t my goal.
Make It Not Suck exudes the DIY ethic. Do you think that people can embrace the work in MINS and appreciate it on a similar level to a work that they would find in a gallery? Or is DIY immediatly equated with a lower form of art?
It’s not for people that go to galleries, I don’t care nor do I like this question, NEXT.
What do you think about the decomposing nature art on the street? How do you respond when something is torn down right away? What is a satisfying length of time for a work to be up?
The satisfying length is when we all finish after about 20 minutes and everything is pristine and everybody takes it in and takes a couple pictures and then watches in complete fascination as people and the weather destroy it.
Why do you do Make It Not Suck?
I need lots of love and attention to be happy.