What's the podcast? It's.
All going to be alright in the end.
You've got some worries, my dear Little rest your busy minds.
Because it's. Finally, time the stories from
now and then. Hello everybody, and welcome
back to Stories from Now and Then.
My name is Captain Blunderface and today we are in the craft
room of the old library with Story Swiftina and Deborah
Caddis, and we're making art. I'm using paper straps to make a
diorama of stages and microphones.
It's going very well. Stages and microphones.
That's very cool. And Deborah Caddis is over there
doing a portrait of all three of us.
Oh, he's done. Let's have a look.
Deborah Caddis Why is Story Swiftina so tall in this
picture, and why am I so short? Oh, I love it.
He really captured me. Why am I tiny in this?
Is that little thing actually me?
I'm way taller than Story Swiftina in real life.
You are not. We're basically the same height.
We aren't even in the same height neighborhood.
We are not in the same height postal code because of how far
up I am. Deprecatus, can you just not
draw me so small? He said he's accurate to his
vision. We'll get back to Deprecatus's
artistic vision, but before we start our true story about a
real artist, we have a shout out for Soren and Molly.
Soren is five and Molly is 2. Soren's hobbies are practicing
his ninja moves and Molly loves to build things and say let's
get to work. So Soren and Molly, today's
story is for you. And with that, we would like to
request a true story from Nicola.
Please take it away. You know, I've been feeling so
artsy this week as well. I've been doing drawings and
paintings, playing around with different colours, and it's so
funny because the story this week is a very special story
about a very special artist. An artist who sneaks through
cities in the darkness, leaving pictures on walls that make
people stop and think and smile and wonder.
Are you ready? Let's begin Once Upon a time.
Well, the time is now happening right this very moment.
Somewhere in the world there is an artist called Banksy.
But here's the strange and wonderful thing Nobody really
knows who Banksy is. Is Banksy a man or a woman?
Tall or short, Young or old? Does Banksy have brown hair or
red hair or no hair at all? Nobody knows.
It's the greatest art mystery in the whole wide world.
What we do know is this. Banksy makes pictures appear on
walls in the middle of the night, when everyone is
sleeping, when the streets are empty and quiet.
And these aren't just any pictures.
Oh no. They're clever pictures, funny
pictures, pictures that make you think about important things in
new and surprising ways. The kind of art Banksy makes is
called street art, or sometimes graffiti.
It means painting on walls and buildings instead of on paper or
canvas. Some people think it's
wonderful. Some people think it's naughty.
But almost everyone agrees Banksy's pictures make the world
more interesting. Let's go back to when it all
began, at least as far as we know, long ago in the 1990s,
which isn't that long ago. In a city called Bristol in
England, there was a young person who loved to draw and
paint. This person looked at the grey
walls of the city and thought, these walls are so boring and
plain. What if I could make them tell
stories? What if I could make them speak
now? In those days, if you wanted to
paint big pictures on walls, you had to work very, very quickly.
The police didn't like people painting on walls, even if the
pictures were beautiful. So St. artists had to be fast as
foxes. Most St. artists used spray
paint cans to make their pictures.
But spray painting is slow. When you're trying to make
something detailed and clever. You might get caught before you
finished. So the young artist called
Banksy discovered something clever.
They learned to use stencils. Do you know what a stencil is?
It's a piece of card or paper with shapes cut out of it.
You can hold the stencil against a wall, spray paint over it, and
when you pull the stencil away, there's your picture.
With stencils, Banksy could create detailed pictures in just
a few minutes. So pictures started appearing on
walls in Bristol. A rat wearing a crown.
A policeman with flowers instead of bullets.
Each picture told a story without using any words at all.
People would walk past these walls they'd seen 100 times
before, and suddenly there would be something new, something to
make them stop and look and think.
Who made this? They would wonder.
Where did it come from, they would ask, but Banksy never
told. Banksy stayed secret and silent
and mysterious. And then the pictures began to
spread, not just in Bristol, but in other cities too.
London, the great big capital city, started seeing Banksy's
art appear on its walls. Then other countries in America,
France, Australia, the Middle East, all around the world,
Banksy's pictures would suddenly appear like flowers blooming
overnight. Each picture had a message.
Some were funny, making people laugh at silly things.
Some were serious, making people think about wars and poverty and
unfairness. Some were simply beautiful,
bringing colour and joy to grey city walls.
One picture is of rats doing human things, holding signs,
wearing clothes, working together.
Why rats, people wondered, Because some said rats are
clever survivors, living in cities alongside humans, often
unseen and ignored, just like street artists.
Another picture is of a maid who's lifting up the corner of a
wall like it's a curtain, sweeping dirt underneath it, as
if the whole wall is just pretending to be clean.
And oh, the picture that's maybe the most famous of all.
A little girl reaching up, up, up toward a red heart-shaped
balloon that's floating away. So simple, so sweet, but it
makes everyone who sees it feel something tender in their heart.
People began to notice something else about Banksy's pictures.
They often appeared in places that needed beauty most, on
broken walls, in poor neighborhoods, in cities torn by
conflict, in places where people had forgotten to look for
beauty. Banksy seemed to be saying art
shouldn't only be in fancy galleries where you have to pay
to see it. Art should be for everyone,
right there on the street where you walk every day.
But here's where the story gets even more interesting, because
Banksy stayed anonymous. That's a big word, but it just
means keeping your name and your face a secret.
All sorts of funny things started happening.
Art galleries wanted to sell Banksy's work.
We'll make you famous, we'll make you rich, they said to the
mysterious artist. But Banksy would paint pictures
right on the walls of the galleries at night without
permission, just like painting on city walls.
Or Banksy would send paintings to be sold, but then do
something surprising with them. Once, Banksy made a picture that
sold at an auction for over £1,000,000.
That's more money than most people see in their whole lives.
And just as the sale finished, just as someone had paid all
that money, the picture started shredding itself.
It had a hidden machine inside the frame that cut the picture
into strips. Everyone gasped.
Was it ruined? Was it a joke?
But Banksy seemed to be saying the art isn't just the picture,
it's the story, the surprise, the moment when something
unexpected happens. And funnily enough, that
shredded picture became even more valuable because now it
came with an amazing story. Another time, Banksy made a
whole show, a pretend theme park called Dismaland, like
Disneyland but gloomier and stranger and full of art that
made you think about sad things in the world.
But it was also funny. And when the show was over,
Banksy gave all the materials to people to build shelters for
refugees, for people who'd had to leave their homes because of
war or danger. You see, Banksy doesn't just
make art to be pretty. Banksy makes art to make people
think, to help people who need help, to point out things that
are wrong in the world, but in a way that's clever and
interesting instead of just angry or bossy.
Of course, not everyone loves Banksy's work.
Some building owners get angry when they find paintings on
their walls. That's vandalism, they say.
That means damaging property without permission.
And they're not entirely wrong. Banksy doesn't ask permission
before painting. But other building owners are
thrilled. They put clear covers over the
Banksy on their wall to protect it.
They know that having a Banksy makes their building special,
makes people come to see it, makes their part of the city
more interesting. It's a puzzle, isn't it?
When does painting on a wall become art instead of just mess?
When does breaking the rules become something valuable?
These are the questions Banksy makes us think about.
Now you might be wondering, why does Banksy stay secret?
Why not show everyone who you are and take credit for your
amazing art? Well, there are a few reasons, I
think. First, if everyone knew who
Banksy was, it would be hard to paint on walls at night without
getting caught. The mystery helps Banksy keep
working. Second, when you don't know who
made the art, you think more about the art itself, about what
it means, what it's saying, instead of thinking about the
person who made it. And 3rd, and this might be the
most important reason, staying mysterious makes the whole thing
more magical. Every time a new Banksy appears,
it's like a surprise present from an invisible friend.
It's like finding treasure when you weren't even looking.
People have tried so hard to discover who Banksy really is.
Reporters have investigated. People have made guesses and
theories and wild imaginings. Some say Banksy is a man from
Bristol. Some say Banksy is actually a
group of people working together.
Some say Banksy is someone famous who wants to make art
without everyone making a fuss about it.
Some say Banksy is actually a famous musician in disguise.
But Banksy never confirms or denies anything.
Banksy just keeps painting, keeps creating, keeps making the
world think and wonder. Even today, right now, this very
minute, there might be a Banksy appearing somewhere in the
world. Someone might be seeing it for
the first time, stopping in surprise, taking a picture,
calling their friends. Come, see, come look.
A new Banksy appeared. And that's the beautiful thing
about Banksy's art. It doesn't belong to anyone.
You can't lock it in a house or hide it in a safe.
It's there for everyone who walks by, rich or poor, young or
old. Anyone at all can see it and
think about it and feel something from it.
And So what can we learn from the story of Banksy?
We learn that art can happen anywhere.
It's not just in museums and galleries, but it can be right
there on the street. We also learn that art can say
important things without using any words.
A picture of a girl with a balloon can make us think about
hope and loss. A picture of rats can make us
think about who we ignore in our cities.
A picture of flowers instead of bullets can make us think about
choosing kindness, and we also learn that beauty can appear in
unexpected places. The boring wall you pass every
day might surprise you tomorrow with something wonderful painted
on it overnight. Maybe Banksy will stay
mysterious forever and the art will keep appearing like magic,
making the world just a little bit more interesting and
beautiful, one spray painted picture at a time.
Either way, I hope the story of Banksy can inspire you to think
about what you could create to make your corner of the world
more interesting and more beautiful as well.
And that's our story. Thank you so much Nicola.
We are all ready to hang up our art now on the bulletin board.
Oh, actually Deborah Katz is adding something.
She's drawing around the little blender face.
It's you and you're wearing AT shirt of yourself.
That's why you are so small. You were just on a T-shirt.
Wait, I'm on a T-shirt. Wait, I'm wearing AT shirt of
myself. That's actually really good.
It's extremely good. Remember, if you'd like a shout
out, send us Adm on Instagram at Stories from now and then tell
us your name and something you'd love.
You could have a future episode dedicated to you.
And also send us a picture of your art, we want to see it.
And don't forget to follow us wherever you find your podcasts
so you'd never miss an episode. Stories From Now and Then is
narrated by Nicola Ward, music by Captain Blunderface, who is
played by Evan Weeb, and Story Swiftina, played by Mallory
Weeb. Thanks for tuning in and we'll
see you all next time on. Stories from now and then.