If you’ve ever strolled past Wynwood’s graffiti wizardry and thought, “I’d love to be able to do that,” then it’s about time you learned and maybe give it a spray yourself.
Miami native Pedro Amos can help with that. Amos has been a graffiti artist for 30 years and he’s the owner of The Pedro Amos Gallery in Little River. He has operated Miami’s Best Graffiti Guide since 2016, offering daily graffiti classes. Guests first tour his gallery and workspace and learn the history of the craft, before getting cans in their hands to spray away on an 8-foot by 16-foot wall. “In part, this is to help destigmatize what is a common misconception … that all graffiti is vandalism,” Amos says. “In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Graffiti can be a powerful tool to revitalize our neighborhoods and beautify our community.”
In 2019, Amos visited four continents and 19 cities spray-painting murals and completing other art projects. 2020 was slated to be his biggest for travel yet, but the COVID-19 pandemic inevitably led him to further focus on his hometown endeavors.
Beyond his own work that he describes as, “big, bold, bright, and full of color,” graffiti classes are a major part of his day-to-day.
The hour-long classes run $55 per person and typically accommodate up to 10 people. Amos says they are booked online months in advance and include spray paint, protective gear, and instruction from Amos or another master of the craft. With spray cans in hand, students have the freedom to paint whatever may be inspires them in the moment.
In addition to locals and tourists, Amos has tapped into the corporate and team-building spaces, hosting retreats for work teams from Chanel, WD-40, Air Jordan, and more.
Amos says most of the folks who attend his classes report that they had no idea how difficult graffiti art was until they tried it out for themselves. He adds, “I also hear, ‘My finger hurts,’ ‘I didn’t know I had to spray for so long’ and, ‘How do you make the paint not run?’ quite a bit,” he says, laughing.
“But it all comes with years of practice. And I enjoy so much explaining, showing, and educating all of my students. They walk away with another level of respect for the art form, for sure.”
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