A Jay Kaes street art gem in Leeuwarden
I was blown away when I encountered the mural Reading Unlocks Creativity at Stenden Hogeschool in Leeuwarden on my daily walk. When I say daily, I had skipped about a month as I was already getting enough exercise from cycling to my new day job on the other side of town. That meant I missed the creation of this mural. So when I suddenly came across this stunning street art, I was swept off my feet.
If you want to see more photos of the creation, you can find them on Jay Kaes’ website.
Pick up a book
They say a picture is worth more than 1,000 words, that makes it a bit of a contradiction to write a blog about this mural. I even think the title Reading Unlocks Creativity is too much… Just look at the open mouth, the eyes that light up, the focus, the black-and-white turning to colour…
When you see this mural, you want to pick up a book, so it makes sense it’s on the wall of the library. Getting more people to read, was exactly what Writers Block Murals — what a name! — and the Fries Lees Offensief (Frisian Reading Offensive) intended. They assigned Jay Kaes to create a work of art that does that. At first, I wondered if Stenden was the right spot, surely students read enough, but that is my pre-digital student brain at work.
Students are online all the time now, picking up a book is not so obvious to them as it was to me. I read the artist’s post on instagram:
“This mural is part of a campaign to inspire 25,000 students who pass by daily to rediscover the magic of reading. It was an honor to contribute to such a meaningful initiative and bring this vision to life.“
I stand corrected.
The kid — or is it indeed a student — looks at a book, his/her brain snaps into creative mode. I love that the old, white windmill is sitting to the left as are some of the trees planted in ‘Bosk’, another cool project to get more trees into the city.
The colours and drawings remind me of comics, clever! The frog jumping from the pages, or is it a frog, isn’t it a tortoise but do they have nails? There is something new each time you look. The thought/creativity bubbles jumping from the pages are seemingly infinitive as well.
Who is Jay Kaes?
The Spanish artist based in London has showcased his murals and paintings in more than 20 countries. Jay Kaes holds a Master’s degree in Fine Arts, and is considered the creator of the “Glitch Pop” style.
“My paintings embrace errors, glitch-like distortions, and imperfections as aesthetic elements, I challenge traditional notions of perfection and beauty. I advocate for celebrating the uniqueness of every individual, questioning stereotypes, and finding beauty in our differences.”
Reading and me
As a writer, I love how this mural captures exactly what happens when you disappear into a story. Your imagination shows you what happens, colours shift, the world looks different afterwards. And this mural gets that all in one go. That is why I wholeheartedly near-shouted YES! the moment I saw it.
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