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Graff kids come full circle with TAFE Queensland
Russell and Cameron have had different paths lead them back to TAFE Queensland more than 20 years after their study journeys.
Two self-proclaimed ‘graff kids’ from Brisbane have come full circle with TAFE Queensland after undertaking arts qualifications with the state’s largest training provider in the 90’s and 2000’s to follow different paths which led each of them back to TAFE Queensland decades later.
Russell Fenn – better known as Sofles – grew up in Brisbane and began using graffiti as an artistic outlet in his teens, a pastime which quickly became a love affair that would continue for decades, shaping his personal and professional lives.
The now world-renowned graffiti artist decided to expand his skills and repertoire through a Diploma of Visual Arts (Fine Arts) (CUA51120)* at TAFE Queensland in 2003, and two decades later has completed his third commissioned mural on a TAFE Queensland campus.
He said the study he undertook all those years ago at TAFE Queensland was key to honing his skills in attention to detail and repeatability, which set him up to express himself to a professional standard.
“We did a lot of traditional animation drawing at TAFE, so it was drawing the same image hundreds of times with really small differences and that makes you really accurate and increased my attention to detail,” Russel said.
“It was great to learn and really develop that, but animation wasn’t for me. It just didn’t make me happy to do so much work and come out with such a small product, no matter how perfect it was in the end.”
Sofles' TAFE Queensland pieces include the entire elevator shaft at the Eagle Farm campus.
The attention to detail stuck though, and Sofles says one of the keys to his success has been his ability to focus on the process and ensure the parts of his craft that might seem more mundane like prep-work or planning are always given his best effort.
“I love to nerd out on that stuff man, figuring out the best way to prep a new surface or customising the type of paint I’m using to make sure it will work and last really well. I’m always trying to learn from different people, artists, sign writers, paint producers, whoever I can to really make sure I’m using the best stuff for the job and best techniques.”
While studying at TAFE Queensland Russell continued using graffiti as his main outlet and transferring the skills learned in the classroom to his work, taking small jobs wherever he could painting murals at friends’ houses, workplaces, and for local small businesses.
“At that time I was really doing whatever work I could get my hands on, lots of small jobs for friends or people I knew through friends, lots of small murals in and on houses, small business jobs, things like that.”
It was around this time he also started to use other mediums including brush painting to bring his art to more places, noticing that using brushes offered a range of advantages in certain circumstances that were becoming more common as he built a career.
“The brushes are much better for some surfaces, and I was learning that not everything can be done with cans. I love using spray and I still use cans for probably 90 per cent of my work now but I’m always working on my brushwork and I know for specific jobs I’ll be using brushes.”
One such job is his recently completed mural on a 100,000L water tank at TAFE Queensland Alexandra Hills which called for brushwork due to its unique surface finish, something Sofles says adds a different element of enjoyment for himself as well as for the end product.
Russell paints a piece at TAFE Queensland's Alexandra Hills Campus.
“You get something so different to using cans, you feel so connected to the wall. I love feeling the push and pull on the wall that you get with brushes, it’s really special and you feel like you’re part of it,” he said.
The two murals Sofles has painted at TAFE Queensland campuses in Acacia Ridge and Alexandra Hills came about through fellow former graffiti writer and now Lead Creative at TAFE Queensland – SkillsTech Cameron Campling, who studied a Certificate III in Design Fundamentals (CUA30720)* at TAFE Queensland in the late ‘90s and returned decades later as a Graphic Design and Visual Communication teacher before moving to his current role.
Russell and Cameron have come full circle to return to TAFE Queensland.
In 2019 Cameron was tasked with instilling some pride of place into the existing plain cinder block wall along the entryway of the largest trade training facility in the Southern Hemisphere – TAFE Queensland Acacia Ridge – and after months of research and deliberation he offered up Sofles as a possibility.
“After meeting and befriending famed Sydney writer ‘Kink’ during my time learning at TAFE Queensland’s Morningside campus in ‘99 I really deep dived into the scene, attacking all facets of the craft, and soon found myself all in on graffiti,” Cameron said.
“I’m a little older than Russ but we seem to have a similar story. I think that Morningside campus was a real honeypot for the scene back then. Through doing my Design Fundamentals course I then really dove into graphic design as a new passion and outlet that I could see a career path in for me.”
“When I was asked about teaching in Toowoomba and Warwick in 2011 it was awesome, I never thought TAFE Queensland would consider someone like me who’d been a graff kid and a bit of a non-conformist in my day as somebody to teach these kids. But my whole time here I’ve been so welcomed and it really makes me proud of TAFE.”
“And the students really took to me, I guess I just wasn’t the usual type of person they’d been taught by before – we all had a great time and I loved being able to pass on my knowledge and experience.”
“So fast forward to 2019 and I’m working as a Lead Creative for TAFE Queensland – SkillsTech and I get asked to make this entryway look a bit more grand, I was still following the graff scene and I knew of Sofles and that he’s a Brisbane local doing this crazy work all over the world and I had to really think about ‘hey is this actually an option?’”
“I ended up proposing a few ideas and assorted artists back to the General Manager at the time with my mind’s eye on Sofles, and to John [Tucker]’s credit he really took to the concept. John was really excited to get Sofles out here so I phoned a few friends, connected the dots and got his number, we started the conversation and the rest is history.”
“Sofles did this crazy 60 metre long mural alongside the entire driveway and then another piece on an adjacent wall that grew organically onto a huge extraction tower at Acacia Ridge and it totally transformed the place.”
Part of Sofles' original work at TAFE Queensland's Acacia Ridge campus.
“Then a few years later John [TAFE Queensland – SkillsTech General Manager] came to me and said ‘hey we’ve got this new giant red water tank at the Alexandra Hills campus, reckon Sofles could do something on it?’ which really surprised me and again made me super proud of TAFE Queensland and the people leading it.”
Sofles of course agreed to complete the mural at TAFE Queensland’s Alexandra Hills campus and delivered another piece that catches the eye and inspires creativity in a new generation of TAFE Queensland students, some of whom are following in his footsteps by turning graffiti passion into a career path.
*Current equivalent course codes.