When graffiti artists Wiser and Keith White started their custom art company, Your Name in Graffiti, a couple of years ago, one of their goals was to educate people about graffiti as art. Their invitation to the Denver Botanic Gardens today as part of Denver Arts Week is a clear sign that their message is being heard. Appropriately timed to coincide with the last weekend of the Gardens’ Urban Nature exhibit, YNIG — which includes some of Denver’s best-known street artists — will talk to kids about their craft and get them drawing their names in graffiti for themselves. And although you and your little ones won’t be able to tag your initials permanently onto the side of the Gardens gift shop, YNIG will take a picture of your paper drawings and post them on their website.

“We teach people how to read graffiti and understand it better,” White says. “A lot of people don’t understand the history behind it or how it’s used as a form of expression.”

Admission to the Gardens (1005 York Street) is free today, as is the YNIG event, which runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Urban Nature, which explores the intersection of the urban environment and natural world, includes murals from sixteen “street-style” painters. For information, visit www.ynig.com or www.botanicgardens.org or call 303-865-3500.
Sat., Nov. 22, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., 2008