Dropped on Drouillard festival celebrates artists, Ford City

By Alyssa Leonard

A local graffiti artist is praising Dropped on Drouillard for giving him the chance to follow his dreams.

“Dropped on Drouillard was my first opportunity to express myself, and take my art from abandoned buildings to something more tangible and legal,” said Eugenio Mendoza, known locally by his artist name DREVMZ.

One year ago, Mendoza was given his first mural space in the 1000 block of Drouillard Road to demonstrate his street art skills. He and fellow artist Eric Faraci had been wandering around asking local businesses if they would allow them to paint on their walls when Dropped on Drouillard offered space at its inaugural event.

Mendoza is now a resident artist at The Art Lab in Walkerville, where he teaches painting one-on-one. He is also holding a graffiti-style painting workshop next month.

“All in a year,” said Mendoza, “which is really a short time span.”

Mendoza started making community connections while painting last year and people started recognizing his name.

“I see him everywhere,” said Gillian Benoit-Gonzalez, chair of the Ford City residents association. “Eugenio was just a kid walking down the street, and I was like ‘Yeah, we’ll give you a mural’ and then I started seeing him in the news and doing all these other art projects.”

Dropped on Drouillard, an urban street festival that celebrated its second edition Sept. 22, gives artists a space to showcase their work and can help to cut down on illegal tagging, said Benoit-Gonzalez.

Mendoza, who describes his art as “emotional, chaotic and very expressive,” painted 12 pieces during the event. They will be auctioned off, with the proceeds benefitting Ford City.

“Art in itself is a form of expression. When people tell me they don’t know how to paint, they just don’t know how to paint yet,” he said. “Because every piece is unique just like every person is unique.”

If someone had told Mendoza five years ago he was going to be an artist and teaching art, he would have “laughed really, really hard.” He figured he would be working in retail.

“When people create, it’s a beautiful feeling because they get to see that they themselves can create something beautiful.”