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Cannabis Inspiration: The Art of Green

Written by Julie Godard

Cannabis has always been an inspiration for artists – some artists can’t work without it, and some won’t.

Although musicians like Snoop Dogg, Miley Cyrus, and Carlos Santana are known for their cannabis consumption and pro-cannabis activism, there are many non-musician artists who find inspiration in it. In Colorado, Puff, Pass & Paint has started up, which offers painting classes and cooking classes for cannabis enthusiasts.

Graffiti Artists & Cannabis

Stayhigh 149, also known as Wayne Roberts, was a part of the graffiti scene since 1969 because of the large amount of cannabis he consumed on the daily. Unfortunately, Stayhigh died in 2012, but his classic tag lives on, including a joint-smoking stick figure. Mark Bodé’s graffiti is often inspired by his father’s artwork, and you can check out some of his cartoons here in Cannabis Culture. The legendary Miss Van (my all-time graffiti favorite) and Lady Aiko haven’t mentioned cannabis in any interviews that I can find, but I’m not ruling it out…

Creations from Cannabis

Fernando de la Rocque is an artist from Brazil who actually paints with cannabis smoke. No, it’s not a gimmick – he’s been doing it since 2009.  Using a stencil, he blows cannabis smoke onto it while holding it against a piece of white paper, creating a brownish outline which he then paints around in order to create his works of art. Cliff Maynard uses roach paper to create mosaics. Chris Cascio makes maps of cannabis strains that are done camouflage-style.

Cannawomen Artists

I know they’re out there, but I had a hard time finding female artists who create art with an obvious cannabis inspiration or bent. Soooo I headed to Etsy, home of the crafty, cannabis-consuming woman. I also found Sweetflag, an online headshop just for women, with products created by women for women who consume cannabis. Karen Rumics-Averill is the founder of Cannaflage Designs based in Southern Oregon, and she creates cannabis-inspired curtains, pillows, and wall-hangings that are meant to bring your love of cannabis into your home. The Washington state Women.Weed.Wifi is a female-based art collective for women who love cannabis and want to build community through art. The collective supports women of color artists and creators through the Black Market, where vendors can keep 100% of the profits from the sales of their art.

High Art Challenge

If you want to give some cannabis art a try yourself, I suggest you shoot a little higher than the adult coloring book on your nightstand and create a masterpiece that could be entered into the Natural Cannabis Company’s High Art Challenge. It’s an annual challenge sponsored by Juxtapoz magazine that’s in its fourth year. In exchange for a truly cannifab piece of art, the winner of the challenge gets $10,000, a month of featuring in Juxtapoz and a year-long feature contract on the Natural Cannabis Company’s website and marketing materials. Not too shabby. In 2015, Davin Skonberg, Emily Davidson, and Pedro Muniz won out of 575+ artists. The High Art Challenge may be an excellent way to show your cannabis art to the world.

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About the author

Julie Godard