Darryl “Cornbread” McCray is a former Philadelphia graffiti artist who gained notoriety for spraying his logo across the city from the late 1960s to early 1970s. Now a mild-mannered arts advocate, McCray is appalled by the evolution of graffiti as an art to a form of vandalism. It was in the 1980s when McCray realized how spray paint and vandalism left Philadelphia a mess. McCray helped clean-up his city by becoming a member of Mayor Wilson Goode’s former Anti-Graffiti Network. Since this time, McCray has become an avid supporter of the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, and works as a public speaker for this cause.
Jon E. Bekken, chairman of Albright College’s communications department realized McCray’s value as a knowledgeable expert in street art and invited the artist to speak at the school. “I’m interested in a wide range of communications, in particular in ways in which people who don’t have access to media outlets try to get a voice,” Bekken said. McCray gave some pointers to prospective taggers of the college: “If you’ve got the talent to do graffiti, you can get paid for it. But don’t go out and vandalize.”
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