Beyond RAW and holidays and trying to just accomplish things, we've been doing some cool things at the Art Bank, and that's been keeping me plenty busy.
We started a "Second Friday" event, on--you guessed it-- the second Friday of each month. Yeah, we could have opted for some kind of catchy title for the night, but you know what? I have to answer enough times "WHEN" First Friday is (ummm the FIRST FRIDAY of the month?) that I didn't think we needed to complicate things with Second Friday.
Each month we pick a charity and do a drive to collect whatever is needed for the charity. For instance, in January, we teamed up with Horizon House, a homeless shelter that said they needed thick warm gloves, double-bladed razors for shaving and men's deodorant. We encourage patrons to bring these items with them when they visit and help us fill our Campbell's soup can bin. Then, we donate the entire bunch and start again with a new charity for the next month.
On Second Friday, we have more space, we have, at this point, fewer visitors than on First Friday (hey, we're still starting out on this) so we have more time to speak with folks that would like to just have a conversation with the artists. Some artists even do art demonstrations to give an insight on what they do. We just have a good time. We have an art party.
The extra time and space has worked out well too--we had a visit from a group from Bosma Enterprises, a local organization that helps folks adapt to blindness. If you are of limited sight, getting bopped around in a crowded venue has got to be unnerving. So they came to visit us on a Second Friday and they had the time and space to take in the art at their peaceful leisure.
We also had figured out that there are just so many things going on on a First Friday that we can only split the pie so many ways, the pie being potential patrons. If you are already wanting to go see a show at another gallery, you may not be able to come down and see us, so hey, come down and see us on Second Friday. We'd be happy to see you. And please bring some razors. Or deodorant. Or warm gloves. Horizon House will thank you. WE THANK YOU!
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Just a Few New Pieces I Whipped Up
"On The Air" |
Now that RAW is over, I've started fitting the pieces I'd created into the rest of my regular show at the Art Bank. I figured I'd do a big debut post here, though.
First off, we have "On The Air," a piece I'd started on during our November Second Friday event at the Art Bank as an artist demonstration. It was a picture I'd taken at work, near the studio, and just kind of came together after that. I made it hard for myself, though: Usually, I start with the stencil, and THEN paint the rest, but this time I reversed it. I'm not sure why, but an animation technique sure did come in handy when trying to transfer the painting to the stencil to get them to (somewhat) line up.
"EJ3" |
The other blatantly teevee image would be "EJ3." EJ is actually short for ENG, which is short for Electronic News Gathering. It's how we designate our receive sites (big dishes that take in our signals) at work. I was working a lot. It kind of seeped in. One of my coworkers really liked it in a WPA/1940's kind of style. Heh. Receive site propaganda.
"Bars and Robot" |
"Robo-Plight" |
"Ba-Bomb" |
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
I Got This: The RAW Wrap-up!
On December 6th, I got to participate in my first RAW: Natural Born Artists event!
Photo by Michelle Craig (Spitz) |
I'd gone to their site and filled out the application and was accepted. I had to do an over-the-phone interview and, to tell you the truth, I was nervous! In my art, I just do my thing. But there's always the lingering doubt about whether or not I'm "cool enough." I don't paint the broody stuff with creepy dolls and bloody faces, or whatever it is that I'm seeing so much of lately. I like happy stuff, and if I'm not happy, I honestly can't paint! So: Robots make me happy. Interesting things I see make me happy. Cartoon-y things make me happy. Eh, be yourself, I guess.
Photo by Michelle Craig (Spitz) |
Photo by Michelle Craig (Spitz) |
The event began with a little pow-wow at 6pm, kind of a "Okay, team, we can do this!" moment. We were also taken aside for a photo shoot and a video shoot, that we could use down the road for our promotional materials. This was definitely something I was interested in: Promotion. Something I knew only a little about. I feel like I have a better handle on it now, and what I need to do down the road.
Photo by Michelle Craig (Spitz) |
The crowd was interesting to watch. There were the folks and friends that had come to support their artist friends, there were the 'scene-sters' that just wanted to show up to something cool, and there were the art crowd folks that were genuinely there to check out the latest art that Indy had to offer. A different mix than a normal First Friday.
Photo by Michelle Craig (Spitz) |
Now that I've done one RAW event, I can do several more throughout the next calendar year. I'll definitely be doing more of them, especially now that the nerves are overcome and I've got set-up down pretty well.
I got this.
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