I had my first opportunity to volunteer with Free Arts NYC this weekend at the International Art Expo. What an experience! I've never been to the Art Expo before, it's interesting, a LOT of art, an overwhelming amount! I got there bright and early Saturday morning helped set up a bit before the children arrived. They were children from the Department of Homeless Services and we were working with them to make a mural about the theme of reinvention in New York City. The idea was to reinvent an object in the city and then add it to the mural. The kids were between 5 and 12 and we each got paired up to have a buddy. My buddy was Jeremy, a hilarious 7 year old who told me his favorite color is pink (with no shame! good for him!) and that more then anything in the world he just wanted to play tag. Here's a picture of (part) of the mural:
the piece i circled is what Jeremy added, i'm told it's a computer with wings that you can play 'awesome games' on and will 'do all your work for you'. haha, alright! He had sooo much fun mixing the paint and experimenting and just flat out playing. I'm very proud, it looks nothing like a computer but it's sooo much more awesome, I think it's the best thing up there!
Jane Seymour (dr quinn medicine women!) was there as well, she was really into it, walked around and talked to all the kids and took pictures and video with her personal camera. She's an artist (random!) and had a booth up at the Art Expo. She also added something to the mural...can you tell what...?
Also, that trash can with legs right under NYC that has the speech bubble? It says, "hey! I just ran away from that kid!" hahaha, also how awesome is that tree?!
After the kids left, I walked around the Art Expo and tried to take it all in. At the very back they were having something called an Art Battle! They have a website HERE
I didn't stay for the whole thing, but basically there were four artists set up with giant canvases each painting within a set amount of time in front an audience of people and they were given a theme. This theme was Picasso's Guernica, (rather depressing,....but oookay) and they could only use black and white. here are some photos I took of their progress:
I didn't stay to see the final pieces, so I don't know who won (apparently the audience votes) They were all doing different things, My favorite was the second guy from the right, you can't really tell in these photos but he had this really atmospheric cityscape going with tiny planes flying overhead.
Anywho, after all that i headed home feeling pretty exhausted but inspired. I wanted to play with and mix paint ala Jeremy and his flying computer.
Well, I'm a bit neater then him, haha. But I still had fun! Whew.
2 comments:
wow what a great post! Thats a really cool mural, and that kid sounds awesome. I recognize that damn double heart thing from those mary kay commercials, (or whatever jewelry store it is) haha! Good for her. And that art battle is friggin awesome! What a cool idea! And your painting is sooo awesome, so different for you, must be all the overwhelming art you saw that day! yay!
i also recognize dr. quinn's jewelry design, but it's nice that she's volunteering with kids. sounds like you had a great time at the art expo! we should all have an art battle sometime! love the painting too!
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