ArtCantHurtU

For those of you that have made the move to one of those beautiful, older, neglected neighborhoods you might have seen some issues. There is a lot of fixing up going on in these areas. While your working on your house you need to think of some new ways of pumping up the camaraderie in the area. Showing their Original Art is very exciting  for many local artist. If you get a new neighborhood idea going you can make improvements within the interpersonal layer of the community. In other words you can bring people together.

One such event that will attract a lot of attention is a community art show.

This could be a small locals only thing that the kids in the area could participate in. Or, you could make it the first of a new annual event in your city. For something like that you can get help from the city and turn it into a major city attraction. You can attract artists from all over and it will generate revenue for your neighborhood.

Before you start calling in artists you need to look at the laws and ordinances surrounding what you want to do. There are tons of funky city rules about things of this nature and you don’t want to get a bad surprise later on in planning. You would do well to use your neighborhood park for this because you will need a pretty space for all the artists and vendors. You need to look into getting permission, insurance, if needed and other things that are alien to you.

Get your ART team together

A team of volunteers is helpful for this to work. You will also need to attract sponsors. A corporate sponsor will give money and supplies to something of this type. You are not doing it for profit. That does not mean there will not be paying positions available at some point though. You could have wine companies donate wine that you will give out as samples. You can get money to help with advertising and other expenses. One thing that you want for sure are some promotional items. Shirts, hats, key-chains, or whatever you want. These can be where you give your sponsors some official credit and they will help remind people to look for next years event.

You can bring excitement, culture, and some revenue into your neighborhood with an art show. Just hit all the bases first such as, legal issues, planning, sponsoring, and attracting artists. There are multiple streams of revenue possible for something like this. If it is going to be a neighborhood event then you need to tap into the people of your area. You’d be surprised with the amount of knowledge that is floating around. Handmade artisans and professional muralists can also show their work.

Everyone wins

The businesses in your area will profit and you could even have it set up so your neighbors could set up stands in their yards to sell refreshments or whatever.

By Benjamin Kabak

Taking a walk through the Columbus Circle station right now is one of the least pleasant experiences in the subway. Undergoing a complete rehab that is behind schedule, the station is hot and dusty. Platforms are cut off; walls are exposed; staircases are closed.

Eventually, the station will be completely transformed, but for now, it is in a perpetual state of construction. On Wednesday, a glimpse of color appeared amidst the construction as the Sol LeWitt Arts for Transit installation opened on a double-wide wall on a mezzanine in between the A/B/C/D and 1 train platforms.

The piece, shown above and again at the bottom of the post, was commissioned in 2004, and LeWitt, who passed away two years ago, selected the site himself. The work is 53 feet wide by 11 feet tall and is made of 250 porcelain tiles of six varying colors. It is called “Whirls and twirls (MTA)” and is one of the more vibrantly-colored entries in the Arts for Transit program.

“LeWitt’s genius comes through in this artwork, which is a major work of precision with its curves and bands in vibrant color that completely fills the space,” MTA Chairman H. Dale Hemmerdinger said. “It will become a landmark and is a great tribute to one of our major artists.”

Sadly, LeWitt is no longer with us to see the piece’s grand unveiling. He died in April 2007, but the artist is enjoying much posthumous success. As his obituary says, LeWitt was known for “deceptively simple geometric sculptures and drawings and ecstatically colored and jazzy wall paintings.” An exhibit of his works, recently named one of the top art shows in the nation, is on display for 25 years at Mass MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts, and LeWitt was very much looking forward to his collaboration with the MTA.

“When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. The idea becomes a machine that makes the art,” he said in an Arts for Transit interview a year before his death.

After LeWitt’s death, Sandra Bloodworth, director of Arts for Transit and Facilities Design, worked closely with the artist’s family to ensure that his vision would be realized. “This project,” she said, “was filled with challenges, as we prepared several samples of tile and glazes to meet with Mr. LeWitt’s approval and found a facility that could produce large tiles mandated by the design. Working with Arts for Transit, his family and colleagues helped bring the project to completion. It is a very special and unique creation because it is a permanent public installation of a wall drawing, executed in porcelain tile. Usually the wall drawings are executed in paint or pencil based on exacting instructions by the artist.”

While some may criticize Arts for Transit as a superfluous use of money in tight economic times, LeWitt’s piece brings some color and levity to our normally serious commutes. It lightens up a once-dull space and should be recognized and embraced as a leading example of underground art.

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Just another incredible example of what color, imagination ( hard work) and creativity can do for public places. After all, art does not have to be sepereate from society – it can enhance it!

Liven up your space with inexpensive art prints – you know you want to!