Build Something Together Workshop Series THIS WEEKEND

Build Something Together Workshop Series this weekend at SEA Change Gallery, 625 NW Everett Street PDX. Come check it out!

The workshop schedule is as follows:
May 1 – Build Something Together Workshop Series pt.1
12:00 Sandwich Making with Crystal Baxley
1:00 Micro Terrariums with Vanessa Robertson-Rojas
2:00 How To Ask Questions with Ally Drozd
3:00 Talking to Strangers with Sandy Sampson
4:30 Raft Building with Connie Hockaday

May 2 - Build Something Together Workshop Series pt.2
12:00 Collaborative Knitting with Elysia Contreras
1:00 Book Binding with Dasha Shleyeva
2:00 Easy Planter Boxes with Katherine Ball
3:30 Cat Play Structures with Hollis and Kindred
8:00 Zoo Bombing with JP Huckins

Moving on

Hello out there. First, I would like to say if you read this blog please tell me. I have a feeling that no one in the world reads this blog, so if you do email me zach@craftandconcept.com.

I have just finished working a new website for buildsomethingtogether.com and I will be using that as my primary blog from now on. Unless people actually read this, in which case I will continue down this road.

Thanks!

Zach

Birdhouse painting, and recap on entire project.

This project was brought on because I sent home fliers to all of the students advertising Build Something Together and asking parents to help their children write a proposal for a treehouse or something their kid wanted. None of the parents got back to me but the PTA classroom representative got ahold of me and asked to do an artists residency in the classroom. I was asked to do a project that would be sold at auction to bring in funding for the school.

I did some brainstorming with the students and we came up the idea to build a birdhouse condominium where each student would design an individual birdhouse that would come together to form a community. The PTA put together a poster advertising the Birdhouse Condominium Project, it was placed outside of the classroom so every parent would it every morning they dropped their kid off.

At the time they wrote up the poster I was also writing a short grant to the K-12 Committee to ask for funding. The poster was also used to ask for volunteers and a $5 donation to bring together funding, so the funding was being approached from two angles.

After getting all of the birdhouses ready I was ready to take them to the first graders and have them paint on their designs.
There was a whole group of parents waiting to help me, so my hands weren't all tied and was able to consult students and help them most accurately redo their original drawing.


It was a great day of working with these guys, and I feel like they created some wonderful birdhouses. When I get some more pictures of the completed objects I will post them as well.

A new development

A couple of months ago there was a call for proposals to be part of a show called Training Room in Kansas City. The show's description was:

"CP seeks proposals for temporal, site-specific activities for the Training Room, a project organized by Michael Schonhoff as part of his upcoming exhibition You’re Such A Good Sport (Paragraph/Project Space, March 19 - May 6, 2010), which explores and mines the visual language of sport, sports culture, and gamesmanship. For this project, Project Space will become a publically accessible site for short-term (1-2 day) projects that exemplify ideas of “training” or “practice,” and are inspired by or address the subject or language of sport(s) in some manner. Proposed activities might range from using the site as a short-term studio, or for an installation, presentation, performance, and/or event. Artists will be responsible for providing all necessary equipment, props, or supplies, and returning the room to its original condition for the next artist."

I thought it sounded like an interesting show that I wanted to be part of, but it was at the same time as my residency in Toronto. But then I started thinking that my residency in Toronto was a perfect example of a type of practice, so I sent in this proposal:

"During the first two weeks of Training Room I will be doing a residency at the Free Gallery in Toronto. For the residency I will provide my skills as a free handyman to people in Toronto, the project is called Build Something Together. I did the same project at the Greenlease Gallery in Kansas City last year.

While in Toronto I will be posting all of the building activities online multiple times a day with Twitter, YouTube, and a blog. After the first day of documentation viewers will understand how the Build Something Together service provides a practice of skill sharing and relationship building.

For Training Room I would like to place a computer connected to the internet in the gallery. The computer will update every time I post something and gallery viewers can watch my routine and track the results. On March 28, 2010 the residency will end and the computer will be removed from the gallery.

My residency in Toronto is from March 14-28.

The length of my presence in Training Room would be from March 19-28."

My proposal was accepted and now the residency is more interesting than what I had first imagined. The remote gallery connection and the individual project grants of $120 are two awesome developments for this!

First graders!

I kept working with the same group of first graders that I worked with last quarter for my practicum, but this time I am making art with them! The project the students decided on is to make individual birdhouses that come together to make a bird mansion. Each student has designed their dream birdhouse, I drew them all in Sketchup and went back to them to make any final changes. Here are some pictures of their drawings next to the ones I did in Sketchup.

Residency at Toronto's Free Gallery

From March 14-28 I will be doing a Build Something Together residency at Toronto's Free Gallery. Each person who participates with me will receive a budget of up to $120 for their project. The curator just posted a call for participants on akimbo, check it out for more info on the residency.

Winter quarter

What a break! My mom flew me into Vegas for 5 days so we could celebrate her birthday together, and then we both flew back to Tyler, Texas for Christmas with our family. We had a great time, but Elysia was still back in Portland so I came home to spend Christmas and her birthday together. Elysia and I exchanged gifts on Skype with our families and did our own thing, it was probably my best Christmas since I was 10.

Then school started and I had to get my head on straight again.

I am teaching two classes at Portland State and an art class at Laurelhurst Elementary. One of the classes at Portland State is a introductory sculpture course with 22 students and the other is a design/build course focused on alternative energy with 10 students. Both the college and the elementary classes are putting me in the same position as Build Something Together did, so maybe this is just another continuation of my process.

I also decided to apply for a job with Teach For America. It would be great to have a job with them when we go back to Kansas City. For now all I can do is cross my fingers and hope for the best.

If you want to see the blogs for my classes you can visit them: http://3dpsu.blogspot.com and http://altenergypsu.blogspot.com

Take care