Ephemeral public art! WOOO!!!!

In this 2007 article from inthegalleries.com, Mel Ziegler makes a case for ephemeral public art!

Advocating not-so-permanent public art

(Also included in that set of articles is a review of our very own Elaine Bradford's 2007 Women and Their Work show. Woot! Woot!)

Suckling is Continuous

After jumping through all the hoops with the city to get the permit for Kathy Kelley's installation "Suckling is Continuous" at Freed Park we basically had two days to install. Luckily Kathy is a hard worker and had a plan, and we managed to pull it off. Thanks to JoAnn Park, Troy Stanley, and Mat Wolff who came out and helped Kathy and I install the giant recycled tire sculpture. It was a dirty job with some heavy lifting involved. But I think it turned out fantastically. Thanks to Kathy for such a great sculpture. Its definitely the begining of our year of bigger, better projects.

Many people from the neighborhood stopped by while we were installing to ask questions and find out what we were doing. Its always good when a piece begins to get the community thinking about public art. Its why we do what we do. And the reception on February 9th brought many people out to talk to the artist and enjoy some Valentine cookies.

A big thank you to Jeff Shell of the Heights Beautification Project for asking us to be a part of the Green Valentine 2008. We hope to make this an annual event, and bring site specific art that embodies the ideas of sustainability and recycling to Freed Park every year.
More images of the installation and the Green Valentine reception can be found on our website in the Image Gallery.

We Drank Houston Better.

Thanks to everyone who came out to our Drink Houston Better Super Bowl Bash at Poison Girl on February 3rd. And a special thanks to Poison Girl for hosting us and donating their proceeds of the night to public art in Houston. And an extra special thanks to all the artists who donated art to make our Super Bowl Squares raffle and Football Mystery Drawing successful: Cody Ledvina, JoAnn Park, Lisa Marie Godfrey, Woody Golden, Jeanne Cassanova, Troy Stanley, Elaine Bradford, Emily Sloan, Barry Stone, Dan Fabian, Seth Alverson, Jenny Schlief, and Jessica Childers. There were lots of winners that night, with art prizes, mystery bags, free hot dogs and all the drinks you could afford. The ultimate winners were the New York Giants (though their winning cost me winning some art, stupid last minute come back!). My favorite winner of the night was Gina Sonderegger, no one else got quite as excited as she did when she won Dan Fabian's art in the football mystery drawing.You can see more images from the evening at www.bbap-houston.org in our Image Gallery.

We're raffling off some seriously good art!

So, we are getting some really fantastic donations for ourDrink Houston Better: BBAP Super Bowl Bash fundraiser. It is great how generous artists are with helping out non-profits, because i know we all get asked a lot to donate something, and i greatly appreciate everyone who is giving to BBAP.

These are just some examples of the pieces we are getting, and i want them all. Now we need people to come out to Poison Girl, and get excited about a Super Bowl Raffles with art for prizes. I know i'm excited, and am going to buy as many tickets as i can afford to try and win something. There will be a couple different ways to win art so bring your money, and your drinking hat. Its gonna be a good time.

We also can't forget that it will be a football game between an undefeated New England team and the underdogs of New York. Even for those who aren't big fans of football, this should be exciting. And if the game isnt excitement enough, remember it gives you a chance to win art. I don't quite understand how a "SuperBowl Squares" game works, but it will make the game interesting for you even if you dont like football, because i know we all like to win.

Hope to see you there.

Public Art...

is something to think about.
Wikipedia article on Public Art.
so think about it. and then think about sending BBAP a proposal. You can find out how on our website under How to Apply.

Corentine's Turtle

As we begin to start off what will be a very busy year, with hopefully some exciting new projects, i just thought i would share one of my favorite public art projects. I saw artist Harrell Fletcher talk at MIT in Boston a few years ago, and though he talked about many great projects, this one has always stuck in my head, and i think it is fantastic. He was basically asked to do a sculpture in a public park in France as part of a residency. When he talked to members of the community about what they thought about the sculpture in the park, people really didn't like the existing art. So he decided to ask the public what they would make as a sculpture for park. An 8 year old boy, named Corentine, who was on a school field trip, wanted to make a turtle out of solid gold, then paint it green. Fletcher liked the idea of this and decided to make it happen, with the help of the boy. This idea is all about how i believe public art should involve the community, and begin to get the general population invested in the Arts. you can read more about it on Harrell Fletcher's website at http://www.harrellfletcher.com under Corentine's Turtle.

In Response to "What is Art?"

So, this is what happened to Abby Normal Arts Project "What is Art?" I find it both amusing and sad. Amusing because the vandals did, in a way, respond to the question. But it is sad because they defaced a piece of "Art." Its also sad that we didn't get any good shots of the piece before it was graffitied because it actually would have made a really beautiful image, if you believe it is art or not. Here is an excerpt from wikipedia on what art is: "Generally art is a (product of) human activity, made with the intention of stimulating the human senses as well as the human mind; by transmitting emotions and/or ideas. Beyond this description, there is no general agreed-upon definition of art, since defining the boundaries of "art" is subjective." Basically I believe its art if you say its art. That, of course, doesn't mean in any way that it is Good Art. These "taggers" obviously had a different opinion. By the time to deinstall the pieces for the Trail Show, people had gone beyond just tagging the piece, and started to destroy it. I know that is always a possibility with something in the public sphere, but seriously, what is wrong with the public? I'm all about breaking the boundaries around art, its one of the reasons i am interested in public art. I want the audience to be involved, to be able to experience the pieces on a different level, and even touch them. But there is a difference in breaking the boundaries and breaking the art. Artists work hard on producing pieces for the outdoors, and have to worry enough about things like wind, rain, and floods, so please don't intentionally destroy the art.