a semi final blogger reflection

This week the art auction group completed the last of our workshops/activities related to soliciting artwork for the auction itself. On Friday (the 12th) Shantaye, Emma, and Michelle hosted the mobile workshop at BICAS. I went, in hopes to make a mobile, but became artistically frustrated and made nothing. I was however excited when my friend Mitch came by (he got the facebook invitation, go facebook!!) and it was great to see him collaborate with Val’s son Farrell to make a bull head sculpture. Both he and Farrell were very excited about it.


Additionally, Dr. Garber’s husband Roy came by and showed us some very interesting things that he had made out of recycled bike parts (including the FANTASTIC roller skate). It was nice to share with a more experienced bike-artist and his talk got me thinking a bit about the workshops overall (and the average low attendance). I wonder if the workshops may have been more successful if they were marketed to local artists in Tucson as a kind of work/share experience. Additionally, if we had had outside artists come in to facilitate the workshops perhaps they might have drawn a different (and larger) audience. Although I wasn’t successful in making a mobile, I had fun spending time with everyone and also had the chance to chat with Casey about our potential roles at the auction itself. This was super helpful information to have and I was able to share it with the whole group on Thursday.


On Tuesday we had our second mall workshop. Erin found an excellent design for weaving with bike inner tubes online and we made bracelets, headbands, and belts. Her and Emma prepared the art materials for the workshop and came prepared with samples and templates. Shantaye took on the role of flyer queen and distributed the art auction flyers to the rest of the class to pass out. I think that this equal distribution of art creation and promotion was a good decision. Hopefully we gathered some new attendees for the auction.


We also had TWO people come by and participate who were in no way connected to the class. This was especially exciting. Although the art that they made was not perfect, I think that the experience of them making art with us and using the bike parts was important. Casey mentioned that she appreciated our presence and the act of the community based art itself more so than the art created – the good old process vs. product debate. In retrospect, because simply the act of creation and visible promotion of BICAS as an arts organization seemed to be what was important, perhaps this kind of workshop would be better suited for an alternate committee in the future – perhaps outreach, as that is really what it was!

As this is our final blog entry, our upcoming work with the auction itself will not be documented, but I expect that it will be fun, exciting, and lots of hard work. I am super excited about the culmination of all of our work thus far and feel that the auction will help complete the circle of our collaboration with BICAS and Casey. Below is the photo that I plan to donate to the auction!