A country that loves art, not artists

I've been inspired by US Artists, an initiative to nurture and support US artists.

"In a recent survey of attitudes toward artists in the US a vast majority of Americans, 96%, said they were greatly inspired by various kinds of art and highly value art in their lives and communities. But the data suggests a strange paradox. While Americans value art, the end product, they do not value what artists do, the act of creation. Only 27% of respondents believe that artists contribute “a lot” to the good of society."

From 2006 - 2008, USA will distribute 150 unrestricted fellowship grants of $50,000 each to artists across the United States working in Architecture and Design, Crafts and Traditional Arts, Dance, Literature (fiction, nonfiction, and poetry), Media (film, media, and radio), Music, Theater Art, and Visual Arts.

To see the 2007 Fellows and learn more, visit the USA website.

Holiday Gift Making Event - Read All About It!

The Dec 15th event was a success! thanks so much to Dry River for hosting and to all of the artists and participants. we made plastic bottle chairs, art t-shirts, cardboard wallets, skirts out of t-shirts, origami cranes, fish-head paper dolls, seed bead flowers, and one lizard magnet! here are some pics:

supplies for plastic bottle chairs

Eliane and I work on a bottle chair for Dry River

Laura poses in her art t-shirt and skirt made from an upside down t-shirt

Inside of wallet made by Lynn. Mike taught us to make these cool wallets from cardboard, magazines, and packing tape.

outside of fish wallet

Prasenjit catches up on some reading.

Eric sits on a bottle chair and displays his one-of-a-kind lizard magnet

up close of lizard magnet

Carrie and a friend making wallets

drum stool made out of bottles

outside of clown wallet made by Laura C.

Eliane works on a shirt

inside of wallet made by Mel

close up of shirt made by Christa

Alanna's t-shirt

close up of Laura M.'s t-shirt

artists at work

close up of seed bead flower

Alanna, Mel & Denise make origami cranes

fish-head paper doll made by Laura C. holding seed bead flower

more artists at work

for the rest of the pics, go to http://picasaweb.google.com/juliegraphics

Artists for Gift Making Event!

Confirmed Artists
Laura Milkins: Art Heist T-Shirts
Eliane Paulino: Bottle Chairs
Alanna Randall: Origami Cranes
Laura Coleman: Fish Paper Dolls
Christa St. Peter: Seed Bead Flowers

Holiday Gift Making and Stuff Swap Extravaganza!

Hope you can all come to this event I am organizing!

Escape the holiday mall frenzy! Learn how to make cool gifts from recycled materials like soda bottles, refrigerator magnets, fabric, and bottle caps! Get rid of your junk and take someone else's junk! And it's all free!

Saturday, December 15th, 2007
12pm - 4pm
at Dry River
740 N. Main Street
Tucson, Arizona
www.dryriver.org

Check back here for updates as I confirm participating artists and crafters.

Free Rice!

This is a great idea! Improve your vocabulary while helping to end world hunger. It is a project of Poverty.com, which according to its website "was created for all people around the world who want to end poverty." Warning - it is addictive!

To Buy or Not to Buy

With the holidays approaching it's hard not to get caught up in the buying frenzy. For those of us who shun the massive shopping orgy, there are alternatives like buying handmade gifts from local artists and giving donations to non-profit organizations. But what about the idea of not spending money at all but still experiencing the excitement of finding just the right present for your mother? How about swapping your unused or gently-used stuff for other people's stuff that you can give as gifts. Or having a craft-o-rama party where crafts people teach each other how to make cool things from items around your house. I'm interested to hear about other ideas people have for no-cost holiday gifts. Let me know!

Re-Visiting "The Cycle of Stuff"

The last Idea Rodeo issue, "The Cycle of Stuff," looked at ways to lessen our impact on the planet by buying used items and finding free stuff through freecycle and free stores.

You can read Jeanne Kuntz's story, "Garage Sailing," at the Idea Rodeo website, documenting her fun and eco-friendly yard sale adventures. Jeanne has a recently re-designed website, Yoga Salad, that has more environmentally responsible and fun ideas.

My first ever blog!

I am resurrecting Idea Rodeo as a blog! I think it will be easier to maintain than a full-blown website so here goes.