Sketch one

Our first exhibition will feature various forms of participatory art.  I'm a bit of a grass roots artist - if there even is such a thing - and love digging my hands into the dirt and cultivating new plants, conducting experiments, taking photographs, building things...just to name a few of my odd hobbies.  Since this show will be open to kids, I'd like to get them to try new things.  Maybe create a space where they can explore and take part in a series of imaginative activities.  While these workshops may be inspired by some of my own creative passions, I really want the outcome to be a compilation of their works!

A few ideas: 
paper pinhole cameras
transferring graphics to canvas or other items
terrarium or aquascaping workshops with some materials provided
 
I'd like to bring the outdoors in and feature an assortment of repurposed materials within the space..made safe for use of course.  Maybe that can be the overarching theme to this endeavour; reuse, reporpose, recreate...

pallet swings
potted plants
cameras and prints
graphics and transfers

Art as research

Short summary of Stephen Wilson's Art as Research..

Scientific research and technological development are unfortunately subject to various cultural whims, be they social, economic, and political.  And too often are projects in these realms disregarded and abandoned before they are able to reach their full potential.  Thus, risking the stagnation of the larger culture.  Artists, Wilson posits, can play a pivotal role in rectifying "the premature snuffing of valuable lines of inquiry and development" so as not to imperil or empede the discovery and understanding of the "profound practical and philosophical implications" of such research.  

Artists should move to find ways to "integrate critical commentary with high level knowledge and participation in science and technology worlds".  With their notions of "iconoclasm, critical perspectives, play, and sensual communication with audiences", artists can help breath new interest in and stimulate the growth of scientific and technological endeavours at risk of termination.  By injecting "elements of commentary, irony, and critique missing from 'serious' research", artists can help alleviate the threat of forced abandonment by redirecting attention to these studies.  As researches of a sense, artists can also drive research questions and more directly influence the development of these projects as well. 

To new beginnings

I hope I do well this Fall...