Live your creativity. One dose at a time.
What do you get when you combine two of my favorite things: art and chocolate? Art Bars. Created by Ithaca Fine Chocolates, Art Bars contain fair-trade certified organic chocolate and a collectible card featuring an art reproduction. Plus a portion of the profits support art education. Brilliant!
Image Ithaca Fine Chocolates
For those of you in the Cleveland area this weekend, the Berea Arts Fest returns. I missed the Fest last year because I was in LA, so I am looking forward to experiencing it for the first time this Sunday.
Unlike other area arts festivals that simply display work by professional artists, the Berea Arts Fest focuses on promoting involvement in the arts and includes art by students and visually impaired artists as well.
You can also participate in a community art project or make something in the family art area. It sounds like a great opportunity for both adults and kids to explore their creativity.
Image Berea Arts Fest
According to research out of the University of Minnesota, people in rooms with 10 foot high ceilings were found to have more abstract thoughts than those, who focused more on specific details, in 8 foot high ceiling rooms.
So does this mean people who think outdoors are the most creative because the sky is their ceiling? Just curious.
After promoting Keri Smith’s guerilla art techniques, I discovered that she now has a full length book on the topic. Hurrah!
It covers everything from what is guerilla art to what to be aware of when creating art in public spaces and exercises and templates to fuel your creativity. I love how she describes that you don’t have to be able to draw or paint to be a guerilla artist; you just need to care about something and want to express yourself.
She describes 3 ways to approach guerilla art:
As a public art enthusiast, I appreciate that the exercises are easy to follow and most importantly create a community connection. From guerilla gardening (she shows you how to make a seed bomb to throw in vacant lots) to chalk quotes and book leave-behinds, Smith will get you thinking about your own environment and questioning how you can change it for the better. There’s even a list for you to find solutions and create your own guerrilla art projects.
Create a simple sketch, then click on the Scribbler and watch it transform into a more complex drawing. You can even add color.
(note the collage is not crooked but the image is due to my lack of camera skills)
Here is another one I created at the CVAC workshop. This one includes tiny seashells and an old belt.
This is an impressive goal, but a creative non-profit is trying. Nest, based in St. Louis, was founded to support women artisans in developing countries. It does this by selling products, including clothing, accessories and home goods by an exclusive group of designers. The profits from these sales are used to create micro-loans offered to international artisans, who in turn sell their goods on the nest website. It’s a creative approach to supporting global communities.
