At first we were just a few.

But before too long the table was full! What a great time of knitting, crochet, and stitching! I forgot my knitting project, my thread for my sewing project must have rolled out of my bag, and all I had was my sketch book. No one minded while I drew Sarah’s super cute knit chipmunk.

Crystal brought a great selection of vintage crochet books as well as pattern for a great charity project.

We are sponsoring a Craft Hope send out. Drop off your dishcloth donations by the mural exhibit during opening hours (June 15th – June 19th; noon -6 pm) to be included in our send out. The oil spill needs cotton clothes to clean up the animals. I think we all have time to knit or crochet a dish cloth for this great project.

Our next fiber meeting will be a great mix of fun things as the Creative Collision! Bring any mobile project you would like to work on and come enjoy creating with other makers! It will be July 14th from 7-9pm; brookside park again. Bring a fold up chair if sitting at a picnic table rubs you the wrong way.

Kristin Roach

We are all so happy to announce the dedication of the mural and opening of a week long exhibit celebrating all our volunteers!

Ames Collaborative Art (Ames C.art) cordially welcomes YOU to attend the Campustown Mural Dedication  Ceremony
11am – 12noon on Saturday, June 12,at 206 Welch Ave

At this inaugural celebration of the Ames C.art Mural Program, we will recognize and thank the many community members who made the Campustown Mural Project possible.  In a playful riff on the traditional ritual of breaking a bottle of champagne in dedication, Ames C.art invites you to participate in a water balloon-christening of the mural wall. The brief ceremony will lead into the opening of the mural project exhibit in the campustown post office building.

Exhibit open noon to 6 p.m. June 12th and June 15th – 19th, 2010

Everyone is invited and we hope to see all of you there!

Over the last 10 days Griffle has been taking time laps photography of the project for us. We were all so excited to see what it looked like that they stitched it together for a half project release. Check out all the work we have done so far. Thank you so much to all the volunteers who have come out to make this project happen. A special thanks to Fire Station #2 and their continued support!

If you are interested in helping with the mural, just stop by this Thursday – Sunday 11am – 7pm. No experience needed, we need all skill levels to get this project to the finish line.

Goya Drawing Group this Tuesday from 2-4pm (September 8th)
This week we will be turning our attention to architecture surrounding the MU memorial hall. We will start with a brief refresher on perspective drawing (a few handouts on the foundations) and then will pick a spot and draw what we see. Please bring a drawing large sketch book, ruler, pencils, and gummy eraser. We will meet outside at the fountain on the north side of the building. If it is raining we will meet inside memorial hall on the benches just after the entry way with the zodiac (the main north entrance).

Community Art Discussion Group – Sunday, September 13th, 1-2pm
For our September Meeting we are going to focus on community art role in education with a specific focus on art education in public schools. How can young children be introduced to the arts at a young age? In what ways can we support art education in story county’s school district. In 1999 the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities and Arts Education Partnership released a report called Gaining the Arts Advantage: Lessons from School Districts that Value Arts Eduction. While a bit longer, this report is a great starting point for talking about community art’s role in education. Please make sure to read the introduction, the study’s findings, the intro to the profiles, and one School district case study/profiles – that will be about 10 -15 pages. You can download the reporthere and see a summary of the report here.

Mending 101 :: Learn to Mend + Basic Sewing Skills – Sunday, September 13th; 2-4pm
Learn to sew on a button so it won’t fall off again, apply a patch, use a sewing machine, and darn holes! This two hour session will cover all you need to know to fix your clothing like new again.

Bring yourself, items needing mending, and all other supplies will be provided. If you have any sewing questions bring those too!

Suggested donation of $2 to help pay for supplies and support the space.

See you all there!

Explore the ways in which art can inspire, grow, and bring together our local community. Come together to learn, discuss, and develop ways in which we can facilitate and encourage artistic development in our own community. Over the next few months we will read and discuss articles and essays from the Community Arts Network. They have a large database of free articles, books, essays, and resources for learning and facilitation community art.

At our first meeting we will discuss an article by Jan Cohen-Cruz, “An Introduction to Community Art and Activism” as well as talk about what topics we would like to cover in the future. Please bring book, articles, or topic ideas as well as a print out of the article. Click here to view the article.

Note: this meetup is at the same location as the book binding workshop and will take place before it.

Codex Book Binding Workshop
Location: Ames Progressive
Date: Sunday, August 9th
Time: 2-4pm
Suggested donation of $2
RSVP on meetup.com here
Learn how to make your own journal using the codex method of binding. This style of binding is perfect for journals and sketch books because it lays flat while you are working.

All supplies provided except paper to fill your journal – graph paper, lined paper, copy paper, linen paper, or sketch paper all great to bind into your journal.

Please bring 20 or more sheets of any paper you wish to be bound – once bound they will be exactly 1/2 their original size – so letter sized sheets of paper will be made into a half sheet sized book. Tools for cutting down paper will be available for use at the workshop.
See you all on Sunday!
Kristin

Des Moines, IA – August 1st (11am-3pm) Swap-O-Rama-Rama (SORR) makes it’s first appearance in Des Moines, Iowa with a massive clothing swap and series of DIY (do-it-yourself) workshops. Hosted at the Des Moines Social Club in the heart of Des Moines, SORR will bring the community together with a message that encourages creativity and resistance to consumerism. With an admission of $10, swappers need only bring along one bag of unwanted clothing. SORR events recycle tens of thousands of pounds of clothing each year by teaching creative reuse through clothing alteration.

At SORR, do-it-yourself workshops, artist-run demos, and recycled fashion shows gather people together for the purpose of transforming unwanted clothing into a celebration of community creativity. Artist-taught workshops and thematic workstations such as silk screening, stenciling, or hand & machine sewing offer inspiration. Traditional crafts such as embroidery, knitting, beading and appliqué can also be found. If guests want to be hands-on they can slide over to any number of do-it-yourself workstations and get started. As well, skilled local re-use designers, artists and do-it-yourselfers are there to share their knowledge. Each swap also hosts a fashion show that features the recycled designs of local designers who are exploring re-use, as well as a fashion show for attendees of the event in which they are invited to show off the modified wearables that they made earlier in the day. All of the materials for creativity are free once inside the event. All left over clothing is donated to local charities.

Swap-O-Rama-Rama was created by artist Wendy Tremayne as a response to her feelings about consumerism and waste in our culture. Swap-O-Rama-Rama offers a way to obtain new/used clothing, to learn and create without the use of non-sustainable resources. The SORR community has rapidly grown through a Creative Commons license that assists sister events inspired by the original. SORR events can now be found in over 50 cities covering 6 countries.

Swap-O-Rama-Rama is fiscally sponsored by New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA).

Des Moines SORR Website: http://dsmswap@gmail.com

Official Swap-O-Rama-Rama Website: http://www.swaporamarama.org

Friday was a great night to get out and see some of Ames’ up and coming musicians. Rock the Block is put together by Rieman Music and gives great exposure and experience to many great young artists. From full out metal bands to acoustic melodies, this show had a little something for everyone.

It was a night full of music. You may have enjoyed some live tunes at the Ames Progressive or DG’s Tap House. Earlier in the day there were Bookends at the Bandshell and then Ames on the Halfshell. What is your favorite Ames Venue for Live Music? What show did you end up at?

Seems like the pockets are always getting torn off Jason’s jeans. Extensive mending and patching was executed.

See the darned spot? nope, me neither! And that’s the point. 3 pairs of socks now ready for feet!

usually it’s the dog carrying around the toy that looks like a cat, well, in this case it’s sarah’s cat that carries around a little dog – a proceeds to claw it’s guts out. Favorite cat toy now ready to be re-gutted all over again!

I brought a whole slew of books to look through and browse and chat about. zines brought back from San Francisco, collected over the years, and newly acquired.

Ames c.art fliers at the ames progressive. You can download fliers to print out and distribute here. More fliers coming soon! I just printed these off on graph paper, cut them down a bit, and then fixed them to 1/4 page pieces of card stock to hand out – print on anything you want and give them to friends – make them your own by jazzing them up, or get them out there on some white printer paper – main thing is to just have fun, spread the word, and help make ames c.art a success. Thank you for spreading the word!

And it was so great to meet/remeet/collaorate/chat with all of you! Look to the calendar and the news blog for more information on upcoming ames c.art events!

Bring: a project to work on, a project (or neat book or whatever you are excited about) to show off, and a sack lunch. I will be mending and knitting and bring a few interesting books I’ve come across lately. I want to encourage a bit of a show and tell this meeting. What have you been working on at home? what are you excited about? what have you been writing, playing, reading, making?

Questions? Bring those too: on any sewing, crochet, knitting, weaving, drawing, or painting project bring it along. All members have their own areas of expertise; we will all work together to help find a solution for your project.

When and Where: Sunday, July 12th – Noon to 4pm – stop by anytime, we are so okay with dropping in when you can to say hi. The Ames Progressive – located at 118 Hayward Avenue, Suite #3 in Ames, in the same building as The Ark Pet Shop, Domino’s Pizza, Nite Owl Printing and Scallion Korean Restaurant (just go around back, or take the side entrance and follow the hallway)

See you there!
Kristin