It seems like forever ago that we were dreaming up our ArtVend project that cold board meeting back in January 2010, we were just putting pen to paper designing the mural. It’s with great joy that ran the first test vend of the machine last week using our own board member’s ceramic work. And to answer your first question, no it didn’t break! While the packaging is rough, it was a proto-type to see if we could successful vend ceramics without breaking them or jamming the machine.

That’s what of the things I love about this project, we can vend just about anything local makers dream up.

While you may have seen the project outline on the ArtVend project page to download, we wanted to make sure it got to everyone possible. We’ve also put together a pdf outlining how to prepare your work to be vending. While there are few hard fast rules:

• - can handle the drop and won’t jam the machine.
• - made within a 50 mile radius of ames
• - is priced 25 cents to $12.25
• - leave a little room on the back for our tag so we can keep track of inventory

There are some general guidelines to make sure your items are accepted the first time around without a need for packaging adjustments.

When you send in your items, make sure to include a signed copy of the consignment agreement and a filled out inventory sheet.

Project overview
Preparing your work for Vending
Consignment Agreement
Inventory Form

If you would like your work to be included in the machine when it’s placed in Wheatsfield in early September, please contact kristin [at] amescart [dot] org to arrange for drop off or shipment by Tuesday, August 30th.

What: Creative Collision
Where: The Ames Progressive, 118 Hayward Avenue, Ames, IA
When: Wednesday, January 12 at 7:00 PM

Join the Ames C.art Facebook group to get updates about upcoming Creative Collision meetings. We will no longer be using Meetup.com after February 1st.

Creative Collision is a place to share, combine, collaborate, and learn from one another. From fibers to painting, everyone and every medium is welcome. Come to share your work, get feedback, or to enjoy the company and conversation of other creatively minded folks. Bring a portable project to work on, like knitting or your sketchbook.

Have you ever wondered what the Ames Progressive does and how you can get involved? Well, Nate’s going to start us out by fielding all our questions about the music, the publication, the art, the craft fairs, yoga, and more!

Come early to take advantage of one of the Ames Progressive?s great offerings: Yoga! Bring a mat, bring yourself, and enjoy!
Yoga from 6 – 7PM
$3 suggested donation
(give what you are able)

Help Spread the word by printing and passing around this month’s flier! Just right click the image above, click “view image”, and then “file>print” from the web browser menu.

See you all at the AP!

Kristin Roach

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

The Ames Collaborative Art Annual Project strives to mobilize artistically inclined youth, adult, and elder residents of out community to create large scale collaborative art projects within Ames, Iowa. Help support the 2012 Ames C.art Annual Project by sending donations to: Ames C.art, 2321 N. Loop Drive #102, Ames, IA 50010

{2010 mural, Thinking of Ames, located at the corner of Chamberlain and Welch in Ames, IA}

What is the 2010 Campustown Mural Project?

The Ames C.art Mural Project began as an initiative by the Campustown Student Association in the Spring of 2009. The owner of T-Galaxy agreed to the mural’s proposed location on the T-Galaxy building’s north wall. In October of 2009, Ames Collaborative Art (Ames C.art) accepted the invitation by the Campustown Student Association to coordinate and actualize the Campustown Mural Project as the initiation of the Ames C.art Mural Program.

This collaborative mural project was an entirely volunteer-driven effort intended to bring different populations of the Ames community together: school age children, college students, university staff, city residents, and local artists. We joined together of different aspects of the community to create a piece of public art which everyone can enjoy and encourages pride in and celebration of the Ames community.

Order your copy of “Thinking of Ames” on Lulu today!Get your own mural mug, postcard, or shirt on Zazzle!

The Making of the Mural

Special Thanks to all the community members that made this project possible: Griffle Inc, Sherwin Williams, Lowe’s, T-Galaxy, The Campustown Student Association, Craft Leftovers, the Ames Progressive, the Campustown Fire Station, The City of Ames, The Paint Iowa Beautiful Grant Program, Ames Community Art Council, Ames Public Art Commission, and all the wonderful volunteers who took the time to paint this mural – without you, this project would have never become the reality it is today.

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