Leave Your Mark Project

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At Canvas201

Client

Canvas210 is not-for-profit art gallery in downtown Springfield who’s mission is to “Create spaces and environments where lives can connect and intersect.” It is a child-friendly environment dedicated to making art accessible to all people regardless of their personal level of artistic education or financial status.
Canvas210 is a relatively new and un-established gallery. Therefore, they are seeking creative ideas to allow hands-on involvement with the arts to increase the visibility of their cause. My goal with this project was to find a way to bring people into the gallery while furthering their mission of making art accessible to all people of the Springfield, Missouri community by providing a chance for them to be a part of the art making process.

How Was This Done?

I constructed an eleven paneled screen of canvasses to be set up in the gallery on the day of the April 1st ArtWalk and set out markers in front of it. I invited everyone who came into the gallery to add a drawing to the screen. In the spirit of Canvas210’s mission, everyone regardless of their artistic skill, had the chance to play a part in the creation of a community art project.

I prepped the canvasses with some drawings of my own before the start of the event because I felt the people who came in would be more comfortable adding to an already existing image.
I chose to dedicate those starting images to a theme "Remeber Japan" in reverence to the natural disaster that occurred in Japan during the course of my project.

I was personally affected by the tragedy because I studied art at KansaiGaidai University in Osaka, Japan for a semester in 2008. I wanted to use this community project to show support and respect for all of the victims of the Earthquake, tsunami and ongoing nuclear crisis, and to show the citizens of Springfield how art can cross cultures and unite people.

Outcome

The project was extremely well received. The gallery was very happy with the turn out to the event and many positive comments were made about the Japanese theme. The canvas was filled overwhelmingly with positive images and prayers for the nation of Japan in its time of need. Unexpectedly during the event a charity group collecting money for aid in Japan took up a position nearby the display in order to maximize donations. The project was so well received, it was exhibited twice after the initial event, first at a benefit concert to collect money for aid in Japan and again at the Missouri State University Student Exhibition Center. Both times markers were provided for more additions of art. The final result is a powerful display of human compassion and community spirit.

During my research I discovered several examples of group mural projects where black line art was laid down first and then guest were invited to come in and add to the design over a period of time. The lowermost image is my personal sketchbook. I found my sketchbook matched closely to the examples I had found so I used it as the basis for my large scale project.

I pulled out images from my own sketchbook and integrated them into the beginning image that was drawn onto the canvases prior to the start of the event.