The biggest little city holds secrets and hidden treasures around every corner. Take a walk around the streets. Pay attention to the walls, the sidewalks, the signs, the people. Pay attention. You just might find something worth looking at.
THE HUNT.
It was the month of hot July. Art was on the minds of everyone. Sidewalks and parks became the hip scene. Melodies and wet paint heightened senses on every corner. As I watched the creativity unfold I realized an artist could blend in with this crowd. I did just that.
The people. The creators. Would not have to search far to collaborate… but they would have to search smart. I was here. I was there. ready for the urban art hunters to get their hands dirty.
THE TASK.
GRAB A SHARPIE AND MAP OUT HOW YOU GOT HERE. USE BASIC SYMBOLS AND LINES. YOU MAY CROSS OVER OTHER’S ROUTES.
LAYING DOWN TRACKS.
The project finished with 4+ Alley Art spottings and creatings. Sharpie’s ran dry and the board was a chaotic mess of direction. But under closer inspection I do believe you can begin to see tracks. Tracks telling stories. Tracks guiding. Tracks following. Look close. You will see the beginning of something.
What? Well, we will have to lay down some more tracks for that answer.
type: collaborative found art sculpture. Reno Sculpture Festival.
THE REVIVAL.
A new age of art and culture is brewing in the biggest little city. You can feel the impact and the influence at each color-filled corner. Public art is filling in long lost spaces. Spaces meant to be seen. Details frequently missed by busy moving minds.
Metal-works mold the River walk. Artworks stand tall from burns years before. Murals brighten walls with memories and messages. And festivals celebrate and honor the vibrant art and artists driving it all forward.
LARGER THAN LIFE IDEAS.
The idea… collaborate. create big. create fierce. create the impossible.
then… share it with 30,000 people. For free.
The result… Reno Sculpture Fest is a “larger-than-life” art, music, and culture festival spanning across the urban jungle known as Reno.
THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX.
As the people wandered in and out of the giant sculptures that lined the Downtown ReTRAC Alley Art Project #10 awaited their time and interaction.
A simple idea. A bold statement. Most search beyond the ‘box’ for inspiration. This project’s aim was to build the ‘box’. deconstruct it. and finally rebuild it again into something new.
A SINGLE STROKE OF INSPIRATION.
The ‘box’ stood as a giant easel and canvas of scrap woods abstractly attached to each other. As the people wearily approached the piece they were greeted with a brush dripping with wet paint.
A single brushstroke is all each individual would get… but as the crowds filed through the individual strokes began to connect and flow across the uneven surface. The chaotic yet individually precise lines shapes and colors were building something.
WRITE WORDS OF WISDOM OR TRUTH.
An old beaten saw-horse piled high with wood scraps meant for the yard stood next to the easel. A fresh coat of white paint would fast be covered with scribbles in black sharpie ink.
With each new person came reflection over the words others had left. Then, a moment of poetic inspiration would come and a new wisdom would be etched in among the others.
MERGING AT DAWN.
Sunday. A final festival dawn of hazy grey skies and subtle mists of rain or inspiration. I stripped the thoughts and color from their original places. To reinvent. To revive. For it’s when we merge our words with our actions that we can create new and inspired ideas.
GIVE THE PEOPLE BACK THEIR VOICE.
Just as the early morning coffee drinkers and book readers settled into their lazy Sunday routine I stood back from the newly constructed scrap wood canvas of three dimensions.
‘The People’s Philosopher’. As old of an idea as the wood grains he was created from.
Created by the hands and words of the Reno Citizens. Reconstructed by the artist, J.Charboneau. Art for the people, by the people.
– Take back your words. Take back your ideas. create. create. create. –