[photo & quote credit: Doug Millison, co-founder & acting curator, Little Free Art Gallery]
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Monday, March 11, 2013
Little Free Art Gallery on exhibit at "The Free Gallery", Opening Night, 1 March 2013
[All photos and article by Doug Millison]
I donated three new "Single-Serving Size" Little Free Art Gallery works to be exhibited and given away at the show: The Hilary Box, Boss Joss, and Big Joss Man, Can't You Hear Me When I Call? The Little Free Art Gallery project also borrows the social form of the art gallery and incorporates the activity of the people who visit and "enter" the gallery installation, and who take a piece of art from it
The exhibit replicates the social experience of the art gallery. Visitors respond to publicity about "The Free Gallery" in social media, from Pro Arts, and other sources, and come to visit. Admission is free. Instead of selling the works on exhibit, "The Free Gallery" offers its exhibited items for free, one for each visitor who wishes to take one. Meggait interviews each visitor and records the reason given for this particular selection, and photographs the patron with her selection. A basket at the information desk offers offer business cards and flyers from exhibiting artists, as well as "The Free Gallery" post card. A guest book sits ready for visitor comments. New art works are placed in "The Free Gallery" daily throughout the show. On opening night, Meggait said that she expects everything to be taken by visitors by the end of the exhibit period.
In explaining "The Free Gallery", organizer Jocelyn Meggait points to the writings of Nicolas Bourriaud whose book Relational Aesthetics provides a theoretical frame for understanding art works that replicate social forms. (Bourriaud's Postproduction: Culture as Screenplay: How Art Reprograms the World quoted above, is available online as a pdf, search the title at Google.) "The Free Gallery" thus not only presents a well-curated and attractively-designed display of art works and interesting second-hand items, as an art work itself it includes the activity of the visitors who arrive: they view the exhibit, talk with other visitors, select a work, describe why they are taking it, have their photo taken. The social process that unfolds over time in this gallery-within-a-gallery constitutes Meggait's work of social art.
The Little Free Art Gallery works that I donated to "The Free Gallery" are also social art works. Intended as art objects, their exterior and interior surfaces have been decorated the way I create scrapbook collages, with a variety of materials and imagery spanning a spectrum of styles.
Little Free Art Gallery also recreates the art gallery social experience. Visitors are invited to open the door and "enter" the Little Free Art Gallery, view the art work on exhibit within, and to take the Little Free Art Gallery home (in the case of a Single-Serving Size box) or who take a piece of art from it if the Little Free Art Gallery in question is a permanent installation. They are also invited to contact the Little Free Art Gallery blog or Facebook Page, to let the project organizer (me) know the where it ended up, in whatever level of detail the new owner is willing to provide.
The work of art may thus consist of a formal arrangement that generates relationships between people, or be born of a social process; I have described this phenomenon as 'relational aesthetics,' whose main feature is to consider interhuman exchange as an aesthetic object in and of itself."The Free Gallery" is a work of social art, a work of art that borrows the social form of the art gallery and whose major elements include the activity of the people who visit the exhibit and the relationships that they form in the process. "The Free Gallery" proprietor, Jocelyn Meggait of Free Utopian Projects, has built a gallery within the hosting Pro Arts gallery in Oakland, California, where she has organized an exhibit of art works and interesting second-hand objects from 70 people. The public is invited through March 29, visitors can expect to find art works and other treasures and choose one to take away for free.
–Nicolas Bourriaud, Postproduction Culture as Screenplay: How Art Reprograms the World
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| "The Free Gallery" is a social art work, an art gallery inside another art gallery, Pro Arts, in downtown Oakland, California. |
I donated three new "Single-Serving Size" Little Free Art Gallery works to be exhibited and given away at the show: The Hilary Box, Boss Joss, and Big Joss Man, Can't You Hear Me When I Call? The Little Free Art Gallery project also borrows the social form of the art gallery and incorporates the activity of the people who visit and "enter" the gallery installation, and who take a piece of art from it
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| I donated three "Single-Serving Size" Little Free Art Gallery works to be exhibited and given away at the show: The Hilary Box, Boss Joss, and Big Joss Man, Can't You Hear Me When I Call? |
The exhibit replicates the social experience of the art gallery. Visitors respond to publicity about "The Free Gallery" in social media, from Pro Arts, and other sources, and come to visit. Admission is free. Instead of selling the works on exhibit, "The Free Gallery" offers its exhibited items for free, one for each visitor who wishes to take one. Meggait interviews each visitor and records the reason given for this particular selection, and photographs the patron with her selection. A basket at the information desk offers offer business cards and flyers from exhibiting artists, as well as "The Free Gallery" post card. A guest book sits ready for visitor comments. New art works are placed in "The Free Gallery" daily throughout the show. On opening night, Meggait said that she expects everything to be taken by visitors by the end of the exhibit period.
In explaining "The Free Gallery", organizer Jocelyn Meggait points to the writings of Nicolas Bourriaud whose book Relational Aesthetics provides a theoretical frame for understanding art works that replicate social forms. (Bourriaud's Postproduction: Culture as Screenplay: How Art Reprograms the World quoted above, is available online as a pdf, search the title at Google.) "The Free Gallery" thus not only presents a well-curated and attractively-designed display of art works and interesting second-hand items, as an art work itself it includes the activity of the visitors who arrive: they view the exhibit, talk with other visitors, select a work, describe why they are taking it, have their photo taken. The social process that unfolds over time in this gallery-within-a-gallery constitutes Meggait's work of social art.
The Little Free Art Gallery works that I donated to "The Free Gallery" are also social art works. Intended as art objects, their exterior and interior surfaces have been decorated the way I create scrapbook collages, with a variety of materials and imagery spanning a spectrum of styles.
Little Free Art Gallery also recreates the art gallery social experience. Visitors are invited to open the door and "enter" the Little Free Art Gallery, view the art work on exhibit within, and to take the Little Free Art Gallery home (in the case of a Single-Serving Size box) or who take a piece of art from it if the Little Free Art Gallery in question is a permanent installation. They are also invited to contact the Little Free Art Gallery blog or Facebook Page, to let the project organizer (me) know the where it ended up, in whatever level of detail the new owner is willing to provide.
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| The Hilary Box, a "Single-Serving Size" Little Free Art Gallery featuring a collage from The Concrete Jungle Book project, by Morris Armstrong, Jr. proudly a.k.a."Little Mo" with help from the Nonhuman Crew including yrs truly, Doug Millison |
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| Big Joss Man, Can't You Hear Me When I Call? Single-Serving Size Little Free Art Gallery, back and side view, on exhibit at "The Free Gallery" |
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| Boss Joss XS Little Free Art Gallery on exhibit at "The Free Gallery" |
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Little Free Art Gallery at "The Free Gallery" - The Photo Album
Great set of photos by Jess Dene Schlesinger of "The Free Gallery" organized by Free: A Utopian Project at Pro Arts, Oakland, CA, opening night March 1, 2013
"The Free Gallery" photo album https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.430760270345886.1073741825.171870759568173&type=1
"The Free Gallery" photo album https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.430760270345886.1073741825.171870759568173&type=1
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| Big Joss Man, Can't You Hear Me When I Call? Little Free Art Gallery on the table at lower left. |
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| The HIlary Box Little Free Art Gallery, side and back view, on shelf at lower right. |
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| The HIlary Box Little Free Art Gallery, front view, |
Friday, March 1, 2013
Hope to see you tonight, 6-8 p.m. at the Artists Reception for "The Free Gallery" show at Pro Arts, Oakland, California
Hope to see you tonight, 6-8 p.m. at the Artists Reception for "The Free Gallery" at Pro Arts, Oakland, California
http://
50 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Oakland (at Oakland Art Gallery) Phone (510) 763-4361
http://
50 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Oakland (at Oakland Art Gallery) Phone (510) 763-4361
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| Image for photo flyer to give away at "The Free Gallery" at Pro Arts, Oakland, California, March 1-29, 2013 http:// |
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
"The Free Gallery" preview starts today at Pro Arts in downtown Oakland, at 10 am., including 3 of my Little Free Art Gallery pieces, everything to be given away for free when the show opens March 1
"The Free Gallery" preview starts today at Pro
Arts in downtown Oakland, at 10 am. I've got 3 Little Free Art Gallery
pieces on exhibit, to be given away free. I'm not sure yet how it's
all going to work, I guess on March 1 when the show opens
officially, an "Artists Reception and Free Art Launch" will take place
from 6-8 p.m., maybe that is when people will be able to take the art
and other gallery items for free, I have no idea how it will work then
or afterwards, maybe I will find out more before then. At any rate, it
will be interesting to see how people respond to the whole thing.
http://www.proartsgallery.org/exhibitions/2013_exhibitioncall_freegallery.php
http://www.proartsgallery.org/exhibitions/2013_exhibitioncall_freegallery.php
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| "The Hilary Box", "Boss Joss", and "Big Joss Man, Can't You Hear Me When I Call" are 3 Little Free Art Gallery confections by Doug Millison, to be exhibited and given away for free at "The Free Gallery", Pro Arts, Oakland, California, March 1-29; show preview starts February 26, 2013 |
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Little Free Art Gallery Bumper Stickers
HONK IF YOU LOVE FREE ART
I BRAKE FOR FREE ART
WILL ART 4 FREE
I (HEART) FREE ART
I BRAKE FOR FREE ART
WILL ART 4 FREE
I (HEART) FREE ART
Coming soon to Little Free Art Gallery No. 1: "Garage Collage"
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| Family Group by Morris Armstrong, Jr. proudly a.k.a. "Little Mo" with help from the Nonhuman Crew including Doug Millison; from the Garage Collage series. Details of public exhibit and items to be given away for free at Little Free Art Gallery No. 1 in El Cerrito, California, to be announced. |
Saturday, February 16, 2013
"The Hilary Box", "Boss Joss" and "Big Joss Man, Can't You Hear Me When I Call?" delivered to Pro Arts, Oakland, California, today for "The Free Gallery" extravaganza
The
Hilary Box, Boss Joss and Big Joss Man, Can't You Hear Me When I
Call? constitute a new series of Little Free Art Gallery installations
by Doug Millison, all
created especially to give away for FREE at "The Free Gallery" starting
later this month and running through March 2013 at Pro Arts, Oakland,
California.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
BOSS JOSS is an XXS "Single-Serving Size" Little Free Art Gallery to be given away for free at "The Free Gallery", Pro Arts, Oakland, Ca., March 1, 2013
BOSS JOSS by Doug Millison, an XXS “Single-Serving Size” Little Free Art Gallery
created to be given away for free at “The Free Gallery”, Pro Arts, Oakland, California
February 26 - March 29, 2013. Made of authentic joss paper HELLBANK notes, HELLBANK golden ingots, red and gold metallic joss paper, and hong bao red money gift envelopes all purchased at 99 Ranch Market in Richmond, California, plus newspaper clip, rubber stamp. More about “The Free Gallery” at http://www.proartsgallery.org/exhibitions/2013_exhibitioncall_freegallery.php
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“BOSS JOSS” by Doug Millison; front door; XXS “Single-Serving Size” Little Free Art Gallery
created to be given away for free at “The Free Gallery” – Pro Arts, Oakland, California February 26 - March 29, 2013 |
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“BOSS JOSS” by Doug Millison interior, inside front cover decorated with joss paper; hong bao envelope tag pulls it from the box and pulls a surprise card from the envelope. XXS “Single-Serving Size” Little Free Art Gallery created to be given away for free at “The Free Gallery” – Pro Arts, Oakland, California, February 26 - March 29, 2013 |
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| “BOSS JOSS” by Doug Millison. interior, surprise card removed from hong bao envelope; HELLBANK gold ingots in box. XXS “Single-Serving Size” Little Free Art Gallery created to be given away for free at “The Free Gallery” – Pro Arts, Oakland, California February 26 - March 29, 2013 |
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Dear Little Free Art Gallery,
If "everybody is an artist" as Joseph Beuys said, and people like you repeat ad nauseum then why aren't we all making art all the time?
Sincerely,
An Art Collector & Investor
Dear Art Collector & Investor,
People do…but, we don't call it Art.
Growing up we have learned the lesson well: Art is something only special people with special insight and privileges, called Artists, get to spend their time doing.
Meanwhile, the rest of us pursue our "crafts" and "creativity" from day to day in countless beautiful, useful, and life-affirming ways, and leave the "Artists" to themselves.
If the Big Expensive Art Gallery doesn't want my creations, I build a Little Free Art Gallery and use it to give away freely the things that I make as I try to make my life and world a more beautiful and satisfying place.
If "everybody is an artist" as Joseph Beuys said, and people like you repeat ad nauseum then why aren't we all making art all the time?
Sincerely,
An Art Collector & Investor
Dear Art Collector & Investor,
People do…but, we don't call it Art.
Growing up we have learned the lesson well: Art is something only special people with special insight and privileges, called Artists, get to spend their time doing.
Meanwhile, the rest of us pursue our "crafts" and "creativity" from day to day in countless beautiful, useful, and life-affirming ways, and leave the "Artists" to themselves.
If the Big Expensive Art Gallery doesn't want my creations, I build a Little Free Art Gallery and use it to give away freely the things that I make as I try to make my life and world a more beautiful and satisfying place.
Friday, February 8, 2013
Fine-tuning the Little Free Art Gallery Mission Statement
Little Free Art Gallery Project Mission Statement
Recognizing that most people rarely if ever engage directly with living artists and new, original works of art due to economic and class barriers and other factors, and seeing how we often fail to realize our own artistic abilities for the same reasons, the Little Free Art Gallery Project seeks to deepen our understanding of art and how to use it to enhance our lives through the practice of making art and giving it away for free.
We create, and encourage others to create, art galleries and their digital media counterparts in a variety of configurations and sizes, deployed across a spectrum of public and private locations. We invite and organize artists to use the Little Free Art Gallery installations to give away free, original works of art, and to document their gifts in the project's online and printed publications.
We use this free art exchange to create communities and online networks where we engage each other and deepen our understanding of the world as we inspire and help each other to make and share art. Together in person, in digital media, and in print, we discuss art, its "value" and uses, our relationship with original art works and their creators, and related topics.
By making and sharing free art, we seek to liberate our thinking and open more fully to the world and to each other.
"When art is free, so are we."
–Doug Millison, co-founder
Recognizing that most people rarely if ever engage directly with living artists and new, original works of art due to economic and class barriers and other factors, and seeing how we often fail to realize our own artistic abilities for the same reasons, the Little Free Art Gallery Project seeks to deepen our understanding of art and how to use it to enhance our lives through the practice of making art and giving it away for free.
We create, and encourage others to create, art galleries and their digital media counterparts in a variety of configurations and sizes, deployed across a spectrum of public and private locations. We invite and organize artists to use the Little Free Art Gallery installations to give away free, original works of art, and to document their gifts in the project's online and printed publications.
We use this free art exchange to create communities and online networks where we engage each other and deepen our understanding of the world as we inspire and help each other to make and share art. Together in person, in digital media, and in print, we discuss art, its "value" and uses, our relationship with original art works and their creators, and related topics.
By making and sharing free art, we seek to liberate our thinking and open more fully to the world and to each other.
"When art is free, so are we."
–Doug Millison, co-founder
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| "When art is free, so are we" photo by Doug Millison, co-founder Little Free Art Gallery |
Doug Millison is donating an altered book collage created for The Concrete Jungle Book project to be given away in a "single-serving size" Little Free Art Gallery, at "The Free Show" on March 1 at Pro Arts in downtown Oakland, CA
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| Three of Doug Millison's works, Junkyard Knife 2011, Madrone Studios, San Francisco, October 2011. One of this altered-book scrapbook collage series (although not one of these 3 works) will be included in a free "single-serving size" Little Free Art Gallery display box to be given away at "The Free Show" March 1, 2013 at Pro Arts, Oakland, CA [photo: Michael Sun] |
Project co-founder, Doug Millison (http://DougMillison.com; https://www.facebook.com/dougmillison) is donating one of the original collage works created for The Concrete Jungle Book project to be given away in one of the Little Free Art Gallery "single-serving size" gallery boxes distributed at "The Free Show" on March 1 at Pro Arts in downtown Oakland. These works have been exhibited at AJS Gallery in Brussels, Belgium, and at Madrone Studios, San Francisco (some of the collages shown in photo from the SF show in October 2010; photo by Michael Sun). "The Free Show" details at http://www.proartsgallery.org/exhibitions/2013_exhibitioncall_freegallery.php
Thursday, February 7, 2013
How does Little Free Art Gallery fit within the growing community of organizations and events that explore "free" alternatives?
How does Little Free Art Gallery fit within the growing community of organizations and events that explore "free" alternatives?
A: Little Free Art Gallery grows out of work by Doug Millison in 2011, when he developed a plan for a membership-based creative community and production facility in the San Francisco Bay Area, formalized in a project called FreeArtExchange.com and evolving in 2012 to include the Little Free Art Gallery.
The project focuses on creating communities centered on making and sharing original works of art for free, celebrating the process: Art Making → Curating → Exhibiting → Receiving → Giving
Online, the Little Free Art Gallery Project gives artists a way to document the original works that they give away for free, in a Free Art Exchange directory/app -- available for free, naturally.
Little Free Art Gallery Project encourages artists, art teachers, curators, and others to establish their own Little Free Art Gallery installations in art studios, classrooms, museums, and community locations where art lovers can encounter them and help themselves to free original art works.
Little Free Art Gallery installations range in size from "single-serving size" gallery boxes that include one original work of art, to booth-sized units that provide an immersive gallery experience for one or a small group of art lovers. We also plan community deployments involving multiple artists who each create "single-serving size" Little Free Art Gallery boxes and place them in public places where art lovers can find them and take appropriate actions as a result.
In development: Web-connected Little Free Art Gallery kiosks and app that can distribute original works of digital art for download by art-lovers on the Web at LittleFreeArtGallery.com, via smartphone app, or from Little Free Art Gallery digital, Web-connected kiosks.
We welcome all interested parties to help move this exciting project forward.
A: Little Free Art Gallery grows out of work by Doug Millison in 2011, when he developed a plan for a membership-based creative community and production facility in the San Francisco Bay Area, formalized in a project called FreeArtExchange.com and evolving in 2012 to include the Little Free Art Gallery.
The project focuses on creating communities centered on making and sharing original works of art for free, celebrating the process: Art Making → Curating → Exhibiting → Receiving → Giving
Online, the Little Free Art Gallery Project gives artists a way to document the original works that they give away for free, in a Free Art Exchange directory/app -- available for free, naturally.
Little Free Art Gallery Project encourages artists, art teachers, curators, and others to establish their own Little Free Art Gallery installations in art studios, classrooms, museums, and community locations where art lovers can encounter them and help themselves to free original art works.
Little Free Art Gallery installations range in size from "single-serving size" gallery boxes that include one original work of art, to booth-sized units that provide an immersive gallery experience for one or a small group of art lovers. We also plan community deployments involving multiple artists who each create "single-serving size" Little Free Art Gallery boxes and place them in public places where art lovers can find them and take appropriate actions as a result.
In development: Web-connected Little Free Art Gallery kiosks and app that can distribute original works of digital art for download by art-lovers on the Web at LittleFreeArtGallery.com, via smartphone app, or from Little Free Art Gallery digital, Web-connected kiosks.
We welcome all interested parties to help move this exciting project forward.
It's official: Little Free Art Gallery taking part in "The Free Gallery" show at Pro Arts, Oakland, CA, February 26 - March 29, 2013
By Free Utopian Projects | Exhibition Call Selection 2013
Exhibition Dates: February 26 - March 29, 2013
Preview: Tuesday, February 26 - Friday, March 1
Artists' Reception and Free Art Launch: First Friday, March 1, 6-8pm
The Free Gallery, by Free Utopian Projects, is a new exhibition presenting free artwork, found objects and art ephemera to the public.The Free Gallery is both an interactive experience of an alternative art economy, as well as a study of art as a consumer product. Who makes art? Who exhibits art? Who buys art? The Free Gallery explores the collapse of these distinctions by offering a subverted gallery experience where not only admission is free, the art is too.
Participating artists donate work to the exhibition to be presented salon-style in a continually evolving cycle of giving and taking art. A 'Preview' will be held from Tuesday, February 26 to Friday, March 1 to allow viewers an exclusive preview of items that will be available free to the public from the Artists' Reception onwards. A practice of taking one work per person will be encouraged. The project proprietor Jocelyn Meggait will be onsite most gallery hours to discuss the project with visitors, coordinate artwork, and document the selection experience.
The Free Gallery brings a distinctly Bay Area tradition of free community happenings - from The Digger's Free Shops in the 1960's to thriving First Friday's in Oakland - to an exhibition experience. By embracing the potential for visual chaos and participatory mayhem, The Free Gallery seeks to highlight alternative routes for accessing, valuing and experiencing art.
CALLING ALL ARTISTS TO PARTICIPATE!To have your work included in The Free Gallery drop it off to Pro Arts' gallery on Saturday, February 16 between 11am and 4pm.View Pro Arts' Standards of Exhibited Work before making your donation. |
About Free Utopian Projects: Free Utopian Projects is an ongoing alternative art project exploring Utopian economic systems by creating free, socially active installations. Curator/proprietor/artist Jocelyn Meggait has installed Free Projects at Kala Art Institute, Mills College Art Museum, and most recently at the alternative art space A Temporary Offering in the Renoir Hotel, San Francisco.
About the Annual Call for Exhibition Proposals: The Annual Call for Exhibition Proposals establishes an open submission process for artists and curators to present and produce a curated exhibition in collaboration with Pro Arts. The program provides a platform for exceptional and unexpected presentations of work from a range of artists and curators.
http://www.proartsgallery.org/exhibitions/2013_exhibitioncall_freegallery.php
Little Free Art Gallery is participating in The Free Gallery organized by Free Utopian Projects, hosted by Pro Arts in downtown Oakland, CA, beginning later this month and running through March
It's official: Little Free Art Gallery is participating in The Free Gallery organized by Free Utopian Projects, hosted by Pro Arts in downtown Oakland, CA, beginning later this month and running through March. We will give away for FREE a newly-created series of "single-serving size" Little Free Art Gallery boxes, hand-crafted and embellished, each containing an original work of art.
We're delighted to take part in an experience that, as described by organizer Jocelyn Meggait in the Pro Arts press release published today, is "embracing the potential for visual chaos and participatory mayhem," and we look forward to helping The Free Gallery as it "seeks to highlight alternative routes for accessing, valuing and experiencing art."
Here is the press release issued today by Pro Arts:
We're delighted to take part in an experience that, as described by organizer Jocelyn Meggait in the Pro Arts press release published today, is "embracing the potential for visual chaos and participatory mayhem," and we look forward to helping The Free Gallery as it "seeks to highlight alternative routes for accessing, valuing and experiencing art."
Here is the press release issued today by Pro Arts:
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Oakland, CA: Pro Arts is pleased to present The Free Gallery by Free Utopian Projects, a new exhibition presenting free artwork, found objects and art ephemera to the public. 
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Little Free Art Gallery Project will make its first public art show appearance March 1 in Oakland, California; details TBA
Monday, January 28, 2013
"When art is free, so are we." -Doug Millison, co-founder, Little Free Art Gallery Project
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| "When art is free, so are we." -Doug Millison, co-founder, LittleFreeArtGallery.com |
Friday, January 25, 2013
A dream of receiving and giving free art
Reposting this record of a dream last spring:
I woke up this morning from a dream.
I took a Little Free Art Gallery someplace for a day of workshops where people would make little paintings, collages, sculptures. We finished with a ceremony before bringing in a new group for the next session.
Each participant in turn approaches the Little Free Art Gallery, carrying a piece of art she made today.
The participant opens the little gallery door and surveys the art works collected within.
She selects a piece created by a previous workshop attendee, holds it up for the rest of us to see. In its place, she leaves a piece that she made today as a gift for somebody in the next session. She closes the little gallery door, bows, withdraws.
That's when I woke up.
Writing about it in my journal later, I realized we were honoring a process:
If I am lucky, I receive artistic insight that permits me to create art that is original and which can engage others. A gift to me from the universe, that's how the insight feels.
In gratitude, I choose a little piece of my art to give away for free.
You encounter my art. You give it your appreciation and attention. You spend precious time interacting with this incarnation of my artistic vision.
You select my art work and take it with you. I accept more good feeling, knowing you have chosen to receive my work as a gift because it speaks to you.
I take pleasure in the knowledge that my art will continue to evoke responses from others when they encounter it on display in your collection, or when you pass it on to another art lover.
I woke up this morning from a dream.
I took a Little Free Art Gallery someplace for a day of workshops where people would make little paintings, collages, sculptures. We finished with a ceremony before bringing in a new group for the next session.
Each participant in turn approaches the Little Free Art Gallery, carrying a piece of art she made today.
The participant opens the little gallery door and surveys the art works collected within.
She selects a piece created by a previous workshop attendee, holds it up for the rest of us to see. In its place, she leaves a piece that she made today as a gift for somebody in the next session. She closes the little gallery door, bows, withdraws.
That's when I woke up.
Writing about it in my journal later, I realized we were honoring a process:
Art Making → Curating → Exhibiting → Receiving → Giving
If I am lucky, I receive artistic insight that permits me to create art that is original and which can engage others. A gift to me from the universe, that's how the insight feels.
In gratitude, I choose a little piece of my art to give away for free.
You encounter my art. You give it your appreciation and attention. You spend precious time interacting with this incarnation of my artistic vision.
You select my art work and take it with you. I accept more good feeling, knowing you have chosen to receive my work as a gift because it speaks to you.
I take pleasure in the knowledge that my art will continue to evoke responses from others when they encounter it on display in your collection, or when you pass it on to another art lover.
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| photo by Doug Millison |
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Little Free Art Gallery to participate in Free: A Utopian Project's next free shop
We're happy to announce that we'll be setting up a Little Free Art Gallery and will use it to distribute free original art works by Doug Millison and others, at the next free shop of the Free: A Utopian Project free shop in the San Francisco Bay Area. Location and date to be determined, stay tuned. Free: A Utopian Project http://www.freecoproject.com/
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