Through the summer Minot holds Arts in the Park every Thursday and Sunday evening. A few months ago, I was blindsided when I got a call from the Minot Area Council of the Arts contacted me and asked if I’d be interested in being a featured artist.
Arts in the Park works like this. A band plays in the band shell, people come and listen, and an artist stands off to the side. You can do anything you’d like to as the artist, they just encourage it to be something interactive or a demonstration. Like most things, my art is pretty diverse. I had no idea what they wanted me to do, but they were clear that I could do anything I wanted.
So I did what I usually do in a situation like this. I try to think what I would want to see if I was just attending. This is what I came up with.
It’s a community canvas. I drew a black outline of a design {inspired by sunflowers, so perfect for this time of year.} Then I put a dot of color in every space, denoting what it should be filled with. People are welcome to come and fill in as much or as little as they want. And when it’s all filled we are left with a lovely piece of art that many hands had a part in creating.
And people loved it!
Which was so flattering, since I tend to think that my arty stuff is only stuff that my mom would like. Better yet, a woman from the arts council asked if she could buy it. {Say what??!} But wait–there’s more. Minot has an “Arts in the Schools” program that sends local artists in to schools to teach art to kids…and they asked if I’d be interested in being involved. {Duh!} Nothing is super official, but it’s still nice to be considered.
Here’s a progression of the canvas throughout the night.
What I’m getting at is that is was a great night. A night much needed as this fell right around the time of the “Unstuck” post. It was an up that I was in need of. Arts in the Park is done for the season, but if you live in Minot, you should keep a pulse on the cool things the arts council is doing. These folks are working hard to infuse our community with art, culture and fun activities, which I think is something we are all in favor of.
xo
Amy
