By Felicia Harmon
Updates
It’s been an exciting time for Arts @ the Feed & Grain (AFG) as construction finally began this month on the Artspace Lofts. With construction limiting access to the Feed & Grain itself, we have had to get creative and find new ways to take AFG out to the community. Our first project was an 8-week temporary graffiti project by Nocturne Arts installed on the exterior of the Feed & Grain so pedestrians and drivers can view it. With this installation, Nocturne Arts is exploring the many different types of artists that have helped define Loveland as an arts community, showcasing foundry workers who build sculpture, children who are the next generation of artists and innovators, and photographers and other artists who use the Feed & Grain as a site for their inspiration.
Josh Weiner of Team 4-Site standing next to his sculpture that took 2nd Place[/caption]
Also in May, Arts @ The Feed & Grain partnered with the Denver Mini Maker Faire to produce the Sculpture Games for Denver audience. Four teams of artists worked with scrap metal, wood, junk, and other randomly selected objects donated by Uncle Benny’s Building Supplies. The artists were challenged to weld, wire, glue, sew and otherwise assemble these items into fine art sculptures during an interactive and timed competition.
Anna Maddocks with Anna's Art Explorers works with children to create recycled sculpture[/caption]
Other activities presented by AFG at the Denver Mini Maker Faire included a table for kids to construct their own sculpture out of recycled material by Anna Maddock of Anna’s Art Explorers and a serendipitous partnering with the Tesla Research Society, which demonstrated a real Tesla machine constructed out of recycled materials from Uncle Benny’s.
The Tesla Research Society demonstrates the Tesla Coil during the Sculpture Games[/caption]
Challenges
Our biggest new challenge is also our best news: construction is underway on the Artspace Loveland Lofts! The biggest challenge for Arts @ the Feed & Grain is how to celebrate creative placemaking while our place is not accessible to the general public, so we are moving our programming into the community through events like the above mentioned Sculpture Games. Also, we are honoring Cornerstone community members and artists who have made a serious contribution to the arts of Loveland over time and this summer, we will be taking the message about creative placemaking and the Feed & Grain to local service groups to enlist more recruits to support vital, unique, people-driven community spaces.
David Young and Jeff Lowe of Anvil Alchemists won People's Choice and 1st Place with their wolf[/caption]
Recent Wins
We are excited to see the dirt flying for the new Artspace Lofts and even more delighted that we will now be able to turn full attention to planning the Feed & Grain’s future. We will be referring often to the Principles of Creative Placemaking to help us engage artists and the community at large in designing spaces that will allow us to “leverage the creative potential already present” at the Feed & Grain as demonstrated by more than 3 years of grass roots arts programming.
In addition, Megan Tracy, artistic director for Arts @ the Feed & Grain, was featured this month in a Colorado Public Radio interview.
Insight/Questions
We continue to explore new ways to generate excitement and maintain momentum for a place that is not currently accessible. We’re inviting people to walk/drive by the site to keep an eye on the construction progress; we’ll be hosting informal brainstorming sessions for artists and the community to come up with more ways to keep Arts @ the Feed & Grain moving forward even while our place is under wraps. We would welcome insights from other projects that have faced this challenge!
Artist Matt Kaufman working on his sculpture during the Sculpture Games[/caption]
Here are some links and photos to find out more about The Sculpture Games including a video from our 2013 Games.