By Pam RuBert

Update
It’s been a busy summer at ideaXfactory with three major installation exhibitions, workshops, an outdoor music event, and behind the scenes work to finalize architectural plans for the new outdoor stage and plaza.

Balance Installation, photo by Colby Jennings[/caption]

Balance Exhibition by Colby Jennings
Colby Jennings created 108 small sculptures using found objects, some of which ran on electrical motors activated by motion sensors or data collected from the internet. The 108 number of sculptures is a reference to Buddhist culture — the number of beads on the traditional Buddhist mala (rosary) that are counted during meditation and the concept of balance in all aspects of life.

La Taranta: Dance for Your Lives!
Laura Provance and Meganne Rosen O’Neal of Arts & Letters presented an outdoor event inspired by an old Italian superstition that people bitten by a magical spider had to dance in a frenzy to cure themselves of the poison. Following a cultural presentation, local band Smokey Folk played Italian music for a performance choreographed by Brittney Laleh Banaei and Sarah Louise Byrd. Afterwards the audience was invited to join the dance.

Shane Savage-Rumbaugh layers figures into a drawing using classical drawing techniques to a contemporary end[/caption]

Drawing Marathon
During Shane Savage-Rumbaugh’s month-long residency, the artist created a series of polyptych drawings based on people who visited the ideaXfactory. The artist also hosted class tours for Missouri State University and Ozarks Technical College Art Departments, and made studio visits to Drury University’s Summer Institute for Visual Arts.

All ages were invited to draw on the gallery walls with any media and no rules[/caption]

Temporary walls were installed inside the gallery and covered with paper. During a weekend event, the community was invited inside to create their own drawings using a variety of media on the walls and floor.

Suminagashi is an ancient art using elements of water, earth, fire and air to create ink designs floating on water, which are then transferred to paper[/caption]

Savage-Rumbaugh gave a series of demonstrations of Suminagashi ‘Floating Ink” Japanese paper marbling technique, then helped the visitors make their own designs on water that are later transferred to paper.

Drawing Marathon participants were serenaded by Mariachi Viva Xalisco band[/caption]

By the closing exhibition reception, community involvement peaked resulting in over 85 people contributing drawings to activate over 135 distinct areas in the gallery. KOLR TV-10 personality Tom Trtan videotaped his suminagashi experiments for his television show, a visiting band from our sister city in Tlaquepaque gave an impromptu mariachi concert, and Russ RuBert projected stop-motion video of the Drawing Marathon.

Conceptual artwork for The ‘T’ House by Andrea Polli and John Donalds[/caption]

The ‘T’ House 
Inspired by a traditional Japanese teahouse, The 'T' House was an art and design project by artist/architectural designer team Andrea Polli and John Donalds. In response to the social and environmental implications of digital and biological technologies pervading global culture, the team collaborated with local scientists, artists, gardeners, and growers to create a multidisciplinary installation that became a platform for discussion and performance.

Springfield Sister Cities worked with artists to create contemporary tea event[/caption]

Created from recycled Australian fabric, CNC-routed plywood, metal and bales of hay, the installation served as a stage for a Modern Tea Workshop conducted by members of Springfield Sister Cities Association while projections of video from caffeine experiments at Drury University’s Science laboratory played in the background.

Ben Utne of Springfield Urban Agricultural Coalition joined panel discussion[/caption]

The ideaXfactory also hosted a community discussion about aquaponics, farming and urban gardening, hosted a ‘T’ Bar where visitors could mix and experiment with locally grown herbs, teas and chocolate, and sponsored a special exhibition of artist-made tea pots.

Physical exercises created discussion about informal group learning[/caption]

Radical Intentions Workshop
In partnership with Sarrita Hunn and the Drury University Summer Institute of Visual Arts, Italian-based artist and curator collaborative Radical Intentions presented a workshop at ideaXfactory titled Learning with Each Other. After a presentation of the group’s European contemporary art projects, workshop participants were actively involved in physical exercises to explore group learning experiences.

Projections on 160’ wide historic silos were symbolic of call for peace[/caption]

Candlelight Vigil for Peace and Unity in St. Louis (Held in your own front yard!)
A grass roots appeal posted in a Facebook event for people to turn out house lights and come out on front porches for an hour with a lit candle on August 14 resulted in 13.3K event participants. In Springfield during the assigned hour, Russ RuBert projected the event image candles on downtown silos which are literally ideaXfactory’s front porch.

Recent Wins
- Downtown Springfield near the ideaXfactory is showing increasing vibrancy. Near the ideaXfactory on Boonville, a collaborative of eleven artists have opened Modern Home Craftsman gallery and workspace and Physicque Fitness just opened in historic building that had been vacant for ten years. At nearby Brick City, Missouri State University is starting a new MFA in Visual Arts program. To the north in another historic building in Brick City, renovations for a new UMKC-MSU School of Pharmacy near completion.

- Russ and Pam RuBert were able to visit two other ArtPlace grantees: Oh Heck Yeah in downtown Denver on opening night and the construction project at Arts @ the Feed & Grain in Loveland, Colorado.

- The Springfield Art Museum sponsored a free shuttle service to the ideaXfactory during First Friday Art Walk so the suburban museum could participate in the downtown event and the ideaXfactory could gain new visitors.

- Great media attention for our events included a live TV show of Suminagashi demo, KSMU public radio interview for Drawing Marathon, and a feature article about The ‘T’ House in the Springfield News-Leader.

Insight/Provocation
Anticipation is building as the City of Springfield will soon begin construction on the outdoor stage next to the ideaXfactory building. We are curious to see if or how the new features will change our events and installations, and how they will be received by our downtown community.

(Please visit our website and Facebook page for more photos of events and projects.)