The Riverside Art Museum, in collaboration with the City of Riverside and the Riverside Unified School District, will host huge art event at Fairmount Park – Thousands of schoolchildren to participate!
May 2018, Lake Evans, Fairmount Park
Riverside CA – The Riverside Art Museum (RAM), in collaboration with the City of Riverside’s Parks & Recreation Department and the Riverside Unified School District (RUSD), will host a signature community art event that will involve hundreds of huge, floating, hand-painted spheres in Lake Evans at Fairmount Park. Called Art Float – Riverside, the project is patterned after one staged a few years ago by Portraits of Hope in Los Angeles. The Art Alliance of the Riverside Art Museum, the volunteer fundraising group of RAM, is spearheading the event that will take place in May 2018. When complete, the floating artwork will feature over 350 hand-painted spheres that will float in Lake Evans for a three-week festival.
Related News: 100 unique hand-painted spheres already underwritten; over 30 schools have signed up to participate so far!
Each plastic sphere is six feet in diameter and will be brightly painted by schoolchildren at 48 RUSD schools. After being painted, the spheres will be launched in Lake Evans at Fairmount Park and will float as a huge piece of community art. During the time the spheres will be in the lake, there will be multiple events for the public to enjoy.
“This will be a signature event in Riverside,” says Lucile Arntzen, incoming RAM Board President. “It will allow everyone free access to a unique kind of community art.”
Art Float – Riverside chairwoman, Kathy Allavie, says that one of the unique aspects of the project is the involvement of thousands of schoolchildren throughout the city. Allavie, who also sits on the RUSD Board of Trustees, is excited to bring the art experience into the schools. “Our painting teams will be visiting each school and letting the children participate in the process,” says Allavie. “I know that when they see the spheres floating colorfully in the lake they will be thrilled to have had a hand in its creation.”
Art Float – Riverside is also a fundraiser for the museum. Allavie is hoping to have 350 spheres sponsored by community members for $350 each. After the event, the sponsors can keep the painted spheres or have them donated to a school, library, or community center. The money raised by the project will return to RAM’s mission-driven programs, including their award-winning art education program called Art-to-Go. Art-to-Go delivers art education directly to each classroom with age-appropriate projects and lessons given by qualified art instructors. RUSD has engaged the museum to deliver around 3,700 art classes in all their elementary schools, K-6th, this coming year.
For more information about Art Float – Riverside or how to sponsor a sphere, call Kathy Allavie at (951) 784-7377 or kallavie @ aol.com.
The Riverside Art Museum integrates art into the lives of people in a way that engages, inspires, and builds community by providing high quality exhibits and art education programs that instill a lifelong love of the arts. RAM relies on the generosity of members and donors to support its exhibitions, education programs, and special events. A 60-plus-year-old, non-profit cultural arts institution housed in a National Historic 1929 building designed by Hearst Castle and AIA Gold Medal-winning architect Julia Morgan, the museum welcomes over 50,000 visitors a year. The museum is open Tuesday – Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. and Sunday, 12:00 noon – 4:00 p.m. For information on exhibits, events, classes, memberships, or sponsorship opportunities, visit www.RiversideArtMuseum.org. Find us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/riversideartmuseum), Twitter (RAMRiverside), and Pinterest (www.pinterest.com/ramarts).
