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The Riverside Art Make is Here!

Press Release

Make art. Make community.

Riverside Art Make
April 1 – May 17, 2014
La Sierra, Magnolia, Eastside, & Orangecrest neighbhorhoods
Free to the public
For more information, visit www.riversideartmuseum.org/artmake

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A YouTube video explaining a bit more about the Riverside Art Make with short interviews with RAM Executive Director Drew Oberjuerge, Councilman Andy Melendrez, and Art Make artists Nathan Osollo, Kristi Lippire, Martin Sanchez, Cynthia Herrera, Julie Kornblum, and David Orozco.

Riverside CA – This spring, the Riverside Art Museum (RAM) is taking to the streets and coming to a neighborhood near you. The Riverside Art Make is a groundbreaking program that seeks to engage the Riverside community in a flurry of art-making happenings throughout the city in 2014 and in 2015. RAM has identified four neighborhoods that have been underserved by the museum to serve as sites for Riverside Art Make happenings: La Sierra, Magnolia, Eastside, and Orangecrest. All programming will take place in non-traditional venues – a farmer’s market, public parks, and a shopping center.

Happenings are free and designed to engage participants of all ages and ethnicities, from all cultures, and regardless of economic backgrounds in a wide range of art-making activities. RAM joins prestigious museums across the world in the forward-thinking trend toward a participatory museum experience. Through recent explorations in civic engagement, RAM is helping to lead the way to ever more innovative, sophisticated art experiences in the City of Arts and Innovation.

The idea for art “happenings” stems from art historical happenings that are part performance and part improvisation, and driven by audience participation and aspects of everyday life. Happenings open up opportunities for community interaction and confront conventional notions of art. At Riverside Art Make happenings, participants will not only learn to make art to take home, they will collaborate to create community art pieces, discover alternative ways of perceiving art, explore social and art-making circles within the community, and help RAM stake out new terrain for museum-goers. It is our hope that the Riverside Art Make will foster new, long-lasting relationships with Riverside neighborhoods and get residents excited about visiting the Riverside Art Museum.

One way RAM seeks to engage the community is by tapping into the art that Riverside residents are already making at home. The Riverside Art Make seeks to challenge the oft-heard phrase, “But I am not an artist!” There are many people in the community that are taking part in creative activities that fall outside traditional notions of art. This year’s programming introduces a number of contemporary art projects that will surprise and delight residents – and that might even beg the question, “Is that really art?” Several happenings in 2014 shed light on the craft and artistry in the everyday. Community knitting circles will create a dramatic yarn mural, highlighting the social life of craft and a new form of muralism. Quilting is reconceptualized through the use of recycled materials. Kite makers will experiment with the age-old craft of aerodynamics. Even the act of setting the table will be recast as an opportunity to create a still life and to discuss the art of preparing a meal, moving the culture of the everyday into the public sphere. By breaking down preconceived notions of art and by introducing myriad possible interpretations of art, the Riverside Art Make will hopefully empower community members to consider their private creative endeavors as part of a collective of art makers and as contemporary producers of culture.

In the spirit of community engagement, hopefully all of the Riverside Art Make projects will engage an emergent social art practice. Social art is largely collaborative and offers a forum for art makers to express shared interests, to focus on social or community issues, or to engage public space in their city or neighborhood. The Riverside Art Make seeks to build community by deploying the practice of social art, spotlighting some of Riverside’s community circles, and focusing on the participatory role of the community. Locally grown food will be featured at some Art Make happenings. Participants will co-create a mural based on the color of fresh fruits and vegetables and learn about planting their own garden. Many of the projects use recycled materials, while others explore the natural environment itself. Social media becomes the site for art making and exchange, as participants create and share art in the digital sphere. Art making will intersect the digital and physical world as participants hunt for free hidden art via clues posted on social media platforms in exchange for new art throughout Riverside, sparking a wave of community art making. And all of the Riverside Art Make happenings are rooted in immersive participation, where art making becomes a shared space for all and where EVERYONE IS AN ARTIST.

While the Riverside Art Make is exploring new avenues of art making, happenings will also honor traditional art forms, by letting participants see inside the art-making process and collaborate with artists to make art. Painting a mural will be a participatory experience — a community performance of painting and music. Folk art and sculpture will become a platform to exchange stories and create a community-inspired work of art. Dance will be part of a living public art installation as participants explore choreography and learn to create an improvisational dance. Music will become a community sound mix and an opportunity to investigate the art of listening. Public art is reenvisioned as a space for community dialogue and as an exploration of Riverside’s natural environment. Even photography will become a shared experience as participants create portraits of themselves as art makers.

RAM strived to collaborate with a variety of neighborhood stakeholders in developing Riverside Art Make projects and a number of local educational and cultural institutions were engaged, including UCR, RCC, CBU, and the Inlandia Institute. Many of RAM’s cherished art making associations, such as PAAR and PAN, will be seen at Riverside Art Make happenings. Riverside Art Make artists are mostly locals, but also include international and LA-based artists – and the Riverside Art Make would not have been possible without the talent and creativity of these individuals. We are indeed fortunate to have collaborated with so many talented visionaries.

The Riverside Art Make is also just plain fun, so join us as we take the museum on the road! Be on the look out for a Riverside Art Make happening near you, and come see what’s new at the Riverside Art Museum!

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April 1 Rollout of Public Art

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Art Happenings

 

There will also be a grand celebration event during the June 5th Artswalk at the Riverside Art Museum called “After Glow”, where artwork and photos documenting the entire Art Make will be on display. We invite everyone who participated in any (or all!) of the Art Make happenings to come to the museum from 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

For more information, visit www.riversideartmuseum.org/artmake. Join the fun via social media using the hashtag #riversideartmake and #riversideartmuseum.

RAM relies on the generosity of members and donors to support its exhibitions, education programs, and special events. A 60-plus-year-old, private, 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 Instagram (@riversideartmuseum).

The Riverside Art Make is sponsored by: The James Irvine Foundation and the City of Riverside
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