Thursday, March 18, 2010

Workshop Series @ Red House on Main

Details on an event hosted by our neighbors, the talented folks at Red House on Main.

Ricki Chester, owner and lead photographer of Red House on Main, is presenting a series of three digital photography workshops.

Session 1 will cover camera modes, shutter speeds and aperture, ISO, intro to lenses (which, when, why), understanding depth of field & much more!

The session fee is $95. Refreshments will be served. Bring your DSLR camera and any flash or lenses you may have. Child care is not available.

Registration is required and space is limited! Register here, or for more info contact Aimee Roberts-Mazurek at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or 423-622-2204.

Upcoming Sessions

Session II: Seeing the Light, Saturday, May 1st, 1:30pm-4:30 pm. Session fee: $95
Session III: In Control, Saturday, June TBD, 1:30pm-4:30pm. Session fee: $95

Now Showing in the Art-O-Mat

Hello, friends. We’ve recently re-stocked our darling Art-O-Mat, and we wanted to remind everyone: the only thing standing between you and art patronage is a $5 bill. Scoop up original work by this roster of international artist by swinging by our studio, Monday through Friday, 9 am to 5 pm. Tokens make great gifts, too!

Cynthia Larken, Miniature Paper Bags
Ralph Gardner, Can Art
Monika Dalkin, Mixed Media
Andrew Wang, Collage and Calligraphy
Michelle Cutler, Fabric Works and Jewelery
Heather Schmaedeke, Painting
Ewear, Earrings
M.L. Bradley, Abstract Painting
Anne Thalheimer, Lavender Scented Monsters
Kelly Murphy, Acrylic Florals
Chuck Flagg, Pinhole Photography Books
Karen Koch, Paintings
ATYL, Photographs
Phlox, Tin Can Art
Klop, Beaded Copper Webs
Jennifer Menken, Altered and Assembled Dolls, Jewelry, Sculpture
Suzan Morgan, Breakdown Printing
Weener Ware, Bottle Cap Pins
Ilse Buchert Nesbitt, Printmaking
Missy Galdo Allen, Slices of Photography
Ryn Gargulinski, Rock Art

...and our Staff Pick… Puppets by Martha Schermerhorn.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Slow Dinner on March 28 // Local Foods to Celebrate Spring

Elana Gulas is a CreateHere Fellow. With a great love for Slow Food, she brings us this update on an upcoming event.

It’s hard to sum it up in a short blog post, how great, all around the Slow Foods movement is. Started in 1986 in Italy, as a response to McDonalds wanting to open a fast-food restaurant near the Spanish Steps in Rome. The organization has since grown to more than 100,000 members. With the motto of “good, clean, and fair,” Slow Food focuses on the importance of preserving and promoting local food products. 

One of the things that Slow Food is known for is their “Slow Dinners.” On March 28th at 2pm, folks that live in and around the Chattanooga region will have a chance to taste the various flavors from Williams Island Farm and other local growers. For more information and reservations for this this meal and future meals email Avery Patten at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

When: March 28th
What: Lamb & Goat Roast + Children’s Handmade Sweet
Where: Ashland Farm in Flinstone, 124 Patten Place, Flinstone, Georgia 30725
Cost: $8.00 adults, $3.00 children

TEACH/Here: A Residency Program for Math & Science Teachers

Due to a major shortage of Math and Science teachers in Hamilton County, TEACH/Here, a highly selective teacher residency program, has been born.

Teacher residency is an exciting new concept in teacher recruitment, preparation, and support that provides an effective method of recruiting teachers for hard-to-fill positions and gives them a strong year of “on-the-job” training, similar to medical residency.  With a focus on science and mathematics, the program will operate in Chattanooga and Knoxville public school districts in partnership with the University of Tennessee Knoxville.

TEACH/Here combines classroom-based apprenticeship and rigorous university training. Over the course of one year, participants will earn both a Master’s degree and a Tennessee Teaching Certificate. Residents will spend four days a week in the classroom with a mentor, and on Fridays, they will take courses, meet in seminars and reflect on the practical learning they are gaining.  Once they graduate, they will then be placed in a full-time teaching position at a middle or high school in either the Chattanooga or Knoxville public school systems.  In addition to earning their Master’s degree and teaching certificate in one year, they will also receive a competitive stipend and health insurance. This is an affordable and innovative route into teaching!

TEACH/Here is designed for those persons who want to become exemplary teachers of science or mathematics, serving middle and high school students in priority schools within one of two public school districts that are on the cutting edge of reform in Chattanooga and Knoxville, Tennessee. We seek applicants who have demonstrated excellence in professional and/or academic endeavors and are eager for culturally diverse challenges. Applicants may be recent college graduates, career changers or young professionals. Please visit our website at http://teachhere.org or follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/teachhere to read more.

If you are interested in learning more, please join us this Friday at 8:00 AM at Joe Friday’s (825 Houston Street) in the upstairs room. Cheri Dedmon, Director of TEACH/Here, will be available to share more information about the program and answer questions.

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

World Town 2.0: March 12 featuring New York’s DJ Sabo

This Friday, March 12 marks the second installment of WorldTown, a musical exchange project organized by Phillip Allen (aka DJ k7), a 2009 MakeWork grant recipient. The event features the Latin Carnival sounds of New York-based Will ‘Sabo’ Sabatini.

The event will begin at 7:00 pm at Camp House (1427 Williams Street) with a brief lecture and discussion over Sabo’s DJ career, which has taken him from Brazil to France and all across the United States. Following the discussion will be a Q&A session and a chance to mingle with the guest DJ.

The party begins at 9:00 pm with a back to back set from K7 and the multi-talented sculptor Isaac Duncan, aka DJ Flux. What’s more, there will be live Latin drumming and percussion from Nashville-based Ivan Garcia. Immediately following, Sabo will take Chattanooga on a journey through new Latin/Caribbean sounds, rocking the house with his signature “funky music to make you feel good” style.

Admission is $10, and the event is 21+. French Broad brewery in Asheville, NC will provide beer for $4 a cup. For the non-drinkers, there will be a selection of fine teas on deck.

RSVP here to let Allen know you’re attending. This event will be streamed on Ustream, starting at 7:00 pm.

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Stand & Deliver: Education // Thank You!

After one full month of competing in Pepsi’s Refresh Project, CreateHere is pleased to announce that although Stand & Deliver didn’t get funded, the project stayed in the top 25 all the while, thanks to local support. We couldn’t be more pleased to announce that the project will continue as promised, with citizen summits still expected in October, 2010.

Stand & Deliver starts with the production and distribution of ground-setting documents—infographics, best practices, Chattanooga Stand data, and local interviews. These research pieces will be widely available in several formats, and will play a major role in engaging 1000+ people in two 24-hour citizen summits. During these summits, citizens will pitch potential projects, produce asset maps, connect with diverse skills sets, and act on the needs, and strengths, of local education.

Stand & Deliver competed for $50k to revitalize education for the Chattanooga region. Slated against proposals from some of the country’s leading advocacy groups, non-profits and businesses, the project sustained momentum during an aggressive month-long vetting process.

Even before March 1, the day winners were announced, we realized: there’d be no check in the mail. But we were happy to recognize something more important had happened over the course of the month.

For us, it began with a City Share luncheon on February 3, featuring David Boehnke of Minneapolis’s Experimental College, starting a conversation on citizen-owned education. Shortly after, delegates from around the world came to Chattanooga to problem-solve, and we tested out some of our methods for facilitating group innovation. We saw it outside of our doors, too: people with great ideas, interested in launching them into the community. The Half Campaign, which encourages regular volunteerism in community schools, was just one of many.

Chattanoogans came out to support education as a community, be it private, public, parochial, religious, higher, or life-long. You showed us just how much you care, and we heard you loud and clear. Stand & Deliver is for Chattanoogans, by Chattanoogans, and now more than ever, owned by Chattanoogans.

CreateHere is committed to facilitating a change process that improves education locally, and to consulting, supporting, and bolstering existing organizations making huge strides in this area. Stay tuned for details on what that process looks like, and how locals can get involved.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Stand & Deliver: Education // Final Voting Days

It’s the final countdown, friends. Voting for Stand & Deliver closes in a matter of days: today included, we’ve only got three more chances to support an educational initiatives with lots of promise.

Next Monday, March 1, winners in Pepsi’s Refresh Project will be announced and grants awarded. To make it on the elite list of innovative projects that get funded, Stand & Deliver needs to jump into the top 10. And we need to do it soon.

We’re asking anyone and everyone to get the vote out for this final stretch of the application process.

Got friends out of town that support educational initiatives? Call ‘em. Know a local who we haven’t reached out to yet? Extend a hand. We can make this project work, but we’ve got to do it together.

That said, we’ve got a lot to be proud of, Chattanooga. Stand & Deliver competed, and competed well, with some of the country’s leading advocacy groups and non-profits. We’ve done well amongst inspired ideas because of your support. Chattanooga, you did it. Thank you.

CreateHere wants to live up to our end of the bargain, too. We’re pleased to say that Stand & Deliver: Education will happen, whether or not we win Pepsi funds. Education is too important not to support.

Please remember to vote this weekend (it’s the last time we’ll ask… well, maybe). But more importantly, please remember to honor your city, your neighbors, and your values.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

VW Pallet Project: Free Lumber for Locals

As an act of neighborly goodwill, the Volkswagen Group of America’s Chattanooga plant is offering our community access to large quantities of oversized pallets. All are made from good quality wood that have strong potential for reuse.

We’re very proud to announce the first distribution this wood will take place from 10-3 on Saturday, March 6 in the parking lot of Architectural Surfaces. And there is a lot of wood to hand out—roughly 50 pallets-worth of quality lumber.

Each pallet has a different shape and makeup, so we can’t provide any exact numbers, but we can tell you that there are a lot of the following:

2"x4"s at 7’ and 12’ lengths
4"x4"s at 4.5’, 12’, and 7’ lengths
2"x7"s at 7’ lengths
4"x5"s, 4"x6"s and 5"x6"s at 7’ lengths

There are also a small number of 5"x6"s at 25’ lengths and some possibly useful OSB plywood and lumbercore of varying thicknesses.

If you’d like to take some of the wood, please be prepared to spend a little time in helping to break down the pallets. They’re attached with bolts and nails, so please bring any wrenches, hammers, or pry-bars you may have access to. Everything is available on a first-come-first-serve basis, so if you want a lot of wood or have very specific needs, make sure to get there early.

Additionally, all of the partners involved will be very interested in the projects you’ll be creating, so also come prepared to tell us a little bit about your plans.

J+J/Invision Brings Industry and Art Together

J+J/Invision has unveiled Fusion, a new program that brings art and carpet together with featured creative work in the company’s product marketing. Fusion will feature local artists in an effort to support and acknowledge the continually growing art communities in Chattanooga and Dalton.

When marketing a product, J+J/Invision creates a room scene to give designers a perspective of the carpet installed, along with the scale of the actual pattern.  During such photography sessions, one artist will be featured per product with their artwork shown throughout the various installations. Photos will be placed on the product architect folders and distributed to design firms across the country and around the world.

The artists will be recognized in the architect folders, featured on J+J/Invision’s website and included in various Fusion marketing materials. The company will also coordinate “meet the artists” events, offering the artists a chance to mingle with designers, architects and industry professionals who specify corporate art for commercial spaces.

“We feel that it is important give this talented community an opportunity to showcase their work in a non-conventional way.  Our desire is to expose featured artists to designers across the country that could utilize their artwork when designing a space,” said Jenny Rogers, Director of Marketing for J+J/Invision.

The company recently selected a Fusion artist for its newest product, Rusted.  The featured hand blown glass, Lilt, was created by Kerrick Johnson of Chattanooga, TN.

Featured artists will be chosen by J+J/Invision. For more information about Fusion or to submit a piece contact Jenny Rogers at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Call to Artists: Jefferson Heights Public Art Project

Public Art Chattanooga brings us this Call to Artists, to design outdoor pieces for the Southside’s Jefferson Heights Park.

Project Overview Public Art Chattanooga and the District 7 Public Art Committee are seeking proposals for Jefferson Heights Park Chattanooga, Tennessee, which will be exhibited June 2010 – December 2011. Works can be in any media, functional or non-functional, and must be suitable for outdoors. Two works will be selected for installation in the newly constructed neighborhood park, and will be on loan for a period of eighteen (18) months. Each artist or artist team may submit existing works or proposed works for consideration.

Jefferson Heights Park History and Project Details Jefferson Heights Park has strong historic ties to the past and bright plans for the future. The park is located in the Jefferson Heights neighborhood within the Southside district of downtown Chattanooga, a diverse and eclectic area experiencing a surge in urban revitalization. The site where the park sits once housed Jefferson Street Elementary School (later named the William J. Davenport School), which was built in 1911 and closed in the early 1970s. The three-story brick schoolhouse was eventually demolished, and a park was created in its place.  The school still holds fond memories for its former students, and around 1,000 of them return to the park each July for a reunion. Jefferson Heights Park is being redesigned to better accommodate the burgeoning Southside community as well as the annual school reunion group. Plans for the new park, which is being built with environmentally sustainable elements, include a pavilion, community garden beds, walking paths and a picnic and playground area. The park is currently under construction and will be completed in March 2010. Several potential sites (shown on attached map) have been identified within the park grounds for sculpture.

Deadline Applications can be mailed or hand delivered and must be received by 4:00 p.m. EST, March 31, 2010 (no exceptions)

For details on eligibility, artist stipends, and exhibition dates, download the RFP here.

Water on the Rocks: March 18

Artist Zach McDonald brings us this update on an exhibition planned for March.

Water On The Rocks, a one-night-only art show featuring the artwork of local artist Zach McDonald, comes to Chattanooga Thursday, March 18 from 6 pm to 10 pm. The Factory—a new creative service firm in Chattanooga—is putting on this exhibition. The event takes place in Chattanooga’s oldest building, located at 12 W 13th St. Chattanooga, 37402.

Water On The Rocks features waterscape photography done by McDonald. His unique angles and colors make the water look like abstract paintings. McDonald is an abstract painter, as his main medium of choice, so the abstract forms and shapes he found through the camera lens became a strong interest.

This waterscape photography was taken locally in the streams and rivers around different parts of Tennessee. The images capture the shapes and patterns that the naked eye cannot see. Every piece is unique and cannot be reproduced; the shot can never be taken again. As a fine artist, McDonald strives to produce true artwork with his photography by capturing a moment in time and stopping it to observe the forms, colors and composition. This show, Water On The Rocks, portrays the beauty of a moment.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Stand & Deliver: Education // Tell Your Friends Again, Via Email

To help you all spread the word about this final week of voting for Stand & Deliver, we’ve crafted a customizable email. Tell your friends, far and wide, about this unprecedented opportunity to support education locally. Your vote—and that of your networks—could bring $100,000 to Chattanooga.

Neighbors, Family, Friends, and Colleagues,

I’m writing to you today to remind you to vote for Stand & Deliver everyday through February 28th. This initiative, currently up for funding through a public vote in Pepsi’s Refresh Project, will bring $50,000 to Chattanooga in support of education. It starts with a six-month community-wide conversation, and ends with two summits where locals can pitch and launch grassroots projects. The results could be anything, from an experimental college to an after school program.

CreateHere, the organization spearheading this application, has recently announced matching funds for the project. As a result, your daily vote could bring $100,000 to Chattanooga-area schools. Now, more than ever, is the time to participate in this simple process. View the full application and cast a vote at http://www.refresheverything.com/createhere.

Only ten projects will bring home funds in the $50,000 category. Stand & Deliver has bounced around in the top 25 since the competition’s launch on February 1st. In this final week of voting, it will take an extra push from a team of local supporters to make it in the top ten. Please help us revolutionize civic engagement and education. Please help us Stand & Deliver.

Thank you.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Stand & Deliver: Education // Matching Funds Announced

Happy weekend, friends.

You’ve been very patient with us during the month of February, what with our daily promotions of Stand & Deliver. We know you’ve been voting: how else could we have stayed in the top 25 these past three weeks? Thank you, folks. Seriously.

Today, there’s another reason to celebrate our community’s support of this project. The Lyndhurst Foundation has committed to match all Stand & Deliver funds. Innovative, community-owned projects just got a big boost.

Bringing $50,000 to Chattanooga, plus matching funds, takes your continued support, though. There are only a few more days left in this round of Pepsi’s Refresh Project (today included, in fact, we each only have eight votes left). We urge you: vote daily. And for this last week, we’re asking that you make sure everyone you know does the same.

Over the course of the day, we’ll continue to post sample e-mail blasts, tweets and Facebook updates here so that you can spread the word to the people you know. We’ll also give you details on why the people WE know are voting, from fellows to friends.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

City Share Mini-Conference: Eighteen People, Six Cities, Two Days, Big Work

Chattanooga Stand and CreateHere are pleased to announce a City Share Mini-Conference, to be held February 18-19. Featuring innovators from six cities across three different countries, this event will draw on the energy around current City Share conversations, with techniques and methodologies focused on how informed citizen engagement can make cities—ours and others—stronger and more prosperous.

City Share is rooted in the concept of citizens being able to come together, share ideas, and make real change. Today, that includes a bi-monthly discussion series hosted the first and third Wednesday of every month, open to the public with lunch provided. Thus far, this series has been a small, citywide endeavor, with speakers from around the country offering insights in community development. Now is the time to engage an even larger audience, locally and abroad.

CreateHere has a growing reputation as a catalyst for community development through initiatives based in arts, economy, and culture. Most recently, we’ve had the honor to work closely with Stand, the world’s largest community visioning survey. CreateHere works to find meaningful solutions to local issues through collaboration and idea-generation, and the City Share Mini-Conference allows us to work with diverse groups, including participants from Charlottesville, Chicago, Knoxville, Memphis, Wichita, Windsor, and the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), based in London. Together, we’d like to create a fertile ground for seeding new ideas around the world.

“Bringing together all of these participants is going to be incredibly exciting and it’s going to help facilitate an increasingly vital conversation on place-based change,” says Justin Langlois, research director of Broken City Lab, “thereby strengthening this already active and engaged network of like-minded cohorts across the continent and now the world.”

“With the Mini-Conference, we hope that the participants will develop a model for their community, and bring it back home,” says Helen Davis Johnson, CreateHere’s co-founder and Creative Strategist. “We believe in the pact between neighbors and friends who can make communities better places to live through hard work and dedication, and look forward to seeing participants take the ideas from this conference and turn them into action back home. We hope to learn from participants, learn from each other, and give back to other cities.”

For more information on the Mini-Conference, visit http://cityshareconference.org.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

City Love + The Arts: A Happy Pair at Any Age

WhatsUpChattanooga.com is featuring its first “Aspiring Artists Contest” open to all Hamilton County for all K-3 students. Students are invited to submit their original art focused on the theme, “What I love about Chattanooga.”

A panel of volunteer judges from Chattanooga’s arts community will choose the top 50 entries and one grand-prize winner based on composition, aesthetics, and theme. The pieces should reflect something about Chattanooga that represents the artist’s love of one or more of the Scenic City’s beautiful features or history.

“The theme of the contest is a great way to open doors to further discussion with children about civics and the arts,” said Libby Raiford of the Creative Discovery Museum, one of the co-sponsors of the contest. “It’s also a great way for teachers and parents to engage children in thinking about what they value in their community and how to creatively express their opinions.”

The Hunter Museum of American Art, also a contest co-sponsor, will exhibit the top 50 entries submitted in the “Aspiring Artist Contest” in April, 2010. “The Hunter is always happy to find new ways to encourage children to participate in the visual arts,” said Katrina Craven, Director of PR and Marketing. “We look forward to seeing their ideas of what makes Chattanooga great and to displaying their work in our student gallery.”
The grand prize winner and ten runners-up will be announced on Sunday, April 4th, 2010, on the WhatsUpChattanooga.com website where their artwork will be displayed. However, the top 50 entries will be displayed at the Hunter Museum of American Art sometime in April.

Deadline for submission is March 21, 2010. Entries can be dropped off at the Hunter Museum of American Art or Creative Discovery Museum gift shops, or at Pump It Up of Chattanooga.

WhatsUpChattanooga.com is a new interactive city guide website designed to provide a multitude of information on where to eat, shop, play and stay in the Chattanooga area. “We are making it easier to find things to do and places to go in Chattanooga. We are thrilled to be supporting the renaissance of our Scenic City, and helping people find valuable, timely information on events, activities, and all the wonderful businesses and organizations that contribute to our quality of life,” said Jason Perry, owner and president of Engagency, the web development company behind the site.

The “Aspiring Artists Contest” is sponsored by WhatsUpChattanooga.com. Co-sponsors include Pump It Up of Chattanooga, Hunter Museum of American Art, Creative Discovery Museum, and Tennessee Aquarium.

More information and contest rules available here.