Tag Archives: Free Art Friday

Learning to Let Go

By Posted in Art, Community, Fairfax Virginia, Free Art Friday, Free Art Friday NoVA, Gratitude, Jessica Kallista, Transformation Tagged , , , , , , Leave a comment

This week marks the one year anniversary of my very first Free Art Friday drop. Letting go of that first piece was an anxiety filled experience. I honestly did not believe I would ever put another piece of free art out into the world. The entire process stirred up so many questions and debates within myself (and a bit of debate outside of myself as well). Would this helpless little piece of art be safe? Would it find a happy art loving home? Am I crazy to keep giving away art? Who owns art? What is ownership? How are artists connected to the communities in which they live and work? Can the surprise of finding a piece of free art on a sidewalk or a park bench disrupt the isolation experienced by many people living in suburbia? Soon enough, however, the second piece was out there in the world, and then the third. I kept making the pieces. I remained determined and dedicated to placing these pieces out in the world for anyone to find. Through the year my world changed in ways that I never could have imagined. With more than 50 art drops over the past year, I am grateful for all of the love and art, for the amazing friends I’ve met along the way, and for the incredible opportunity to learn about chance, interconnectivity, love, and surrender.

To celebrate my one year Free Art Friday anniversary, today in Fairfax I’ll be placing three of my little lovelies out in the world for anyone to find. Keep a look out! Happy Free Art Finding!

 

Free Art Friday One Year Anniversary Drop

 

And I also have to say, I have immense love and gratitude for all of the awesome Free Art Finders. Here are a few of them. Please post photos if you find a Free Art Friday piece. Here’s to another year of Free Art Friday NoVA! xoxo

 

Awesome Free Art Finders Awesome Free Art Finders

 

Free Art Friday As Performance and Street Art

By Posted in Art, Community, Fairfax Art, Free Art Friday, Free Art Friday NoVA, Performance Art Tagged , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

As part of the worldwide phenomenon that is Free Art Friday, I’ve placed at least one piece of free art in Northern Virginia for anyone to find and keep nearly every Friday since August 2013. Think of it as street art that anyone can take home. Imagine it as a way of building and engaging community. I view this project as a way to disrupt the isolation of  living in Suburbia by creating situations of chance and surprise, and instigating dialogue about ownership, creativity, commodity fetishism, community, and connectivity. The transitory, ephemeral, and unpredictable elements of my Free Art Friday experience have come to feel very much akin to aspects of performance art. Through these eight months or so, the process of creating art specifically designed for Free Art Friday, scouting out locations, leaving my art out in the world, taking photographs of my free art in a variety of locations, posting the photographs to social media, and engaging with the audience have evolved into an ongoing, elaborate, documented, and joy-filled performance. The audience is key. Finders, admirers, and even critics of this project have helped to form and influence its evolution in ways I had never imagined. I’ll be leaving another piece somewhere in the world today. You can view past Free Art Friday pieces and look for clues to find pieces yourself by following me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Happy Finding!

Here’s a look back at a few of my Free Art Friday drops from the past eight months:

A Little Something New for You

By Posted in Art, Collage, Embodiment, Free, Free Art Friday, Mixed Media, Mixed Media Art, The Bunnyman Bridge Collective Tagged , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

I’ve been in a frenzied mode of creativity for months now. You can usually find me running around with paint in my hair and mountains of paper scraps at my feet. Between the crazy nonstop world of the regular everyday madness, starting a new poetry workshop in January, and being involved in something like a billion incredible art projects, this poor little blog thingy tends to become neglected. Don’t get me wrong. I’m grateful for the busy pace. I crave it, you know.

Creating new pieces for Free Art Friday NoVA and giving pieces away every week has become an obsession. I’ve even sent a piece of my free art off to Sydney, Australia. Every once in a while I give away a Free Art Friday piece on my Facebook page as well. And, just in case you’re interested in finding some of my free art in Northern Virginia, I’m planning to drop pieces at the new Epicure Café for the next several weeks. I would love for you to find a piece! If you do find one, please take a photo of yourself with your Free Art Friday piece and post it to the Free Art Friday NoVA page and/or to my Dear Suburbia page on Facebook. I would love to see you enjoying your free found art!

I’ve also become part of a new art collective, The Bunnyman Bridge Collective, with fellow artists Jason Davis and Javier Padilla. Be on the lookout. We’re already up to quite a bit of creative mischief in the unsuspecting wilds of suburbia. There are so many exciting collaborations and art filled events in the works for 2014. I’m keeping them as sort of a secret for now. I’ll let you in on all of it very soon. For now, here are a few of my most recent collages that I hope you will love!  xoxo

Making Sense in an Art Mess

By Posted in Art, Art Studio, Collage, Free Art Friday, Gratitude, Mixed Media Art, Work in Progress Tagged , , , , , , 5 Comments

Even with my new studio space I’ve still been experimenting, creating, working, and pretty much making a huge art mess in my home “studio” space…AKA the dining room. Thanks to a tip from a fellow collage artist, I’m working with a new process lately that involves heat sealing my collage elements together on mostly wood substrates. I’m also experimenting with large format pieces. A friend was kind enough to find a couple doors for this new phase of my collage work. One of the doors became an incredible table for my studio. I have so much gratitude for all of the amazing and generous artist friends in my life.  I’m also very grateful to share with you a few work in progress images of how the other door is coming along. This door is 24″ x 80″ which is truly a departure from my usual work. Moving back and forth from the tiny 4″ x 4″ creations that I’ve been putting out into the world each week for Free Art Friday NoVA and this large door collage has been an inspiring challenge. I’m happy to be able to have such a range of projects on which to work every day. And as you can see, the studio is quite a mess. It makes sense to me and allows me a certain level of nonstop freedom as I create. What about you? Do you need a mess around you to get your creative juices flowing? Or is a tidy studio space more inspiring to you?

Free Art for the Finding in Suburbia

By Posted in Art, Events, Free Art Friday, Love, Mixed Media Art Tagged , , , , , Leave a comment

Imagine free art waiting for you every Friday right here in Suburbia. I often get ahead of myself. I know it’s only Thursday, but I’m preparing to leave this 3 x 5 mixed media piece late late tonight somewhere in Fairfax, VA. As it turns out, Free Art Friday is quite magical. Have you found your piece yet? Tonight’s drop will be my 5th. I plan to continue creating free art pieces for you to find throughout Northern Virginia. Please be sure to like Dear Suburbia and Free Art Friday NoVA on Facebook to get the latest news and updates about more free art drops, including photos of the drops and clues to their locations as soon as they happen.

Free Art Friday #5

Free to an art loving home…please take me! I’m free! xoxo