"Art on the Wall"

The Art Factory, a nonprofit arts education organization in Augusta, Ga., has been working with the Augusta Utilities Department on a three-phase project called “Art on the Wall.” This project has been covering the walls of the Highland Avenue Water Department with murals.

The first two phases have been completed. The wall on Highland Avenue (phase one) illustrates a mural of the Savannah River. In the second phase, six artists from the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) were chosen to create water-themed art for the wall on Wrightsboro Road.

Phase three is currently taking place at the wall on Iris Street and will include four murals. This section has been “a ‘Working Wall’ for students to discover the art of mural painting.” The artists for this wall are local teens from the Boys & Girls Clubs and other organizations. So far, the wall includes fish swimming in water around well-known Augusta locations, such as the Sacred Heart Cultural Center and Sconyers Bar-B-Que.

After the teens are finished with their murals, art students at Augusta State University will complete the project. Click here and here to see more photos of the “Art on the Wall” murals.

The Art Factory aims to “provide the children of the Augusta community with high quality fine arts educational experiences that also promote the development of positive life skills.” Click here to read more about the organization.

Pointillism...with a Purpose

Michael Jackson Tribute Portrait in progress; David Ilan; Image acquired from http://bit.ly/c0o4V8

Artist David Ilan is creating a tribute portrait of Michael Jackson comprised entirely of dots. But this isn’t your average pointillism project— every one of these dots represents a real person, and Ilan is hoping 1,000,000 fans will help him finish the job.

David Ilan first made his mark on the art world over 10 years ago when he captured the attention of Jerry Seinfeld. After drawing the entire cast of the popular show “Seinfeld,” word spread quickly and he embarked on a career of drawing portraits for various celebrities.

But two years ago, Ilan felt it was time to add more meaning to his art. It was then that he invented the concept of “1 dot =1 person,” and found a way to connect his art with his charitable side.

Ilan’s first project was Points With Purpose, a project designed to give voice to victims of sexual assault. He was also commissioned to create a portrait for Special Olympics Southern California, a project that included dots from celebrities like Danny DeVito and David Beckham. And last year, his Presidential Portrait of Barack Obama captured the attention of the Smithsonian.

So how does this process work? Simple. Through his website, fans sign up (for free) to be part of the project, and David Ilan places a hand-drawn dot on the portrait.

“The dots are all the same size and each one is vital to the finished portrait,” Ilan says of his work. “In essence, people are working together to create a drawing. It gives people a certain kind of strength knowing that they are important and necessary in the drawing.”

So far, over 250,000 people from more than 180 countries have had a dot placed on Michael Jackson’s tribute portrait in their honor, including celebrities such as Diana Ross, Mickey Rooney and Maya Angelou. Ilan believes that it will take at least 1,000,000 fans to complete the project. To sign up for your free dot or read more about the portrait, click here.

Behind the Scenes at GMOA

Education intern Sarah Quinn paints faces at a GMOA Family Day event

One of the primary goals of the Georgia Museum of Art is to promote learning, and this past semester, two interns from our education department have been doing just that. Meet Christina Westpheling and Sarah Quinn, two UGA students on a mission to bring art into classrooms across Georgia.

Christina is about to enter her senior year at the University as a double major in Art History and Classical Culture. During her time interning with GMOA this past semester, she developed the idea for a project called a “Traveling Trunk,” a hands–on teaching packet for 8th grade social studies classrooms. This Traveling Trunk relates works of art from GMOA’s permanent collection to events in Georgia history, and includes cross-curricular activities applying art to history, language arts, music and even math.

“This project has been my own from start to finish, which is a rare opportunity for most interns,” Christina said. “I got to select the works of art I wanted to include, which was a bit like being a kid in a candy shop.”

When the program is launched next year, there will be six “editions” of Christina’s Traveling Trunk in various classrooms across the state. Christina hopes that her hard work will prove inspirational:

“I only hope that when it is used, the Trunk can provide at least a few kids with that spark of understanding that I once received, making art and history truly come alive for them.”

Sarah Quinn is a rising senior as well, majoring in Art History and Studio Art. She was also the recipient of GMOA’s Louis T. Griffith Student of the Year award two years ago. This past semester, she took on the project of developing a “backpack tour” for the museum.

“Essentially, this program is designed to engage students and families visiting the museum with works of art from the permanent selection,” Sarah said.

Sarah began this project by researching backpack tours at other museums to determine what aspects of their programs received the most positive feedback. She then developed GMOA’s backpack around five artists: Georgia O’Keefe, Childe Hassam, Winslow Homer, Thomas Hart Benton and Jacob Lawrence. The backpacks will include biographical information, worksheets, hands-on activities, and follow-up activities.

After all of the hard work these two interns have put in over the past several months, GMOA is excited to launch these two projects next year with the reopening of the museum.