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| Facilitated
by Renick Stevenson Jess Bates Rae MacCarthy Lampe Designs by Sponsored by |
August 20th 1999, The Aspen Times, Page 5-A |
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Renick Stevenson, guest artist Jess Bates, event organizer and manager Rae MacCarthy Lampe, Basalt Arts Council Janie Rich, Basalt Arts Council representative |
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The premise of this project was to jump start a dormant artist-in residence program within the Town of Basalt which had been in place for some time but had so far had remained a semi-private affair at the nearby private Golf course, the Roaring Fork Club. The intention was to establish some example of a public-access or publicly beneficial visiting artist event for this program to model itself after.
Rae MacCarthy Lampe had originally conceived of the mural project idea more than eighteen months before, but had not been able to raise funding for it. Basalt Trustee Steve Solomon, also a local artisan, was eager to explore a vehicle for freeing the visiting artist program from its semi-private conditions and make it more available to the townspeople. Optimally, getting it under the umbrella of the Basalt Arts Council.
Renick Stevenson, who had lived in Basalt for many years before taking his position with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, was at that time actively working with troubled youth through mural painting projects across the nation. Trustee Solomon knit the ideas together, and well-know local painter and socials activist Jessica Bates agreed to manage the project.
The goals of the project were:
Involve as many people of all ages throughout the community as possible.
Demonstrate the result in a prominent public place.
Involve alienated youth in the project.
Offer an educational seminar for similar projects to area teachers and organizational leaders.
The results of the project were:
Involvement of over 300 Townspeople from children to Retirees.
Permanent site (display) within the Towns’ largest public park.
Full-time participation of a small group of at-risk pre-teenagers.
Event participation (enthusiastic) of six teenagers from the correctional facility.
Workshop seminar based on the “Community Built” model.
The overall designs for the mural were worked out between
Renick Stevenson and Jess Bates, with Renick as Lead Artist. The 1’x1’
panels were all designed by area children (58 in total). A core crew of Renick
Stevenson, Jess Bates, Rae MacCarhy Lampe, Janie Rich, and Steve Solomon
(with grateful help from several public school art teachers) prepped the
building and painted in a stencil of the design prior to public participation.
The ‘River Days’ annual Basalt Town Fair (held in the same park) was
the target date for the public painting days.
Event Management Timeline: Jess Bates
June- Confirm
commitment of the site with the Town of Basalt
Work out concept
art between artists.
Confirm
fundraising commitments
July-
Finalize designs
Estimate paint
order
Write and
assemble Press packets
Start youth
sessions on sub-designs with three hosts (Ray, Jess, Janie)
Confirm Renick’s
payments, travel and lodging arrangements.
Set up staging area for equipment
and workshop.
Assemble materials
Assemble core crew
Prep building, outline all design work.
Assist Renick with workshop
‘River Days’ Fair event, supervise and assist participants painting
Photography and documentation
Evaluation presentations to The Town of Basalt and Roaring Fork Club.
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First Ideas
Panel themes |
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Renick's Plan | |
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Jess' Fish Panel details |