Alumna Heather Wirth was recently featured in weekly Columbus Alive! for her new business initiative Columbus Artmobile, a traveling art education group that brings art to children across Columbus. On Artmobile’s website, Wirth writes, “I had this idea for a program that would operate as a classroom on wheels, bringing weekly art instruction and supplies to elementary and middle school aged children.”
“Composed of a staff of local artisans operating on a volunteer basis, the Artmobile gives kids the opportunity to learn the basics of studio arts- everything from charcoal and pastel drawing to ceramics to mixed media projects. In addition to hands-on classes, local artists from the Columbus community would also visit to speak about their chosen profession, giving an insight to what life is like for a painter, a sculptor, a glass artist, etc.”
This month, Wirth will move classes to a basement studio in her home and start additional after-school classes at Columbus International High School and Fifth Avenue Alternative Elementary.
- Amanda Fondriest, Columbus College of Art and Design Alumna Newsletter, January 11, 2011
This month, Wirth will move classes to a basement studio in her home and start additional after-school classes at Columbus International High School and Fifth Avenue Alternative Elementary.
- Amanda Fondriest, Columbus College of Art and Design Alumna Newsletter, January 11, 2011
At Feast Columbus on Monday, someone walked away with $1,125. And everyone walked away with full bellies and lots to look forward to in Columbus. The event, organized by art-advocacy group Couchfire Collective and modeled after a similar effort in Brooklyn, was designed to support the kind of arts projects often overlooked by larger grants processes.
Applicants looking for funding for their creative ideas presented proposals to a group of diners. The diners, who had reserved spots for the fixed-price dinner at Haiku, then voted on the proposals and awarded a winner on the spot.
Some of the 16 presenters (several of whom represented a group) were looking for funding for their own artistic endeavors, but most had a public project in mind.
Winner Heather Wirth has big plans for her Columbus Artmobile, a traveling art-instruction program. The idea is that she and her crafty and creative Columbus friends will drive around to primary schools with slashed art budgets and offer free weekly classes. Wirth plans to use her $1,125 prize (funded by artist application fees and a portion of the dinner price to buy art supplies and materials and cover travel and advertising costs for the Artmobile. She hopes to begin this fall.
"I was the 12-year-old who was super-shy and didn't raise my hand in class," said Wirth, a floral designer who loves oil painting and attended CCAD. "Exposure to art really brought me out of my shell, and ... when I think about the Artmobile, I think about going back and grabbing the 12-year-old versions of myself and giving them a way to express themselves."
Most presenting artists said they plan to make their projects happen with or without the grant money. "We're really committed to this idea, and we're still going to put it on," said Tristan Seeger as he explained Jamboraid, a hybrid concert-community-art event his group has planned for Goodale Park in May. Rhonda Register still plans to document the life of Columbus' homeless for her senior exhibition at Ohio State, even without the video camera she was hoping to buy. And Scott Neimet intends to put on a two-day outdoor music festival, dubbed Still Ill, in Downtown Columbus this August even though taking home the money would've helped keep down ticket prices.
Couchfire president Adam Brouillette hopes to make Feast Columbus a regular happening. In the meantime, the community can view Monday's proposals and donate to them directly on Couchfire's website, thecouchfire.org, through March 22.
Inaugural Feast diners enjoyed a five-course sushi meal at Haiku. Brouillette credited owner Paul Liu for his ongoing support of the arts scene.
"I am happy to see, in the face of a down economy and a blistering winter, people willing to come spend a bit of money and take part in a creative collaboration," Brouillette told Alive. "The city has become very well-versed in understanding the impact of these types of creative projects."
-Brittany Kress, Columbus Alive, February 25, 2010
Applicants looking for funding for their creative ideas presented proposals to a group of diners. The diners, who had reserved spots for the fixed-price dinner at Haiku, then voted on the proposals and awarded a winner on the spot.
Some of the 16 presenters (several of whom represented a group) were looking for funding for their own artistic endeavors, but most had a public project in mind.
Winner Heather Wirth has big plans for her Columbus Artmobile, a traveling art-instruction program. The idea is that she and her crafty and creative Columbus friends will drive around to primary schools with slashed art budgets and offer free weekly classes. Wirth plans to use her $1,125 prize (funded by artist application fees and a portion of the dinner price to buy art supplies and materials and cover travel and advertising costs for the Artmobile. She hopes to begin this fall.
"I was the 12-year-old who was super-shy and didn't raise my hand in class," said Wirth, a floral designer who loves oil painting and attended CCAD. "Exposure to art really brought me out of my shell, and ... when I think about the Artmobile, I think about going back and grabbing the 12-year-old versions of myself and giving them a way to express themselves."
Most presenting artists said they plan to make their projects happen with or without the grant money. "We're really committed to this idea, and we're still going to put it on," said Tristan Seeger as he explained Jamboraid, a hybrid concert-community-art event his group has planned for Goodale Park in May. Rhonda Register still plans to document the life of Columbus' homeless for her senior exhibition at Ohio State, even without the video camera she was hoping to buy. And Scott Neimet intends to put on a two-day outdoor music festival, dubbed Still Ill, in Downtown Columbus this August even though taking home the money would've helped keep down ticket prices.
Couchfire president Adam Brouillette hopes to make Feast Columbus a regular happening. In the meantime, the community can view Monday's proposals and donate to them directly on Couchfire's website, thecouchfire.org, through March 22.
Inaugural Feast diners enjoyed a five-course sushi meal at Haiku. Brouillette credited owner Paul Liu for his ongoing support of the arts scene.
"I am happy to see, in the face of a down economy and a blistering winter, people willing to come spend a bit of money and take part in a creative collaboration," Brouillette told Alive. "The city has become very well-versed in understanding the impact of these types of creative projects."
-Brittany Kress, Columbus Alive, February 25, 2010
Heather Wirth took her first step toward an arts career at 12 - into the basement studio of a "young, hip teacher" who taught painting and drawing classes in her home.
The idea of recreating that environment occurred to Wirth while she was a student at CCAD, and it stuck with her for years.
"Honestly, I was thinking, why hasn't anyone done this?" she explained. "They're closing all these art programs, and there are all these artists." This year, Wirth secured the financial support to launch Columbus Artmobile. The traveling art education initiative offers home-school and after-school programs for ages five to 14, led by Wirth and guest artists working in media such as glass and fiber.
In January, Wirth will move classes to a basement studio in her home and start additional after-school classes in partnership with Columbus International High School and Fifth Avenue Alternative Elementary.
After winning a start-up grant at a Feast event at Haiku in February, Wirth was discouraged by the amount of red tape involved in working with local schools. She found other avenues to students through a fellow artist's suggestion to approach parents who home-school and through workshops for children at events such as KidzArtz and Yummy Summer Weekend.
A volunteer at Columbus International High School, which has no art program, helped Wirth make the school district connection, and the new, foreign language-intensive school's relationship with Fifth Avenue Elementary opened doors there. Wirth will teach a 13-week program for both, covering subjects including self-portraiture and comic-book creation. In the coming year, Artmobile will also present a spring show of student work at Clayspace, and Wirth will run kids art workshops in conjunction with the Goodale Park Music Series next summer.
But first, by the end of this year, Wirth will add a feature to the Artmobile website to connect educators who need art supplies with those who have supplies to donate.
-Melissa Starker, Columbus Alive, December 23, 2010
The idea of recreating that environment occurred to Wirth while she was a student at CCAD, and it stuck with her for years.
"Honestly, I was thinking, why hasn't anyone done this?" she explained. "They're closing all these art programs, and there are all these artists." This year, Wirth secured the financial support to launch Columbus Artmobile. The traveling art education initiative offers home-school and after-school programs for ages five to 14, led by Wirth and guest artists working in media such as glass and fiber.
In January, Wirth will move classes to a basement studio in her home and start additional after-school classes in partnership with Columbus International High School and Fifth Avenue Alternative Elementary.
After winning a start-up grant at a Feast event at Haiku in February, Wirth was discouraged by the amount of red tape involved in working with local schools. She found other avenues to students through a fellow artist's suggestion to approach parents who home-school and through workshops for children at events such as KidzArtz and Yummy Summer Weekend.
A volunteer at Columbus International High School, which has no art program, helped Wirth make the school district connection, and the new, foreign language-intensive school's relationship with Fifth Avenue Elementary opened doors there. Wirth will teach a 13-week program for both, covering subjects including self-portraiture and comic-book creation. In the coming year, Artmobile will also present a spring show of student work at Clayspace, and Wirth will run kids art workshops in conjunction with the Goodale Park Music Series next summer.
But first, by the end of this year, Wirth will add a feature to the Artmobile website to connect educators who need art supplies with those who have supplies to donate.
-Melissa Starker, Columbus Alive, December 23, 2010