Pablo’s Big Idea: Clothesline Art Shows Launch!
Pablo's Clothesline Art Show Design Team: From rear left: Andrew Diemer, Class of '12 Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA), Evelyn Bock, freshly retired art teacher from Henry Elementary, Hilary Merzbacher, Fresh Artist program assistant, painter and recent graduate of Rhode Island School of Design. Front left to right: Janet Carey, artist and junior at Montgomery Community College, Meredith Wiggins, family therapist, artist and Fresh Artists Clothesline Program Coordinator. (Not present at this meeting, but part of the team are Sue Davis, social worker and community activist, and Lucretia Robbins, painter, retired art teacher and private art instructor of plein aire painting for children)
Remember the idea we were cooking in the spring…a way for ALL kids to play an active role as philanthropists by hosting a Clothesline Art Show in their own community? Well…we have been working on this all summer! The first thing we did was to bring together a really smart and energetic group of people to brainstorm. See this bright group above.
THE TEAM
We met, made a plan and fanned out to contact schools, church groups, summer camps, a private art instructor, several retired and retiring art teachers, our local healthy food cooperative, and several families of Fresh Artists kids around the region to get their input. A member of our Business Advisory Council, Rosemarie Fabien, introduced us to Liz Scott, the mother of Alex of Alex’s Lemonade Stand. We figured she could give us some advice on how to start a really successful grassroots initiative for young children. Alex’s Lemonade Stand is 10 years old, and has raised more than $35 million. Kids love to be involved with this wonderful organization and we sure could use their tips on how build this program…and do lots of good things for kids. Liz told us about their history, gave us tons of ideas, and was very encouraging.
KIDS CAN START NOW AND HOLD A FRESH ARTISTS CLOTHESLINE ART SHOW
Click here to download complete instructions on how to organize a Clothesline Art Show.
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CLOTHESLINE KITS FREE TO THE CHILDREN!
By Thanksgiving, we plan to have an entire website page devoted to Clothesline. Then, when a youngster wants to do a Fresh Artists Clothesline Art Show, he or she, with the help of a trusted grownup, register on our website. Registration will provide them with a kit of materials (name badges, art price tags, certificates of philanthropy, sample flyers, tips for making art projects and perhaps a coupon for a free clothesline!) Also, a trained volunteer coach will call or email them to give some pointers on how to have a successful event. We are harnessing the army of retiring art teachers and inviting them to help us as volunteer coaches! Evelyn Bock, 37-year veteran elementary school art teacher has agreed to be the leader of the coaches, and she and Robyn Miller are helping Meredith Wiggins develop some easy, fun art projects that non-art people can do with their kids.
PABLO: THE SEQUEL (next the movie?)
As is our habit, we have written a second children’s story, Pablo’s Big Idea!, to explain the purpose and process of Clothesline Art Shows to young children. We asked Steve Trueman, author of our first story, Pablo the Philly Philanthropist, to help us tell the story and Gardner Allen, illustrator of Pablo, eagerly agreed to make drawings to accompany the story. We asked two terrific young ladies to help us with the story, Molly (3rd grade) and Hope (4th grade). Both girls are extremely creative young artist-philanthropists who have together given eleven works of art to Fresh Artists! They jumped right in and created Pablo’s dog’s personality and the perfect name, “Luna”.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE STORY! Pablo Story #2
We thought it would be fun to ask kids how the Clothesline story should develop…so we are inviting anyone to give us suggestions about the plot, the characters and the illustrations. Here is what we have so far with about 12 people weighing in on all aspects! The drawings are in a preliminary state, so kids can see how an illustrator works. Very sketch sketches first, then solid line drawings, then color is applied. In this case, the illustrator is using Photoshop to apply the colors. Many more drawings are needed, and are being worked upon as I write. We will post the finished product here and it will be part of the Kit that all children receive when they register to hold a Clothesline Art Show.
We welcome any child or groups of children to hold a Clothesline Art Show to benefit schools in need. Please contact Barbara Chandler Allen, at 215-920-3317 for more information.
