We’re off and running with plans for the 2012 show! Location is still to be determined, but we’ll let you know as soon as it’s finalized.
Mark your calendars
Jazzy Opening Night Reception (admission $50)
Thursday, April 26: 6:30-8:30 pm
Free admission:
Friday, April 27: 6-10pm
Saturday, April 28: 1-10pm
Sunday, April 29: 1-7pm with Artists’ Reception 4-6pm
Volunteer Coordinator Needed
We need a dynamic Volunteers Coordinator who has significant experience in people/project management to help marshal the human forces of Artists Against AIDS. This person would generally be devoting 3 or more hours each week toward reviewing volunteer applications, meeting with potential volunteers in group settings and general staff scheduling for some parts of the show/sale which takes place the last weekend in April. Interested parties please email: info@ArtistsAgainstAIDS.info.
Attention artists!
Tim Pellegrini, our artist coordinator, will be communicating with you soon on all the details you need to know for this year’s show. If you are new this year, or thinking about donating your art this year, please contact Tim at tpellegrini32@gmail.com. He will put you on the distribution list so you receive all the necessary information. We’ll be adding a page to this site with all the information you need. And please spread the word to other artists you think may be interested!
90-minute mark: More paintings, photos, jewelry, and clothing rolling in. 3 more evenings of submissions to come, this is going to be one more great show!
Say hi to Pegy! She’s in charge of the jewelry booth, and is making good-good use of downtime by sweeping and cleaning!
Live Blogging Experiment! Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3.
We’re giving the the live “social networking” a practice run on our first drop-off day for the big show!
The doors opened at 4:00, but art started rolling in 1/2 hour before. Volunteers are ready and waiting, to help you carry, label, and fill out forms, if you didn’t get the downloadable form off of our website.
45 minutes into Drop-Off Day 1, we have over 75 canvases submitted!
The Boneyard Arts Festival is this weekend, from Thursday, April 7 through Sunday, April 10. This wonderful festival showcases local artists in local business for 4 entire days. Stroll the streets of Champaign Urbana, drop in see art! For a schedule and a map, click HERE.
Artists Against AIDS is sharing the gallery space and walls with BeeMi Gallery, “Champaign’s Best Fly-by-Night Gallery.” BeeMi is a traveling art show established 2 years ago by Amanda Bickell and Rebecca Reid. Their initial intent was to display at The Boneyard Festival, but they’ve since expanded and continue to show their work in other venues when opportunities arise.
We all play so nice! In exchange for sharing our walls & pillars, BeeMi Artists met this weekend to help rid the gallery of construction dust—so you won’t have to pardon it!
We used sweeping compound to clean up. Just sprinkle this bright red, slightly tacky compound on the floor before the brooming begins. The dust adheres to the compound, making the clean up cleaner. No dust storms to settle behind us, and our floors and walls are going to be clean and ready for art and artists in their show and ours.
Once the floors were shiny, we had to place the walls that the Lincoln’s Challenge kids assembled last week. They were tucked away nice and neat, but it’s show-time, and they had to be moved. It was no small task; they’re tall, and had to be moved in an upright position. We were lucky to have a good crew of volunteers to make short order of the job.
Once the walls were in place, the other half of the gallery was cleaned, and the next task at hand was tackled: wiring and lighting. Hundreds of feet of wire had to be strung, and dozens of lights and spotlights placed.
Interesting FYI: You may not know that part of setting up a 4-day art show would be learning, knowing, and abiding by a myriad of city zoning codes. The gallery space has to be inspected before the show can open. Building inspectors and fire inspectors have to approve the placement of every. little. thing before we, or BeeMi, this weekend, can open the doors to the public. Square footage is determined, and a proper number of fire extinguishers are placed every x-amount of feet. If we don’t fulfill the requirements, the doors will not open.
I popped back into the gallery space last night to see how things were going. The lights are all in place, as is a lot of the art from the BeeMi artists. I’ll give you a bit of a sneak preview, but you have to promise me that you’ll get yourself down to the Blue Line Station sometime this weekend to see the rest for yourself. It’s so much better in person, and there’s so much more of it to see.
I took this picture of a beautiful spider. When I walked past it and turned around, I swear it was in this same position. As I moved through the building after that, I wouldn’t dare turn around and look back.
Lights & Art:
Now that you’ve peeked, I’ll remind you of the address:
Boneyard Arts Festival/BeeMi Gallery
April 7-10, 2011
The Blue Line Station
804 North Neil Street
Champaign
