Day in the Life

Alex and I are proud to present the finished product of our Day in the Life film. View it now, right here on your very favorite ArtWorks blog!

On Tour

A Clifton Heights apprentice works on painting in architectural details

Because of the incessant way the Documentary team tours the ArtWorks project circuit, one might think we would have had enough of driving from project to project and seeing what’s going on there. But not so! Today Alex and I had a new ArtWorks experience (for us, at least): we went on an ArtWorks tour! On the tour, we went to four murals—Northside, South Cumminsville, Over-the-Rhine, and Clifton Heights.

Each mural is making stunning and inspiring progress. South Cumminsville’s mural design showcases a surreal style, using architectural arches to frame scenes from the neighborhood. With a summery blue sky completely painted in, the apprentices at South Cumminsville are now moving on to filling in details, such as the flying hotdogs and glowing red crystal ball, which both make starring appearances in the mural.

Similarly, Clifton Heights has filled in the broad swaths of colors needed for their mural and are now doing detail work, working specifically on the many architectural landmarks of Clifton Heights that are featured in the mural, such as the old Fairview German Language School building and Old St. George church.

Even if you don’t have a chance to go on a tour with ArtWorks, you should certainly make a point to take a small tour yourself. The summer will be finished all too soon, and your time to catch a “before and after” is running out!

Caps and Capes

Reporting at Covington mural

It’s been a jam-packed week for each and every ArtWorks summer project, and the Documentary project is no exception. This week, FilmMan and WriterWoman have donned their capes and caps (translate as: reflective vests and hard hats) and flown from project to project, gathering footage, recording voice-overs, and interviewing, interviewing, interviewing.

We’ve been working with two specific outcomes in mind: a Day in the Life film and a MuralWorks film. Having already gathered all of the footage we need for Day in the Life (which, among other things, involved an adventure into West Chester at 6 in the morning), all we have to do now is compile the many clips, cuts and recordings that we’ve collected so far into a manageable whole.

Our MuralWorks film is also gaining momentum. Though Alex and I might feel we’ve interviewed enough people to last a lifetime of MuralWorks films, we actually have a few more to go. But once we’ve interviewed our last staff member, community member, or past mural recipient, FilmMan will be free to edit and the MuralWorks film will be underway.

So we’re eagerly looking forward to ArtWorks day, coming right up on July 16th, where we’ll both get to view your presentations (which, from what we’ve seen, promise to be extremely entertaining) and present our own work. See you there!

Presenting...Presentations!

Northside apprentices present at their 6/19 presentation

Apprentice Ihsan looks at part of the Northside mural design

Since the Northside mural presentation last Friday, it’s been all presentations all the time for the ArtWorks documentary team. Besides getting the privilege of seeing all of the stunning mural designs, we also learned a little bit about each neighborhood, saw the apprentices dressed in their best, and sampled plenty of delicious food. I know I’m supposed to be a journalistic superhero, but it would be impossible to do each mural full justice here. Instead, I’ll just give some highlights.

Northside mural’s presentation in the Visionaries and Voices gallery was a fabulous way to kick off the summer. With a full audience and a practiced and effortless presentation, everyone in the room was utterly transported from the warm blue room and into a completely new land—one of circus tents and thunderbolts shining in the sky, both motifs that figured prominently in Northside’s mural. Designed by Antonio Adams in honor of Raymond Thundersky, the mural was eagerly accepted by the community and is sure to remain both an inspiring work of art and a profound memorial to a local artist for many years.

Columbia Tusculum’s presentation was transporting as well, sending each visitor into a different era as soon as they entered the studio. With soft classical music playing in the background and a smorgasbord of delicate sandwiches, delicious cookies, and whimsical teacups filled with sweet tea looking tempting against one wall, Columbia Tusculum outdid themselves in creating a very convincing Victorian High Tea for visitors to enjoy.

And then there was our own presentation, which, though we might be a little biased, we thought was wonderful. Presented to the ArtWorks staff at our headquarters on Race Street, Alex and I asked questions and answered questions, pitched our ideas for the three different documentaries we hope to complete, and showed off our lovely schedule for planning, filming, and editing. Inspired by all of the accomplished presentations we’ve been visiting lately, we also threw in a brief history of ArtWorks—just in case anyone didn’t know.