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Free Art Kits In The Park

Putting high-quality art supply kits into the hands of anyone interested in creative experimentation, as well as fun, public demonstrations of ways to use art supplies found in these kits

Leader

Lin Grimm

Location

2501 Castro Way Sacramento, CA 95818

About the project

I want art to be accessible and fun, not frustrating. I am bringing art supplies to the public! Using my own experience as an artist to support other creatives in my community, I will inspire people who are hesitant to get into art or otherwise unable to broaden their artistic horizons. I am building very intentional, high-quality art kits that will allow beginners and intermediate artists to try new media minus the frustration that often comes with low budget, prefabricated kits. Every month, I will set up a demonstration table in a publicly accessible space --such as a library, a local business, or in a park-- and present an interactive art supply demonstration; distribute art supply kits; hand out printed instructional zines for folks to take home; and answer questions, offer support, and assist with materials troubleshooting in a friendly and conversational manner.

I believe that for this kind of project, recurring events are more beneficial than one-off events. This project is anticipated to run for a year with scheduled, monthly demonstrations and kit distribution events across town. I will build 10 unique kit types, each one focusing on a different materials focus (watercolor, gouache, acrylic paints, ink illustration, block printing, graphite, colored pencil, polymer clay sculpture, crochet, and knitting, respectively). That allows two "misc kit" months (month 6 and month 12) where I will distribute any unclaimed kits and continue to offer art support and advice for anyone who asks.

Community Art Supplies Rehoming. There will be a miscellaneous donated art supplies bin at the demonstration table for community members to continually add to and take from. Let's get those unused supplies out of our closet stashes and give everyone a chance to try something new! Donated supplies will be more general, giving everyone a chance to take home something novel to try out.

The Steps

Starting in January 2023, ongoing:

  • Acquire art supplies
  • Assemble art kits
  • Create and publish instructional zines that go with kits
  • Create and publish art prompts to hand out at demonstrations

Preparing for March 2023 debut of recurring, monthly art demonstrations:

  • Coordinate with libraries, local businesses, or park permitting officials for art demonstration hosting spaces, paying fees as necessary
  • Distribute flyers so people know where and when to find me and the art supplies

March 2023 through March 2024:

  • Continually source art supplies and tools as needed
  • Distribute art supply kits
  • Hold art supply and technique demonstrations
  • Have fun encouraging hands-on creativity in our community!

Why we‘re doing it

Good art supplies are not cheap! Anyone, but especially kids and teens, can think they can't get into "serious" art or try a new medium because it is hard to get a complete set of decent starter supplies and tools. Even "essentials" kits from manufacturers usually don't provide materials to practice on, like proper specialty paper or canvas.

Kids and teens are discerning, and can tell when they are having to "fight" an art supply or tool. This frustrating experience often happens with budget supplies, which are typically full of fillers or are otherwise poorly made. Unfortunately, youths may walk away from these moments thinking they are "bad at art," not that the material itself is being overly difficult, which unnecessarily kills a lot of creative curiosity early in life.

Adults who have never considered themself creative, or are "formerly creative," are sometimes nervous about trying new things too! It can feel overwhelming to know that you don't know something (yet), or to feel "behind" when seeing artists your age and younger accomplishing things.

Art students at all levels of education typically have to buy their own supplies, meaning a lot of kids in middle and high school won't go into the arts because they can't afford good materials.

As a formerly gifted kid who drew all the time, an art student who was shocked at the separate price tag for the required art materials for a class I was already paying to attend, and as an adult who is presently reaffirming my own creative pursuits, I have experienced all of the above scenarios myself. In my journey to reconnect with my artistic self expression, I noticed my friends vocalize a lot of common fears and frustrations with pursuing art. For example: it's legitimately intimidating to see a wall of finished, seemingly perfect art on your social media content feed. It's worrisome to see young artists feel pressured to create content on a rigid schedule. It is distressing, particularly as an adult who has already been sold the "young genius" narrative, to feel your drawing is never good enough and that you are running out of time to get good enough. It is damaging to creativity to believe you have to share your art publicly to have it be worth making at all.

By providing good supplies, public instruction, and my own unbridled enthusiasm for free, I am removing barriers and replacing them with incentives to the would-be creatives in Sacramento. By our powers combined, we can ignite artistic curiosity and passion, and it will ripple back out into community spaces in numerous and transformative ways.

$24,516.00 still needed of $32,086.00