The Road To Refresh...: 2010

Tonight's the night!

The work is in place ...and we're set to have a great time tonight!

The event is @ 424 Findlay Street (above Carl Solway Gallery) 8p Until ...all are welcome!

Showing tonight are:

Antonio Adams, Mary Bahr Rhodes, Keith Banner, Tanner Brown, Stevene Childress, Curtis, Demone, Tony Dotson, Anita Douthat, Mark Flanigan, Chris Hoeting, Billy Holodnak, Dale Jackson, Jamie Payne, Bill Renschler, Jared Rosenacker, Bill Ross, Jonathan Sears, Tom Towhey ...and more!

And 1...

Day until the:

Celebration @ 424 Findlay Street

8p Until...

Only two...

...days left until our New Years Eve Celebration @ 424 Findlay Street (Suite 2B).

The Countdown begins with:

New years with parProjects

If you still don't have plans for New Years Eve and/or would like to have an affordable good time with a group of like minded artists, you're welcome to come join our celebration!

In a bit of impromptu fashion, we've decided to team up with Mary Barr Rhodes and help host a nice and simple New Years Eve show/party ...and all are invited. We'll be hanging work of local artists (the finalized list is coming soon) and bringing in the year with style. Light refreshments will be provided, but of course you're more than welcome to bring your own party favors.

The festivities will be starting around 8p and taking place at 424 Findlay Street, Cincy, OH 45214 Suite 2B (above the Carl Solway Gallery) ...and there will be no admission to join the party as we're all artists (or art appreciators) and know how things are in these tough times.

So come see some art and join the party if you're FREE.

Cheers!
parProjects

A nice studio space

Courtesy of the good folks over at JetsonGreen.com, we'd like to highlight one one the components of our dream project -- custom built artist studios.

A vintage motorcycle builder named Alan Stulberg has created a rather nice container studio for himself. Down in Austin, his single-cell space has quite the nice look. Stocked with couches, video screens, a huge sliding door and a lot of large windows, this space is more than most artists could wish for ...and did I mention, it's in his backyard!

Acording to JetsOnGreen, "Stulberg used plasma cutters for the openings and finished the space with soy-based foam insulation, sanded plywood, Homasote recycled paper, and a ductless mini-split air conditioner and heater. Like the door, Stulberg built the box lights himself which take low-output halogens." In another words, recycling was definitely at the forefront of his efforts.

So with that, we'd like to send a simple "Great job!" to Alan. This is one of the more impressive single-person-built studio spaces we've stumbled upon. Hopefully his hard work is paying off for him right about now.

Also, as an FYI: We're officially following Alan's blog-posts about his space over at http://shippingcontainerstudio.blogspot.com/ and encourage you to do the same if you find this interesting. Plus, he considers himself a "Fashionista," so he may have a lot more to offer than this space shows.

Cheers,
parProjects

Christmas is good.

We hope you had a wonderful day!

See you soon,
parProjects

Shipping Container Homes by Container City

Please enjoy this video from the History Channel's Modern Marvels.

Featuring Container City in London:

Happy Holidays,

parProjects

Revisiting the Heidelberg Project

The Heidelberg Project is leading the way for change and activism in the community of Detroit. The project is moving from an artist creation into an organization with ideas of development and sustainability in mind.

This open-air environment resides in the heart of Detroit’s east side, which is where the projects founder Tyree Guyton grew up. The project is inspirational in many ways. It truly has a clear mission to open artistic expression and creativity to many that would not otherwise be engaged. The project primarily is a neighborhood that has been transformed into a collection of art installations and assemblages, not to mention painting and many other uses of media.

The next step for the project is to strengthen the organization by building several structures that will serve as a home for many programs. The project is broken up between the Cultural Village and PlayHouse/Amphitheater.

Cultural Village

(The design of the HTMS Center is headed by University of Michigan Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, Beth Diamond.)

The first is a model for the HP House That Makes Sense Center (HTMS), a headquarters and multi-purpose space including an exhibition space, artist-in-residence space, children’s workshop, Heidelberg store and more.

PlayHouse/Amphitheater

(PlayHouse Concept by Detroit Collaborative Design Center)

The second component of the Cultural Village is the Heidelberg Project PlayHouse / Amphitheater, designed by Dan Pitera, Associate Professor and Director, Detroit Collaborative Design Center, University of Detroit Mercy (see Playhouse/Amphitheater section for more detail).The HTMS will serve as a flagship arts center for the CV. It provides space to introduce visitors to the HP and to create and celebrate art. Using simple but powerful sustainable techniques such as natural ventilation, passive solar, and reused materials creates a smart building without relying on expensive technologies.

The project also highlights interesting ideas for a more sustainable design. Ideas include creative and inventive ways to use recycled materials in the design.

http://www.heidelberg.org/

Thanks,

parProjects

Every Once In A While...

From time to time, we like to focus our posts on what others around us are doing. Here's an example of just that. This particular article isn't necessarily about any one/thing in particular though. It's more about ideas of community as a whole ...and what's out there for people to stumble on.

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/listapalooza/2010/12/21/12-local-arts-highlights-in-2010/8/

The above link is what's currently (by the Cincinnati Enquirer) being considered the city's top 12 local art highlights of 2010 ...so we thought you may enjoy seeing what you may have missed.

Personally, parProjects was involved in #7 -- a large scale, community "paint-the-street" project. And while this event has gained both positive and negative attention, the fact that it brought hundreds (if not thousands) of people together to do something creative (and awesome) should NOT be ignored or discredited. I know I had a blast mingling and painting a (half-mile) public street like many others ...of all ages, genders, races and creeds!

Which leads to the age-old question: Without community, what do we really have?

Thanks again,
parProjects

An Outstanding Resource

Container Technology A-Z
Compiled by: ISBU Association

A mobile update

This post is (mainly) for our daily followers.
Per usual, the holidays have us on the road ...and this post is actually happening via cell phone. Still today has been a good day. Our project architect & our structural engineer officially met via Email.

All parties are officially on the same page, so we're looking forward to sharing their hard work with you ...in the approaching months.

Aside from that, we're looking forward to sharing our pledge-drive-posters with you. Four unique prints will be available to you, our dedicated followers, around the first week of January!

We'll see you soon.

Kaohsiung International Container Arts Festival

The Kaohsiung International Container Arts Festival is held every 2 years
in Taiwan.

Since 2001, this biennial cultural event in the second biggest city of Taiwan, Kaohsiung, has invited talented artists in the world to express their ideas on urban ecology, and join the search of possible solutions to modern life predicaments.

"Container is not just a Steel Box,
we encourage the spirit to Think out of the Box!"

Kaohsiung International Container Art Festival (facebook)
Festival Homepage

Thanks,
parProjects

Simple & Elegant Observation

Name: OceanScope
Location: Songdo New City, Incheon, South Korea
Function: To give the public remarkable, daily views of the sunset.

Oceanscope / AnL studio from ArchDaily on Vimeo.

More on this, and other green projects, can be found at:
http://www.greendiary.com/entry/oceanscope-observatory-made-from-shipping-containers/

See you soon,
parProjects

Thank You Again

Our meeting with Bloomfield/Schon + Partners went as well as we could have hoped. They, again, were receptive to our ideas. But most importantly, they gave us alternative options on where we can land our project ...within the grounds of their American Can Building project.

In approaching the meeting, we were unsure of how the discussion would play out ...mainly since the city of Cincinnati still (officially) owns the land of our primary location (1a). But Bloomfield/Schon + Partners have not only agreed to help us approach the right people within the city, but they've also given us at least one premium location (that they own) where we'll be able to land phase 1 of our arts/community center (1b).

To say the least we're excited to enter the holiday season on this high note. Northside, Cincinnati has come through for us again.

We thank you.
parProjects

Location Location Location

Tonight, we're keeping things light as we continue working on artwork for our approaching pledge drive.

Still, tomorrow holds and important meeting with the Cincinnati-based architecture and design firm Bloomfield/Schon + Partners. This will be our second meeting with the group ...as they hold the key to the entire project ...Location.

The firm has been refreshingly receptive to our ideas, so tomorrow we'll be continuing the conversation of our proposed land-lease agreement & development planning. We're looking forward to meeting with the group as they seem to be extremely interested in working with us (and other organizations) to build strong community projects.

Winding...

As the year winds down, we've been meeting with & introducing ourselves to a lot of people/groups that we're interested in working with in the future. Yesterday's travels brought us to the Camp Washington region of Cincinnati to a Hive 13 (hacker space) meeting.

Interesting enough, the group of engineers/artisans were hosting a lock-picking presentation by "Locksport" pioneer Schuyler Towne. To say the least the presentation was exciting ...plus Chris was able to pick a few before the night's end.

That being said, we hope to create innovative programming and a welcoming atmosphere in similar ways to Hive 13. We're also interested in seeing if the group (or select members) will come up with something innovative for our upcoming kinetics show.

In the pick below, we're being walked through a fascinating interactive video piece that involves the use of an XBOX 360 motion system.

At any rate check them out if you have a moment. They can be found at:

http://www.Hive13.org

Thanks again,
parProjects

Street Level Views

In preparation for a series of prints that parProjects is creating, we have collected several street level views of the model's current design.

Our fundraising efforts will (hopefully) kick off around the start of the year on http://www.kickstarter.com/ and will feature the finished editions.

Thanks,

parProjects

Quickly...

Here's a link to a simple site ClimateCrisis.

http://climatecrisis.net/

As you may assume, it addresses the future of our globe's climate.

Also worth noting: The site is from the closing credits of Al Gore's film "An Inconvenient Truth".

Today's post is meant to not only encourage you to peruse the site, and see how YOU can easily make a difference; but it also is meant to encourage you to watch the film "An Inconvenient Truth," if you haven't before. (It's rather easy to find via Netfix or a simple Google search.) The parProjects team just completed this task, and we agree this film has only added more fuel to our drive.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8847562857479496579#

The road continues...

parProjects

Meet the Heidelberg Project

Founder and artist Tyree Guyton’s installation is an art project turned non-profit.
More on this project coming soon...

Thanks Again,

parProjects

Kinetics In Clifton!

You might ask...What exactly is Kinetics in Clifton?

Along with our development of the shipping container structure, we're planning and executing programming examples for the business and non-profit ends of the project. So currently, parProjects is partnering with organizations in the Clifton area of Cincinnati.

http://www.cliftonculturalarts.org/index.html

After an extremely busy day of meetings in Clifton, the next (major) exhibition appears to have been green lighted! So, if all goes well, in 2011, we'll be presenting the public with a Kinetic focused exhibition at Clifton Cultural Arts Center ...and beyond.

Containers and Kinetic Installations?!? Please stay tuned for future updates!

The Future?

As the weekend approaches, we're keeping things light. But something to think about is that container spaces (and compounds) really may continuing growing into the future.

Below is an image of a container city that recently popped up just outside of Mexico City.

The image is courtesy of Inhabitat.

More images like this one can be found at:
http://inhabitat.com/container-city-in-mexico-is-entertainment-hot-spot/

Thanks again,
parProjects

We're currently meeting in Columbus but...

We wanted to let you know we've officially joined the...

parProjects

A little clarity...

Today was another good one for parProjects. We had an extremely educational meeting with one of our favorite local non-profits (Thanks Again).

During our meeting, we were able to get some of our questions answered, but more importantly, our core structuring was addressed. We were shown great ways to phrase some of the items that we were having trouble with. And through it all, we now realize how key simplicity will be as we continue sharing our ideas.

Luckily we have previous examples of (most of) the things we're trying to accomplish within our facility. So now, it's just a matter of collecting and presenting everything we've done in the past in a small, concise package. And as things continue to progress, we look forward to sharing the details with you all.

On another note though: Here's a video of how impressive single-container galleries can be. With these facilities, it's all about isolating the viewer with the work. Please enjoy.

The video and above image are compliments of:

http://containerart.org

Thanks again,

parProjects

Some Library Titles

We're currently referencing...

Thanks.

parProjects

In House (artist-in-residence) Meeting

Today we held a meeting to discuss plans for our proposed artist in residence program ...Here are a few meeeting notes that highlight our initial ideas about the program:

Artist in Residence*: Once a year juried application process:

Three (rotating) artists in Total:

-- Single Session (4 weeks)
-- Double Session (7 weeks).

* (Full Grants, Half Grants, Sponsorship, or Out-of-pocket-pay available)

Studio availability:

-- First Floor: (1 studio available) 3-Dimensional\Space needs for materials

-- Second Floor : (2 studios available) 2 dimensional\Multimedia Artist

Full Grants:

Mandatory participation in Education Programming (4 options)

Option one: Two weekend tutorial

Option two: Artist Talk and Demonstration

Option three: Gallery Talk and Exhibition

Option four: Artist-defined (& approved) community outreach

Half Grants:

Half Participation in Educational Programming, half funding

Opening image: Courtesy of Wooster Colective

http://www.woostercollective.com

See you soon,

parProjects

Weekend Inspiration

We've decided to keep things as light as possible during the weekends ...from this point on. So from here on out, check back during the weekends for simple images and fun videos.

This container structure was built in four days!

Till next time,

parProjects

Yep...

We'll see you tomorrow with more inspiration.

Pictured below is the Nomadic Museum during one of its stops (Tokyo 2007). Between 2004 and 2008, the museum traveled to four destinations which also included New York City, Santa Monica and Mexico City.

An early (2004) drawing of the proposed Guangdong Museum in Hong Kong is below. And while its not made of containers, the design is still impressive.

Cheers!

parProjects

Flashback...

To recall the beginning stages of our project…

This image is from back in September. Before we brought our design into the computer, we created a number of rough model drafts using various papers and cardboards. ("You remember Legos don't you??")

This was the cardboard model that took shape and started us on our current path. Now that we're at a good place with the design, we're beginning to plan out our (second) wooden version of the model …and yes, this draft is to the scale of the plastic police …and yes, the model does open.

Happy Weekend,

parProjects

We were disappointed...

If you noticed the time of our last post, it was yesterday around 1:15AM ...over an hour after the Pepsi Refresh grant shut down its site to submissions ...circa 12:02am. Needless to say, we drug our feet for a minute and missed out.

Still we're happy that everything (like the above video) is packaged, so we can start seeking funding with visuals and solid numbers ...all the way down to gravel costs and the certified welder we found last week ...who has actually been on-site for a project similar to ours.

Plus, if you notice, our "in-time-for-Pepsi" design from the video actually changed for the better TODAY. It's funny how that silver-lining likes to show up when you're a bit down. So please enjoy these pics of our new design (w/improved entry tower).

...and don't forget, Phase 1 (below) will get the ball rolling on the total build. We sincerely believe, that once that piece of our vision (along with our programming) is realized, seeing the project through won't be terribly difficult ...especially knowing the the team of good people we have on board.

So don't worry, further ways to involve yourself as The Road To Refresh continues are coming soon.

Cheers!

parProjects

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