Ugly Dolls Take Over the ZACC

2009 Youth Community Art Project

Every fall, the Young Adult Afterschool Program, otherwise known as YAAP, brings students ages 6-14 together from all over the valley. The young artists work on a variety of individual projects and have authentic artistic experiences with working visual artists from the community. They integrate ideas, materials, and concepts to create lasting works of art. Whether we are creating messes in the back of the building by filling balloons with paint and exploding them into beautiful Jackson Pollocks or drawing with ink and studying Japanese culture, the students are having an experience that is tangible and expressive. Each year, the children work on an on-going community art project that combines a business or organization with a concept or thought.

In 2008 the ZACC chose the Jeanette Rankin Peace Center and Crystal Video. The students discussed violence on the playground and in their lives. We drew pictures, wrote poetry, and took in conversation about day to day life as well as current violence happening abroad. What came of it was a beautiful 14 foot mural that won the 2008 Father Hogan Peace Prize for Missoula. It hangs in a public place, Missoula’s beloved home-town video store: Crystal Video. This year, the young artists chose MUD (Missoula Urban Demonstration).

Missoula Urban Demonstration empowers individuals to enjoying sustainable living through both community interdependence and self-reliance. MUD fosters sustainable living practices by providing a tool library, educational and outreach programs, and a community-focused demonstration site to residents of the Missoula urban area. Only a few blocks away, MUD is part of the ZACC’s revitalization efforts of it’s northside Missoula Neighborhood. As for the 2009 community art project, the YAAP students will be working on two ceramic mosaics; sister picnic table tops for both organizations. The theme this year is on sustainable food/vegetables/lifestyles. The young artists have already taken two field trips to the MUD site and observed the arrival of their chickens, pressed apple cider, and also worked on drawings and sketches of the gardens to gather first hand information for a collage. This collage of images will later in the winter become the template for the mosaics. Why tables?

The table has long been used as a gathering space. About 20% of ZACC kids come to programs on individual/business sponsorship. They are busy kids. They express that it feels good to take time to sit and have a snack and discuss their day with one another; to share food is a positive way to end the day, take a break during summer camps, and to communicate. The two tables (one to go to MUD, the other for the ZACC) should provide a small, beautiful gathering space in which to meet, converse, and share food.... and thoughts. The ZACC believes this will provide artists, staff for the organizations, and children a way to both share thoughts visually on food from the Garden City while also providing a space to rest for a short moment and be together.

A note from Bethann Garamon, Program Director at MUD: The ZACC’s efforts to bring art into this part of Missoula, and thereby greatly enhance the living environments and experiences of Northside residents, is valuable. It expands on MUD’s mission to provide examples of, and education about, sustainable self-sufficient lifestyles while being an active part of one’s community. MUD is interested in the aesthetic value of one’s home, neighborhood, and community as both an expression of, and motivation for, sustainable living.

“You are what you eat.” - Zachary, age 7

2009 Needs/Donation List for Mosaic Table Tops:
Two picnic tables
Tile Grout
Sealant
Tiles, pottery chips, or other mosaic fodder
Fun Glazes!
Low Fire Clay

email us to make a donation! info@zootownarts.com

~Summer 2009 at the ZACC~

There are studios available at the ZACC and range from $200-250.00 per month depending on your location in the facility and your use of the classroom/gallery community space. If you are interested in renting a studio and becoming a part of the ZACC contact Hanna @ 549-7555. The Lease is six months and includes wireless, retail space, mail correspondence, marketing perks, and a phone hook-up.The spaces were recently painted and are large and have beautiful light. GET ON THE LIST!!






The ZACC needs your participation to keep our doors open.
How you can help:

Zootown Arts Community Center
Missoula’s do-it-yourself art center
“we take community to art”

One Year (2009) List of needs for funders/donors

Goal: We need to raise $80,000.00 to pay for the staff and programming required to operate the community art center for Missoula. The following is a list of our needs.

Why donate?
Our mission is to make art accessible to everyone in Missoula. Our vision is to exist as a fully functional arts community center. Our slogan is: “We take community to art.” In other words, we bring working artists and artists-to-be together. And we make it possible for anyone to create art from start to finish. And then we help get it out in the world.

We do this in three ways:

First, we are an educational arts organization—we teach art classes, run an after-school drop-in art program, and provide art facilities for groups or aspiring artists who want to use them. Our adult program is in process, and our children’s program has filled a large need in the community.

Second, we provide facilities and expertise for working artists, and in that way we’re an economic development organization. We rent studio space at a low cost to working artists, and provide them the tools and information they need to market their art which includes the use of our gallery and shop as well as renting our community room for small concerts and theater. We are leading a revitalization project for our community at almost no cost through our power-house networking and community building projects.

Third, we are a community center for the residents who live on the Northside, an underserved neighborhood. We are a haven and networking space for these residents, especially kids who come to the center by sponsorship or scholarship.
Missoula’s North Side district.

Zootown Arts provides art instruction, experiences, and opportunities to a wide variety of ages and incomes. The community center is a multi-use facility that serves as a classroom, gallery, studio, and community gathering place.

In order to satisfy this mission, Zootown Community Arts Center (ZACC) seeks to provide a healthy environment for all demographics to experience art together. Through it's programming, it strives to beneficially impact the Missoula area’s development of arts education, community, and sustainable economy.

ZOOTOWN ARTS COMMUNITY CENTER

...MISSOULA'S DO-IT-YOURSELF ART CENTER...

Thank You for visiting our blog!!!
Please visit our website: www.zootownarts.com

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

List of Programs/Studios and their needs:

1. Paint Your Own Pottery and Glass Fusing Studio
This studio exists to support the operations of the center. Many moms and babies come to engage in an easy, authentic art experience. Organizations and people with disabitilites come in to have a quick art experience painting pottery in this studio. The programming provides teen and adult glass fusing classes, kids first Friday night, and the funds from this program cover the electric bill, pays for phones, and general operations to keep the facility running.

Kiln Operation Use and Maintainence $700.00
Paint Your Own Pottery/Glass Studio Operation $9,600.00
Staff: 20 hours a week x $10.00 hour

2. Educational Programming
The Arts Education Programming lies at the center of the ZACC mission. The teen mentoring program addresses our goal of giving artistic teens a hand up. The summer art program provides a creative outlet for children in the valley to attend a half day or full day. The Young Artist Afterschool Program provides creative aftercare for our north-side families and those whose kids from all over the valley enjoy working on community art projects such as murals, mosaics, and individual art projects. Our adult educational programming is a goal to provide mingles, networking opportunities, workshops, and resources to adult artists in the valley that need a hand up to continue working in their field.

Artist Mentoring Teens Artists, Workshops, and Supplies $1,500.00
Summer Program Teachers, Supplies, Guests, and Marketing $9,000.00
Young Artist Afterschool Program Supplies. Marketing, Transportation $12,000.00
Adult Educational Programming for Artists and Small Business Development in the Arts $3,000 Educational Program Staff: $30,000
40 hours a week @ $15.00 hour

3. Gallery/Shop
The gallery is used as a community room for low-key music shows, all our classes, meetings, workshops, art shows, and special functions. Our goal is to continue its operations and take care of its maintence regularly. The SHOP serves as an outlet for budding artists to show their work and sell it. We are hoping to offer art supplies for sale soon. This program helps us be sustainable financially while we fulfill our goal of providing opportunities for adult working artists.

Daytime/Evening Classes / Music Venues $900.00
Community Room Rental Staffing/Art Show Costs/Hardware $2,500.00
SHOP Development/Art Supplies $5,000.00

4. Print Lab/Copier/Memberships
The Print Lab allows artists to reproduce drawings and prints by using a blockpress or silkscreen. We also have a cooperatively used copy machine for non-profit organizations, individuals and artists for their printing needs such as flyers for events, art cards, and gallery openings.

Block Press, Shelving, Paper and Inks $3,000.00
Copy Machine Maintainence and Membership Print Outs $2,000.00

5. Executive Director Position
Our goal as an organization is to hire a part time executive director for the center @ $25,000 for a year.

PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE: WWW.ZOOTOWNARTS.COM

Zootown Arts Community Center is a non-profit organization seeking funding, volunteers, and grassroots organizers to serve the needs of the community of Missoula. The ZACC is a leader in combining businesses, community members, artists, and educators for projects, classes, and the development of our city. It achieves its goal of sustainability by being a nucleus of activity that would otherwise be disbursed in several locations. Thanks to its ability to centralize, ZACC enriches the arts, educational, and business opportunities available to the growing city of Missoula.

RENT OUR GALLERY

Renting our gallery for a music venue, opening, reception, private party, fundraiser, organizational meeting, bachelorette or birthday party, show a film....you name it. This keeps our doors open and supports Missoula's community artists.

Our Grand Opening Sat 9/6--Thanks Missoula!

Thanks MIssoula and Artists who contributed to the events/activities at the ZACC our opening weekend. We couldn't have done it without you!
Photo by: Diego Bejarano

Mission:

Zootown Arts Community Center Mission: We Take Community To Art.
Create and Collaborate: To utilize the arts in order to support a healthy Missoula society.

In order to satisfy this mission, Zootown Community Arts Center (ZACC) seeks to provide a healthy environment for all demographics to experience art together. Through it's programming, it strives to beneficially impact the Missoula area’s development of arts education, community, and sustainable economy.

Within a rigorous art-educational center that offers fine arts classes, workshops, and events for all ages, local artisans collaborate, teach, create, play, and learn skills together. Because of this collaborative atmosphere, exploring the interconnectedness of the arts is in tandem with building cross-generational and cross-cultural connections. The center therefore acts as a networking platform for artists, families, educators, and other growing arts groups.

ZACC also houses an artist cooperative, with artists and writers teaming up to share resources and create a space that benefits everyone. We offer paint your own pottery, a gallery space, 8 studio rentals, a kiln, a classroom/event rental, a local artist retail shop for working artists, printmaking, book and zine making, and individual artistic instruction. The ZACC's expansion plans include creating a community print shop and is seeking to establish itself as a do it yourself art as experience center.

ZACC’s contribution to local community rests upon its creative business model; ZACC strives to be a leader in combining businesses, community members, artists, and educators for projects, classes, and the development of our city. It achieves its goal of sustainability by being a nucleus of activity that would otherwise be disbursed in several locations. Thanks to its ability to centralize, ZACC enriches the arts, educational, and business opportunities available to the growing city of Missoula.

~Summer 2008 @ ZACC~

Click on Play to view our photo show from our summer projects. Thanks to over 15 volunteers, artists, and enthusiasts that have helped make ZACC a home in Missoula!

Paint Your Own Pottery Studio Classes

YOUNG ARTISTS AFTERSCHOOL PROGRAM

COMING IN APRIL!
Elementary/Independent Schools:

Spring into Art! Do ZACC-YAPP!

ZACC Young Artists Afterschool Program for Boys and Girls Ages 5-11

3-5:30pm FIVE DAYS A WEEK!

$12.00 a day! Creative Aftercare for kids!

Make Robots! Dance/Movement! Comics!
Pottery! ZINES! T-shirts! Guitar! Music!
Printmaking and More!

Starts April 1st !

THE PROGRAM:

Creative Art Stations: Children choose between art project stations set with planned activities.

Free Time: Because we know it’s been a long school day, they also get planned free time and a snack.

Guided Art Activities: We have hundreds of real art projects (not just crafts) to do!

Literature Projects: Mixed media, book making, poetry, word collage.

Guest Artists in Theatre, Arts, and Music

ASK US ABOUT TRANSPORTATION!

*Proceeds from this program will help make it possible to start our
ZACC Artists to Schools Volunteer Program for School Year 2009-2010

Paint Your Own Pottery Studio: Sign up for extras like painting a mug!
Print Your Own Print Studio: Make your own T-shirt!

Program Directors:
Debby Florence
Hanna Hannan

GLASS FUSING!

-photo by Daniel Doherty

Alternative Community Art Classes

ZACC: Zootown Arts Community Center

~STUDIOs FOR RENT ~

There are studios available at the ZACC and range from $200-250.00 per month depending on your location in the facility and your use of the classroom/gallery community space. If you are interested in renting a studio and becoming a part of the ZACC contact Hanna @ 549-7555. The Lease is six months and includes wireless, retail space, mail correspondence, marketing perks, and a phone hook-up.The spaces were recently painted and are large and have beautiful light. GET ON THE LIST!!

Summer Children's Studio Classes 2009

Teenage Summer Studio

2008 Spring/Summer Workshops

Drum Building and World Rhythm with Leaf Harrison
Sponsored by: Tangled Tones Music Studio and Zootown Arts
June 23rd- 27th 9am-3pm
June 27th Potluck Party/Show $175.00 Info and registration: www.tangledtones.com
-build your own Ashiko drum
-learn traditional west-aftrican rhythms and music
-storytelling, art activities, mural-making
-located at Tangled Tones Music Studio


3.)Women’s Series:
Mother/Daughter Tote Bag Making with Cassie Jones of You Go Girl!
August 5th and 7th 7-8:30pm $20.00 + fabric of choice
-make one or two bags for shopping! (you decide and bring enough fabric!)
-fee is for a pair of ladies to work together at one machine!
-no age level limit
-location TBA

406.549.7555 to register

view the bag you will be making on Cassie's website: (copy and paste)http://yougogirl.typepad.com/you_go_girl/2008/06/positively-blushing.html

Materials for the class:

1/2 yard quilt weight fabric of your choice
1/2 yard quilt weight fabric in a coordinating color (bag is reversible)
1 spool of matching thread
1 yard of 1" wide strapping (available at Selvedge Studio)

Optional: Ribbon, Ric-Rac, buttons or anything else you would like to embellish your bag with. Embellishment is optional. The bag will look fabulous just plain!

May Guest Artist: Loretta Vizzutti

Students created trading cards with local artist:
Loretta Vizzutti

"I was delighted to be a guest artist in the Zootown Arts Program!"

Loretta Vizzutti is a multi-media artist and teacher. She likes to use pen/ink, pencil, watercolor and collage. Loretta has a degree from the University of Montana and was raised in Missoula. Her favorite art activity is working with students in a workshop environment creating art. For more information on the project visit:
www.art-e-zine.co.uk/atcnov03.html
or
http://europeanpapers.com

Lewis and Clark Elementary School Mural

Australian Dot Painting

Students studied Aboriginal Artists in Australia and created their own works...Artist Libby Anderson works on her base coat for the background on her painting and a close-up of Natalie Linn's fish. Sculptures were done by young home-school artists involved in the Tangled Tones Music/Zootown Arts Collaboration Project meeting on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Hmong Blankets

In Missoula, the Hmong culture is abound. Check out the history of the Missoula Farmer's Market, and you'll find that the Hmong people residing in zoocity are almost the sole responsible party for the success and initiation of the familiar Saturday event. This week in Zootown classes, children learned about the Hmong culture. They discovered their travels to Missoula, the war in Laos, and the artwork of storytelling blankets from the Laos and Thailand region. Students made versions of their own moving stories, talked about displacement, imaginary tales, and some told stories of trips and funny happenings with cats! :) See if you can read the stories. They read differently than western left to right! Enjoy Missoula. See them on display at the Missoula International Festival on March 9th. Hope to see you there.

The Still Life

The following drawing and painting clips are examples of works completed and matted with elementary kids at Lewis and Clark School. We learned that it is hard to draw exactly what you see. It takes patience and much concentration, along with a lot of hard work....but the paintings and drawings turned out fantastic. Congratulations artists for working so hard! Flowers were donated for the project by Bitterroot Floral and Cynthia's Fine Flowers of Missoula.....thank you so very much!

Ceramic Frogs

Art students this week finished up their ceramic frogs. Thanks Clay Studio of Missoula for helping us bisque fire our clay frogs! We studied versions of frogs from around the world: weird frogs, tiny frogs, funny frogs, rare frogs, frog stories....We invented our own frogs with special skins, powers, and functions. Many of the frogs will be used for soap, trinkets, and one will hold a special gold coin.....

The Preschool Projekt

February 2008 Preschool ProjeKT Ice Cube Paintings

Adelaide McMurrer

Images from "Scarfing it Up" with Artist Adelaide McMurrer

Art student Bridger Deschamp

--Zootown Artist Bridger Deschamps poses proudly in his art smock--

Sacred Images: Petrogylphs and Dream Catchers

This week, Zootown Arts After school Programs discovered the use of Native American symbols and rock art from Chauvet Cave in the Ardeche Valley of southeast France. They also read the book: First Painter by Kathryn Lasky and talked about paintings by Rocco Baviera. The participants incorporated all that they discovered from these ideas and made their own personal animal symbol into a petroglyph. They created a print and burnished them onto dream catchers to give to someone, keep, or in some cases, their horse! May all your dreams and visions come true young artists!

"The highest truths, which would not by communicable or transmissible by any other means, can be communicated up to a certain point when they are, so to speak, incorporated in symbols, which will hide them for many, no doubt, but which will manifest them in all their splendor to the eyes of those who can see." --Rene Guenon, Fundamental Symbols, The Universal Language of Sacred Science

The Preschool ProjecKT: Anya Vasquez

Last Wednesday, Community Guest Artist, Anya worked with artists aged 3-5 years old. They created a vibrantly colored string sculpture that was rolled in glitter and glue, a polymer clay snow globe, and a giant ice painting! Participants got to dip their hands in a pan of goop and oh what fun! The projeKT was such a success that we may have another offering in the spring called the Spring Preschool ProjeKT. Anya is the Operations Manager of Families First, which includes 3 different organizations (Parenting Programs, Children's Museum, and Seasons Bereavement Program). She is the proud mother of an almost 2 year old. Lily brings her life much happiness, joy and fun! Their favorite activities to do together are painting, swimming at the pool, and dancing to music in their living room. Vasquez is a community artist influenced by Andy Warhol, Andy Goldsworthy, and Missoula's Courtney Blazon. She has a double Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts and Psychology from the University of Montana. Anya started playing the violin at age three and now plays Irish music with her husband and chef Jake Osborne. In an interview with Mrs. Vasquez, it was revealed that If she could have lunch with anyone, it would be to dine with Tim Burton, Sacagawea and Salvador Dali. All at the same time, Anya? That would be fun!

Back in the Loop--Knitting

Fourth and fifth graders at Rattlesnake School are "scarfing it up" with community artist knitter Adelaide McMurrer for the next three weeks. Adelaide talks about the resurgence in popularity of fiber arts. She discusses homemade scarves and shawls in present fashion for both girls and boys. The kids talk about knitting in their lives....The multigenerational skill runs in the punk scene influence found in the works of their brothers and sister's funky gloves and accessories. The skill is perfected by their their grandmother's beautifully crafted sweaters. Adelaide, patient and charming, tells stories while the kids learn what could be a life-long art. McMurrer was born and raised in the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts where she went to school and college. After spending several years in Vermont, she came to Missoula in 2006. Adelaide's knitting life started about the age of five. She made her first sweater at the age of eight and has been knitting ever since. Adelaide has dabbed in weaving, rug-hooking, and quilting arts, but her knitting has always come first. Zootown Arts is glad to have such a talented community artist spending time teaching our younger generation of Missoula knitters.

Bugs In Winter ~ with Missoula's Natural History Center

Zootown Art students this week discovered that there are some bugs alive in winter! Where are they? Underground. Bugs have a chemical in their blood that keeps them from freezing! We searched for bugs and found so many we couldn't believe it. Did you know that ladybugs live together in the thousands to stay warm through the winter....a giant ball of ladybugs! After finding our bugs we drew them and then created print plates to do some printmaking. The final works were very vibrant and we created bug cards to give away, write on, or hang up! Thanks Montana Natural History Center for teaching us about bugs!

Bookmaking and Photography

We live at an increasing rate in a world where our relationships with computers and technology abound. It was recently pointed out that we even drive around in a computer! We often read and collect most information online. This week in Zootown classes, students are exploring the idea of bookmaking. Using leather, photography, and binding techniques students are creating a book of choice. Zootown artists will then be able to journal, write letters, draw, collect found images, write poetry and thoughts in a physical form. The hope is that the books will evolve into a mixed media sketchbook and collection of personal data.

Windpath Films --- Project Dragons

The following experimental film was produced by Dan Gainsford of Windpath Films. Windpath Films is based out of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Dan's feature film project titled, Searching for Dragons, is an in depth exploration into the human connection to the earth and our place within its nature. Aboard a GMC 2500 Rally Van with dog Moses, Dan is capturing a modern pilgrimage down the centerline of the North American continent to Panama. What is it that we as humans hold as sacred? With funding from the Canada Council for the Arts, Searching for Dragons is examining "how our North American society, with all it's speed and information, is losing touch with traditional ways of knowledge and truth. The dragons represent ancient wisdom, while the journey south is about finding silence, connecting to sacred places, and partially removing oneself from society in order to see the larger picture." Learn more about the films, art, and journey at www.windpathfilms.com.


Following a guest artist visit by filmmaker Dan Gainsford, Zootown Arts kids created dragons of their own. They learned about filmmaking. They learned about dragons. The students studied different cultures, stories, and themes. Some dragons became personal agendas that had specific powers; others were reflective of the more realistic dragonfly and rare komodo dragon living on the Indonesian Islands today. In Dan's journey, the dragons represent ancient wisdom. Zootown's dragon's represent the journey-like process of creativity and imagination. The young artists of Zootown produced beautiful dragons that lived in specific places. They created time-travel dragons, recycled object dragons, and metallic futuristic dragons...among other themes! Project Dragons was a direct result of Windpath Film's interest in community development, arts advocacy, and collaboration. Zootown Arts would like to thank Home Resources of Missoula for the donation of found objects and recycled parts that became the wonderous creations hanging in homes around the Missoula Valley. Thank you Dan, in all your versatility, for giving the gift of your time with Zootown Arts. Perhaps there is some ancient wisdom also reflected in the Zootown dragons that has or is yet to be discovered.

PROJECT DRAGONS a film
Created in collaboration between Zootown Arts & Windpath Films
Music by Lukas Ridgeway

Jackson Pollock Paintings

Jackson Pollock Action Paintings
Zootown Artists at Lewis and Clark, Paxson, and Rattlesnake Elementary studied artist Jackson Pollock last week. Pollock was an influential American painter and a major force in the abstract expressionist movement. He was married to noted abstract painter Lee Krasner. Students filled balloons with paint and then threw them at large pieces of paper. The works became beautiful explosions of color. Mats were donated to frame the works by Art Attic, Inc., Marie's Arteries, and LA Design of Missoula.

Photography and Technology in Art

Zootown profiled Missoula artist Joe Knoepfler this week at Rattlesnake Elementary School. The students created artistic photographs using an application called Photo Booth on a Macintosh Computer. Then, they transfered the photos to wood. Using paints, Zootown artists completed an abstract work that resembled the work of Knoepfler.

Dragons......Dragons........Dragons....

Dragons, Dragons....fact or fiction? This week of Nov. 25th in Zootown Arts the young artists are investigating the cultural histories of dragons. Stories abound about where they originate, how they lived, and whether they still do exist. One possibility: inside us in legends and stories...on the indonesian islands? Have you ever seen a dragonfly? The artists communicate and share their personal ideas as well as what they have learned from others though books, myths, and their teachers. They are making sculptures out of oriental papers, cardboard, papier mache and wire. To take it a bit further....they are investigating a creative process beyond just simply making a dragon sculpture. Based on your own knowledge....what gift, power, or element of speciality could your dragon possess? Based on the stories you know now create something magical that means something personal to yourself or to others.....and the ideas continue......