Colfax Arts Council plans new projects in 2016

Colfax Arts Council President Lannette Ring poses at Abundant Faith Studio with the 'crack art' poster the council made to introduce one of its new projects. This poster is now at the studio for anyone who is interested to learn about crack art and how to become involved with it.

Colfax Arts Council has been keeping busy and is full of ideas for the upcoming year. Its plans include a revival of the street banner contest, sprucing up upstairs windows in downtown buildings and creating “crack art” on sidewalks and buildings utilizing imperfections and dents and dings already present.

“We are trying to bring back some of the old and definitely bring in some new to get people more involved,” said Lannette Ring, president of the arts council and owner and operator at Abundant Faith Studio.

Ring said the ideas are meant to get the community involved, including Colfax students, and liven things up around town.

“We have been trying to come up with some other stuff to bring the arts council back into focus,” she said. “It is exciting with the Main Street program going on. Good things are to come.”

Colfax received the bid as a Main Street Community in December from the Washington Main Street Program, which is geared toward helping communities revitalize downtown areas through the economy, appearance and image.

The arts council’s first meeting of the year will be Tuesday, Jan. 12, at 11 a.m. at Abundant Faith Studio, where the projects for the upcoming year will be discussed and the council will solidify dates for its projects. The public is invited to attend and participate.

BANNER CONTEST

Among other ideas, the council is bringing back the banner contest this year. The council skipped the contest last year, but it received input that people would like to see it again.

“We just skipped a year and tried to reorganize ourselves,” said Emily Adams, arts council secretary. “People are crazy about that thing! We are going to get it going again.”

The dates for the contest have yet to be set, but Adams said the banner designs will be due sometime in mid-March and the banners would likely be completed toward the end of May.

“The designs go past the arts council, and we select the ones that we think should turn into banners,” said Adams.

She added that most of the designs are usually approved. She described the process of creating a banner, stating that each design is submitted smaller than an actual banner size. The designs are projected onto the banners to be painted.

Adams said the banner contest will allow people to vote for their favorites, and the top two will receive a people's choice award. There will also be an artist's choice award.

Adams said the open house for people to view the banners will be in June.

The Arts Council's entry at the Christmas Tree contest at The Center last month featured ornaments with miniature images of banner entries from past years.

UPSTAIRS WINDOWS

The council is also looking to spruce up some upstairs windows on downtown buildings.

“We are trying to make it so when you are driving through town it is not just nothing in the window,” said Ring. “It is just to put some fun little things in the windows.”

That project is currently in the planning phase and will begin soon, and the first window has already been selected. The Palouse River Quilts shop will be the first to get spruced up, and the council plans to place quilt blocks in the window.

“The quilt blocks are bright and they are colorful,” said Adams. “We are going to be doing some experimentation.”

The quilt blocks will not be an actual quilt, but would be a painting on light canvas which will be hung on tension rods behind the windows, allowing the design to not affect the woodwork and also to be changed out throughout the year for different occasions.

Ring and Adams both said the council is currently talking with building owners to see who may be interested in the project and is also brainstorming ideas. One of those ideas has been silhouettes.

“We are trying to liven the windows up a bit,” said Ring. “One idea has been a silhouette of a couple dancing.”

Adams said the council is hoping to incorporate Colfax's history into the designs.

“We have even thought of turn of the century being painted on the top floors and modern on the bottom,” she said.

The council is hoping to see anyone who is interested in this project come forward.

“Anyone who wants to leap in on this is welcome to do so,” said Adams.

Ring said that in addition to Palouse River Quilts, Tick Klock Drug has agreed to the project.

CRACK ART

The other project the council is introducing this year is crack art, which is a street art program that utilizes dents and deformities on building sides and sidewalks to create art.

“We have debated about whether to call it 'crack art,'” Adams explained, “because it could get you in all sorts of trouble! But it is easy to remember.”

The project will not start until warmer temperatures come around.

“It is small pieces of art around cracks and holes,” said Ring. “We are hoping to make it a Colfax niche.”

The council plans to control the crack art by seeking the permission of building owners and having those interested run their ideas by the council first.

"It will start out with arts council members only. Since it is street art, we need to have control over it so it does not go crazy,” said Adams. “Each project will be individually run past the building owner, and designs will be run past the arts council and we will help people get a hold of owners.”

Ring said that once crack art pieces start, the council hopes to have a scavenger hunt to go along with it, possibly at the Concrete River Festival.

Adams also said she has already gotten permission from a few businesses to have crack art at those places. Some of her ideas have included a clown on a unicycle riding on a tight rope into a tent and safety pins drawn to look as though a crack is safety-pinned shut.

“I think it will just be a kick in the head,” she said. “There are all kinds of goofy things around town. Missing bricks, peeling stuff, dents and dings. The art will be very, very funny!”

Adams added that the crack art is something the council hopes to keep going, but they will not do maintenance.

“If it rubs off, it rubs off,” she said. “It is going to fade and stuff with the weather.”

More information about all of the projects can be found at http://www.explorecolfax.com, the Colfax Arts Council Facebook page or by calling Adams at 509-397-2904.

colfaxartscouncil.wa@gmail.com.