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On Monday, July 6 2009, the Purple Picassos and Rodney's dancers went back to the Excelsior to make yet another crazy idea explode from the bowels of our minds (editor's note: ew?). The first time we threw paint into the pit, we were disgraced by the terrible color choice and ended with a splatter most easily described as a TON of baby vomit! (editor's note: I prefer sherbet colors...more appetizing) We could have dealt with it, but we preferred to make another splatter instead.

In order for this to be successful we had to make some changes. This time we got blue, pink, and purple paint. Next we adjusted the throwing style. The first time we threw one at a time however we wanted. This time it was to be a true production where paint throwers are dancing with choreographed movements with the music. Lastly, Rodney and a female dancer were going to dance in the pit together. Unfortunately the female dancer had to work, so Rodney improvised.

The throwing was a success on two levels. Rodney got some killer footage unlike any other. Also, the painters got some great coverage and got rid of the terrible pit of baby vomit rainbow sherbet. There was only one problem -- the owner of the building saw the spots where paint spilled on the first floor and said, "Wow, this had better be used or go!"

So, we decided to incorporate these puddles of unwanted paint into our work. We are splitting into three groups to work on each puddle to make it our own. We will then make the designs fade into the puddle on the ground where they will end. We will use the columns and the wall to make interesting three-dimensional effects as the spatters meld into the floor design.

-Ray

Labels: paint, redux, the pit

Local teens partner with national artists

By Dave Larsen, Staff Writer

DAYTON — Katherine Mann is creating a wall-sized “abstract landscape” painting in collaboration with seven students from Dayton-area high schools.

“I never would have been able to create something like what’s up there right now from my own head,” said Mann, a painter from Baltimore, Md. “It had to come from all these other different voices having an equal partnership in creating this thing.”

Mann is producing the latest piece in her “Byzantine” series as part of the Blue Sky Project, an eight-week program that pairs five artists from across the U.S. with a total of 33 Dayton-area youth participants.

“The youth are really actively engaged, conceptually and creatively, in the art-making process,” said Blue Sky Project founder Peter Benkendorf.

::Read more here::