Duct Tape Abstractions

Once again the Santa Barbara Museum of Art invited us over to produce an interactive art experience. Along with my very talented teen interns and a couple hundred visiting students from local high schools we were able to pull off this project to celebrate Pasadena to Santa Barbara, in conjunction with Pacific Standard Time.

The challenge was to provide a project referencing Californian abstraction painting without using paint, also students were coming to us in shifts of fifty, also we only had them for a very short period of time, you know… the usual restrictions. We gave them hundreds of yards of colorful duct tape. We provided six inch square plywood panels and let them create. The amazing moments came when we realized that these students needed no prompting or instruction. The end results were all surprising and wonderful.

Simultaneously my interns wanted to create a instant photo project in which students could have a tangible Instagram experience. The interns took photos of students and then invited them to modify or caption the instant photographs. This bit of the project brought to us by Fuji technology. Many of the participants had never experienced this type of photography.

Throughout the entire day we had the most amazing music, Johnny Weger and his group filled the courtyard with the best four-piece work I have heard in a long time. Check him out here  Johnny Weger  Apparently Johnny puts together groups of musicians all the time, and I can honestly say the best part of my day was learning that Mr. Weger is available for bookings.