In the midst of family-plotted herbs, vegetables, and flowers, Gifford Park’s Youth Gardeners spent part of Independence weekend focused on above ground cultivation. Below the park’s handcrafted sign (painted during our 2009 Art in the Garden collaboration), twenty neighborhood kids were given the opportunity to sculpt clay into eight-legged creatures. After kiln firing, these octopuses will resurface as part of a public art experience. In a second workshop, the creation of homemade Play-doh gave more than just an experience for the kids to take home. Octopuses Garden Art Alliance’s ongoing partnership with Gifford Park Community Garden continues to grow through this summer and into the next.

See more pictures of the morning here.

A perfect Saturday in Elmwood Park, Earth Day Omaha 2010 was held on April 17th.  Enjoying the day, those in attendance walked through the park to learn more about local organizations, participate in hands-on activities, listen to music and speakers and of course sample amazing food.  Octopuses Garden Art Alliance again offered activities to all ages including clay work instruction for a public art project and building seed bombs.  While everyday should be considered Earth Day, it was great to meet so many people Saturday interested in better living on our planet.

See more pictures of the day here.

Octopuses Garden Art Alliance presents “Daydreams…”, a group art show exhibiting the talents of local middle and high school students. Through collaboration with the Middle School Learning Center Initiative and Camp Fire USA, Octopuses Garden is offering after school art classes all year to students at Norris Middle School. Students study both the classical and abstract qualities of art while creatively enlarging portions of the works, designing unique color schemes, and transferring their adaptations from concept to canvas. The show theme was also presented to students at several Omaha and Council Bluffs high schools, giving older students the experience of a public art opening and offering their work for sale.

“Daydreams…” opened Friday, March 5th at The Benson Grind (6107 Maple St.) and will be on display through March 31st. This show marks the first 2010 opening in an ongoing, quarterly art series designed to fulfill our mission: “Celebrating diversity in our community by providing opportunities that foster creative self-expression and dignity.”

The Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts opened its doors in November 23rd for a unique performance that paired the Ollie Webb Center’s Art of Imagination with Octopuses Garden Art Alliance’s shadow production. Acted by adults with developmental disabilities, the story of Perseus’ heroism was enhanced by the likeness of a serpent-laden head of Medusa and further elements of shadow image telling. An evening inspired by valor, both in the mythological and modern, showcased the dramatic talents instilled by the director Amy Kunz. In front of a packed house, the evening rose to its climax when the actors were called upon to individually declare their own personal heroes. By the scale of performance and additional visual arts presented on that evening, it became clear that these adults could be just as heroic as Perseus himself.

Our first of Autumn was marked by Especially Artful Saturday at the Joslyn Art Museum, the 3rd annual event for individuals with and without physical, cognitive, and/or communications disabilities to learn and take part in art. OGAA brightened the parking lot by way of a wheelchair-linked art roller, Chalk Walk and Roll, and Pogo Paint Polls. These mobility art tools, constructed by Artz for All founder Dwayne Szot, allow for those with limited movement or lack of fine motor skills to create. First cutting foam shapes and pasting them onto either Pogos or Rollers, the colorful imaginations of numerous children and adults (and a selection of prime colored paints) then filled our colossal sized canvas. The cement around the canvas was likewise splashed with the color of chalk-rainbows provided by kids dashing about with Zot’s Chalk Walk and Roll. Sometimes it is just right to think outside the cones, as a few artists went beyond the limits of the site. Within the gray clouds and chilly breezes, we hope we were able to spark a few creative minds!

See more pictures of the day here.