"To be clever enough to get a great deal of money, one must be stupid enough to want it"
"To be clever enough to get a great deal of money, one must be stupid enough to want it"
Nine months ago (August 2007) I swithced jobs and had to move to Santa Rosa California. We found a perfect place to stay (the Luther Burbank Garden area) and I noticed a painted bench outside our home in a park. While walking my dog I came across a dozen more of these benches. Struck by the colorful benches I researched it online and finally came across Artstart's website.
Artstart is reponsible for the numerous benches and murals across town. Since there was no information about how many of these benches were produced, I came up with the idea to document as many benches as possible. Consider it a personal urban treasure hunt.
The next four paragraphs are taken from the artstart website and it explains what artstart is about:
Artstart is an award-winning, privately incorporated 501(c)3 non-profit educational arts organization serving all of Sonoma County. Our mission isto provide mentoring and a stimulating work experience for talented art Apprentices, while creating inspiring public art for the community.
Young artists compete for Apprentice artist positions through a juried process. Selected Apprentice artists work under the mentoring guidance of professional artists who serve as powerful role models and help the Apprentice experience art as a realistic profession. Artstart alumni also have opportunities to mentor younger Apprentice artists.
Apprentices learn important transferable employment skills while pursuing artistic excellence. Learning areas include: planning, design, problem solving, creative thinking, collaboration, negotiation, meeting deadlines, client presentation, execution, and timely completion of art projects.
Artstart has made a significant visual impact to the community with its numerous painted benches and large public murals. Partnering with many other Sonoma County organizations, we are reaching farther and deeper into our diverse community to provide inspiration to young artists, motivation to troubled teens, and pride and sense of ownership to communities.
I've been contacted seveal times by Artstart about this project and the 2008 summer program is about to kick off (June 8th). More benches will be produced and placed throughout the city of Santa Rosa. In the meantime I'll ty to find all of the benches and place them here on the Santa Rosa Bench Project page. I'm working on a Google Map version as well so visitors of Santa Rosa can easily find the benches and see them with there own eyes.
Another thing is to give credit to the artists who painted the benches and display there names here. Apperantly all the names are on the back of the benches. So keep an eye on this page for the latest benches in Santa Rosa.
Richard Lemon
©1969-2008 Richard Lemon.
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