It was a great two days at the Factory Square Fine Arts Festival in Northside. We heard over and over that our shipping container gallery was one of the best and funnest exhibits in the festival. What we did was very simple and to the point (like Raymond's drawings). A bunch of painted cardboard boxes representing windows and bricks could be fashioned into buildings. We hung up a wrecking ball for people to use once they had constructed their buildings from the boxes. Easy as pie, and somehow very satisfying. What surprised me the most is the age range: lots of little kids of course, but also young adults and a few older ones came by to build their own city block and destroy it.
One little boy said after flinging the paper-machie wrecking ball at his buildings and knocking them down: "I love this place!"
It was a joy to see Raymond's spirit blooming from every "building" destroyed. Everyone truly had a great time doing what he dreamed of doing. A great way to introduce new people to his aesthetic universe... Thanks to everyone who came in and destroyed their worlds... Special thanks to Happen, Inc. who transformed one of Raymond's drawings into a beautiful public piece of art. The whole atmosphere of the festival teemed with an industrial Thunder-Sky glow...
