UNM Service Corp Outreach

On Friday April 6th Kelsi, Brandon, and Isaac, all UNM Service Corp members working here at Off Center, were asked to lead an art activity on self awareness at a UNM Service Corp meeting. In doing this they conducted an "exquisite corpse" activity splitting the UNM students into groups of three and having each student draw one section of the human body(head, torso, or legs) without their other members seeing what they were drawing. Students were supposed to illustrate what they saw in themselves onto the paper, in addition to drawing the bodies students wrote poems of self awareness in a similar fashion. After everyone was done groups presented the bodies they had drawn and read their groups poems aloud, the end results were very impressive and everyone had a great time!

Pinwheel Post!

Another week of art at Reginald Chavez, the wind was still blowing and causing ideas to spin around the studio. When pinwheels were decided upon, needless to say the students were pretty excited about the project!


Equipped with their art supplies students set about customizing their own pinwheels, the excitement only increased as students discovered how their new pinwheels could spin with the slightest breeze or movement!

Reginald Chavez Arts Program

For the past nine years Off Center Arts has been doing weekly art lessons for the after school students at Reginald Chavez Elementary, this past Thursday one of Off Center's new employees Isaac Burleigh gave a simple kite construction lesson. Kids had a blast building their simple kites out of construction paper, shish-kabob sticks, and ribbon. Taking advantage of Albuquerque's windy weather the students enjoyed putting their kites to use outside!

The WE ART THE PEOPLE FOLK FESTIVAL 2011 was terrific!!!!! I had several people, both vendors and attendees tell me that this was the best organized year ever for the festival. Also heard some folks say this is their favorite Abq. festival!! This is a great mid September tradition for OFFCenter and hopefully will be for years to come. The kids area was hopping all day long with beautiful hats and pin wheels emerging from the art making tent, children having fun with hula hoops, and being thoroughly entertained by Pink Elephant and Clan Tynker! The group paper tube sculpture and giant coloring book/painting canvases were great.... can't wait to see the new OFFBags made from the canvas. Come shop for one in the OFFCenter retail shop in the studio! I got a fantastic henae design on my entire arm and enjoyed seeing lots of lovely painted faces walking all around the park. Thanks to all the dancers and musicians too for creating such a festive day. It's a gift to see all the art vendors and witness the enormous variety of creativity in our community. Yea for Chami and all the other folks who worked so hard to make the 2011 We Art the People Folk Festival happen so wonderfully! Better and better each year :) Hope to see lots of fun 2011 Folk Fest pictures here and on the website soon!

OFFCenter Fun at RT66Summerfest

Ron and D'Ana helping families make art together

Thanks to all those who helped make the RT66Summerfest Community Art Project fun for all the families who participated! Art Educator Topher House volunteered to manage the project and helped families build and decorate paper towers out of old newspapers. (Thank you Jo Tabacchi for coming up with the activity!) OFFCenter's Executive Director, Ron Breen and Board President Margaret Lopez and Board Member D'Ana Alderate were there to make it a success on the streets! 

Topher House guiding kids on the construction

Thanks also to the volunteers and interns who helped prepare for the project. This was truly an event where art making = community. Unfortunately the weather cancelled the second half of building -- but now we have leftovers to keep building art together in the Community Art section (alongside the Giant Coloring Books) at the 9th Annual "We Art the People!" Folk Art Festival this Sept. 11th!

Ninos y mayores, Children and elders final exhibit

exhibit - Children and Elders intergenerational workshop

runs through June 18th

This exhibit features a series of collaborative art works produced by neighborhood children and elders over the last several months.

The project brought children and elders together to interact, share and explore each other’s lives in a variety of exercises facilitated by educator Roberta Marquez at the Barelas Senior Center .

This project was made possible, in part, by a grant from New Mexico Arts, Department of Cultural Affairs for the State of New Mexico .

From the Ninos y Mayores Art Making Playshops OFFCenter's outreach program with seniors and children at Barelas Community Center, these photos represent the collaging activities around the questions:
"Who am I?"
"Who are you?" and
"Who are we?"
The players will continue this project this Wednesday.

Art Making Playshops: Ninos y Mayores

Join us at Barelas Senior Center for a new program for elders and school age children.

Classes begin this spring at Barelas and culminate in a show at OFFCenter.

Contact Ron at OFFCenter (247-1172) or Roberta Marquez (269-0829).

This project made possible in part by a grant from the New Mexico Arts, Dept. of Cultural Affairs, State of New Mexico.

Just click anywhere on the image above about the Children and Elder Art Making Playshops to see the info larger...

Another OFFCenter event for Girl Scouts

OFFCenter is an ideal place for special event art workshops or birthday parties. On Saturday, December 12th, 26 young girls earned their Girl Scout Jeweler badges at the OFFCenter Community Art studio. Pictured above, instructor and former scout leader, Beverly Lazar presents one of the badges. Check the Trails of Fun calendar for more upcoming badge events in 2010 at OFFCenter. If you are interested in scheduling a special event call 247.1172 for more information.

Red or Green? RANA Twinkle Light Parade Float

WoW- the RANA (Raynolds Addition Neighborhood Association) Twinkle Light Parade Float looked great thanks in large part to the great banners created at OFFCenter. Thankyou OFFCenter for contributing to our neighborhood association float!! Washington Middle School kids (dancers, choir singers, and mariachi players) had a blast on the float during the parade. Check out these pictures...

Giant Newspaper Hats

Where do we begin to describe the Folk Art Festival today? How can we possibly thank our community of sponsors (Mama's Minerals, RANA, and more to be fully acknowledged very soon), our loyal new and returning artists/vendors, our troops of volunteers, musicians, dancers, and tribe of mentors at the artmaking tents?

It may take several days. For now . . . enjoy the hats.

Sharie"s Studio Journal

Days and counting here are some photos of kids and parents and grandparents making masks this past Saturday. Clare Gonzales provided samples and instruction for making paper masks. The kids had a great time and I'm pretty sure I saw parents laughing and trying on masks as they assisted their children in the creation of masks. Don't dispair there are a few days left so come on in to the studio there are puppets to be repaired and made ready for the "Big Day", labels to be put on bottles of water and signs to be made and given fresh paint. You can still do your own art too. Come on and join the fun and there is one more night to learn the steps for the Samba Dancers to lead the Parade.

We also had a family here for the weekend from out of town join in the mask making.

More Summerfest Latin Night Art Projects

Like many of our visitors, this guy worked on more than one project.

The whole family learns about New Mexico punched tin work.

This girl colors in her punched image.

We all hammered to a Latin beat last Satureday!

We folded aluminum foil over a sturdy backing, then hammered a design with our homemade hammers and a big nail. Then we colored in the designs with permanent markers.

Summerfest Latin Night Art Projects

Saturday night was the last night of Summerfest 2009, and we got lots of kudos on our Latin-inspired art projects that intrigued adults and kids alike.

She and mom rode a tandem bike to Civic Plaza, and while mom rested under the tent, daughter made her shrine.

Our nichos project was very popular. Hers is adorned with shells and other small objects we set out on the tables.

This young gal was a repeat visitor this summer. Her nicho is called "Love."

These friends made nichos for their friends.

Stay tuned for our upcoming blog post about our other Latin-inspired art project -- we did our own "intro" version of punched tin work.

Just a Few More Summerfest Photos

Our cozy tables and tent. Lots of room to create!

The hair beading table is always a hit. Margaret Lopez concentrates while big sister helps out.

We altered 45's in honor of Old Time Rock n Roll, aka "50's" Night.

We found out that you can be too young to make art.
Dad was willing, but Junior was determined to run and climb.