Rain or shine – there are some fabulous projects awaiting you on summer Thursday afternoons!
Arts by the Brook, 4-6pm on Thursdays (or inside at Village Arts, if weather is not cooperating) .
Grab a friend and fun creating something special.
Visit Village Art Room for more info!
If you have not visited Village Art Room yet, now is the time! There is so much happening and the ways Margot Kimball and her volunteers are spreading joy and art to our community will inspire you and warm your heart.
Margot Kimball has been an active member of the West Concord art community for over 20 years making, displaying and selling art, teaching and organizing public art projects. Margot started the Village Art Room in the studio that she’s had for nearly 20 years with the excess art supplies and equipment that she amassed over my lifetime. “I believe that community is formed and ecology is improved when we share resources.”
The new resource space “Imagination Station” is open for business! Come by and get new and up-cycled art and craft supplies and inspiration. You’ll feel like a kid at a candy shop – dozens of bowls filled with colorful art supplies are waiting for you and just what you need to feel inspired!Take peak at the video of the new Imagination Station!
Looking for ideas of activities during April vacation week? Imagination Station is a great spot to stop & get ideas for fun art projects.April Vacation Week hours:Saturday, April 17th – Saturday April 24th: Open 1 to 5pm (closed Sunday)
For $15 per person, you can work in the maker space during open hours. Just 4 people at a time. Masks required!! Purchase an art kit or supplies at Imagination Station and then go to the back of the room. More supplies and lots of equipment are available in the maker space.
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People can buy supplies, new and upcycled, and art kits AND they can go in the maker space in the back and sit down and make stuff. Up to 7 people all together in the room. AND, if we have enough volunteers, during decent weather, we plan to have a table in front.All purchases and your donations of supplies support our community art outreach program, ART for ALL.
Do you know about Art for All?
Art for All is the community outreach program of the Village Art Room. Their mission is to strengthen the community by building connections through creative projects for everyone, regardless of circumstances, based on the belief that we believe that the making, sharing and experiencing art improves the lives of individuals, and of our community.
The Art for All program is mostly volunteer run. The primary goal is to foster real, face-to-face community, and our fabulous team of volunteers, teachers and staff has helped us succeed. We welcome others to join us.
Learn more about Art for All in this video: Creating Community Connections
Here are a few of the other many things Village Art is doing:
The West Concord District Cultural Committee commissioned Artists Create Change Together, ACCT, to make a 3 by 6 ft painting in celebration of West Concord and bluegrass music for Art Week, 2019. The painting was then reproduced as 288 3 x 3 images. Over 200 people, in and around West Concord, reproduced the squares onto 6 x 6 inch tiles, producing a 6 x 12 foot painting.The composite painting and the original painting was revealed on Saturday, May 4th, as a part of Art Week 2019, just before a bluegrass concert hosted by the Concord Conservatory of Music at the West Concord Union Church.The original painting of Art Scramble, of people and places in West Concord, can be seen in the display window of the West Concord 5 and Dime.Here is a quick video made by MMA on the topic of the Art Scramble 2 (in progress) murals.
Our Local Farms: a community created mosaic mural
The West Concord Cultural District has directed and promoted the Our Local Farms mural to develop a sense of history and identity, while also bringing beauty to the cultural district of West Concord. Six artists of the Village Art Room and of ACCT, (Artists Create Change Together) at the Umbrella Community Art Center made a paint and photo montage that celebrates farms and farmers present and past in the vicinity of West Concord.
The montage is being made into a 6 1/2 by 11 1/2 foot mosaic outdoor mural comprised of 299 6 x 6 inch squares. Each square is painted by members of our local and extended community. The mural is being carried out by the Art for All program of the Village Art Room and largely completed. Sections of this mural will go up in the windows of local stores. A location for the final piece has not yet been decided.
Wonderful Wednesdays: Sadly, not available due to Covid 19. Adults and teens are welcome to join us at the Art Room on Wednesdays between 12:45 and 2:15. You may come as a volunteer, or to work on the current public art project, or to join the project of the day which is designed for the people from Minute Man Arc for Human Services who have a variety of cognitive disabilities. If you come to work on a project the fee is pay-as-you-can, $5 to $15 suggested.
It is difficult to grasp how many people have passed from this world due to Covid-19, and most of them without the usual opportunities to be in the presence of loved ones during those last hours, days, and sometimes weeks. Making hearts to represent those lives, and contemplating the vastness of their numbers evokes a sense of awe. We hope this exercise and the art piece created will bring some solace as well to those left behind. Who knows, maybe the project brings solace as well to the many departed souls.
The Heart is 4 feet by 4 feet. It will have between 120 and 150 strips of red and black paper, each with dozens and hundreds of hearts painted, drawn and collaged by many community members.
We are also finishing up the Pandemic Memorial Heart, now on display at the West Concord Pharmacy. We have finished collecting strips of hearts for that and will be reassembling the Memorial Heart at 4.5 x 4.5 in the next few weeks. The Heart will be displayed later this spring at Emerson Hospital.
Here is the link to the video made by Minuteman Media Network: Pandemic Memorial Heart
Village Art is involved with so many community art projects and events – be on the look out for ways to get involved!
Village Art welcomes participation!! Their community outreach program, ART for ALL is volunteer run and they use donations of arts and crafts supplies as much as possible.
For donations of supplies, contact margie@villageartroom.com.
For volunteer opportunities, contact margot@villageartroom.com.
Directions and parking:
The Art Room is located in the village of West Concord in Factory 152. The building is best known for housing Nashoba Brook Bakery. It is a low, brick building at the back of a parking lot off of Comm. Ave., right next to a car repair shop, E and S Motors. Go in the door on the far left, closest to E and S. The Art Room is just off the stairs as you go up to the second floor
Parking:
Unfortunately, you can’t park in the lot in front of the building as it is reserved for the Bakery and the tenants. You can usually find a parking spot on Comm. Ave. and parking is free for now, or park in the lot off of Winthrop Street and walk across a quaint walking bridge to the back of the building.
Adult, Teen, Youth, Mulitgenerational, free @ Home Activities
Until we are able to safely resume in-person arts education classes and workshops, most of our programming will be offered through The Umbrella @ Home, where we intend to offer the best possible online arts education experiences that you have come to expect. We will be adding online arts instruction opportunities, as well as free at-home DIY creative activities and artists demos on a rolling basis, so please check back frequently or subscribe to our newsletter.
Additionally, we are now offering curbside clay purchasing and firing through The Umbrella! For more information on our curbside clay policies, go to our Ceramics @Home page!
Classes will be held virtually using Zoom and Google Classroom depending on the teacher’s preference. Some classes will include 1 or 2 field trips to local Concord-area conservation land, where students will practice the skills they learn virtually. During these field trips, everyone will be required to wear a mask and appropriately social distance. Any questions about social distancing protocol can send inquiries to Caroline Provost at caroline@theumbrellaarts.org.
To learn more about how to use ZOOM go HERE
Sampling of some online classes on the schedule:
As we are not able to have groups at the Art Room at this time, and as the pandemic continues and cold weather sets in, we, the staff, volunteers and sponsoring businesses of Art for All, are focusing our efforts on 1) getting art supplies and activities to people in our community who are largely confined to their homes and who have few resources to engage in creative projects and venues, and 2) developing participatory, community art projects that can be seen in the windows of the stores in West Concord Village.
Find out more here about what we are doing now, and how you can participate.
Order ahead online and we will have a bag for you to pick up on the porch of You can pick up on the porch of 21 Winthrop Street. Arrange for a time to pick up using the email on the form.
Tap into your inner phoenix in 2021! Together we will rise from the ashes of an incredibly challenging year. With creative projects! Download an outline of the Phoenix to color in your own for free!
Or to come by the Art Room to pick up a Coloring Kit. Each kit has 2 coloring sheets for the Phoenix as well as a set of 4 coloring cards and a set of 12 crayons for $12, or 2 sheets, 4 coloring cards and a set of 36 colored pencils for $15. Proceeds from sales helps us bring this project to individuals and families who are financially challenged. SIGN UP HERE for a pick up time, or contact margie@villageartroom.com to arrange a time.
Make Valentines for ART for ALL’s LOVE for ALL sale in February. Original, handmade cards will be on sale at several of our local retailers in West Concord. Proceeds of sales support the ART for ALL program.
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