Public Art Opportunities by Sean Mahan, lara black
March 6th, 2009 12:26 AM / Location: 37.770989,-122.4319It started with part of an Ikea desk, a can of spray-on chalkboard, and a dream.
Once there was a plan, we needed a saw. We spent some time wishing for a jigsaw, but the gods were stingy, so we bought Ace hardware's cheapest, awesomest saw. Then the real work began:
Once we had our piece of not-quite-wood with a face-hole in it, it was time to put the "chalk" in "chalkboard", and the "black" in "blackboard".
Laura made a fantastic plaque:
And then we spent a few days praying for less rain.
Once the skies cleared, we applied the finishing touches.
We took our trusty battery-powered drill on down to Waller and Steiner, put in some furtive screws, and savored the results:
After a celebratory drink, we stopped by again, and Sam modeled the lone addition of the Thursday-night public:
Updates:03/06/09 - Someone replaced our X-Treme skateboarder with a crazy dancer, and the "furry" got a few text additions: "I love LISA", "BRILLIANT THANK", and "Hi Mom" (not pictured). We also added an eraser. At first we skipped this because we didn't want to leave a rag or felt eraser that'd get disgusting (this is still the rainy season). In a moment of caffeine-fueled zen, Laura realized we could leave a sponge!
Updates:
03/10/09
More pictures added, taken over the last few days. Highlights include someone's hip cat drawing, Sean realizing his dream of drawing Godzilla on the chalkboard (room to do this was the criterion for head-hole placement), our completion of public efforts to remove a promotional sticker some jerk put on it, a complimentary stencil placed nearby (by someone else), and finally, Lara, in form of mermaid.
Later gater!
Sean saws away
Our David Lynch -looking saw
Lara's turn
One sweet fishtank through one sweet hole
Turns out this works!
Priming the board
A beautiful plaque
Ready and waiting
Clear labeling
Making a knot...
and sealing it tight.
Chalks on a string
Pre-public art
Setting the bar higher or lower?
Bear of a night
Nice hair
Eraser at last!
Praise from our favorite streetcorner!
Lucky Lisa!
Hip cat!
Robin Hood, maybe?
Presumably a collaborative effort
Godzilla!
Also, the politest little girl ever, and her nice dad.
GODZILLA EATING SEAN!
Butterfly, with Greek?
Think positive
The sticker.
When we find you, red star dance party advertising street team, our justice will be swift and our mercy slow.
Two colors!
This is about 10 feet away from the chalkboard.
Lara the mermaid
The head was someone else's effort. Lara added the body after we removed the sticker with mittens and my favorite pen: the Zebra F-301. It can do anything.
39 vote(s)
- Bjørn Teuleuse
- Phishman
- Poisøn Lake
- Tøm
- zer0gee
- Lincøln
- SPJ
- Jellybean of Thark
- susy derkins
- teucer
- Philippe
- anna one
- Flea
- Rin Brooker
- Sombrero Guy
- Morte
- Burn Unit
- Molotov Cocktease
- Loki
- JJason Recognition
- Spidere
- Myrna Minx
- Secret Agent
- Blue
- Ben Yamiin
- Charlie Fish
- MonkeyBoy Dan
- done
- Not Here No More
- Whimsical Disarray
- missing peace
- Palindromedary
- Døjey
- Borgasm
- Dax Tran-Caffee
- Waldo Cheerio
- SNORLAX
- Dela Dejavoo
- Sam Archer
Favorite of:
- Jellybean of Thark
- Morte
- MonkeyBoy Dan
- Not Here No More
- Whimsical Disarray
- missing peace
- Palindromedary
- anna one
- Sam Archer
- Kate Saturday
Terms
votelater, chalk, build, everyoneshouldsee6 comment(s)
@ waldo: updates to come, including pics of an uninhibited disco dancer with crazy boobs that replaced our x-treme skater sometime in the night!
we've been fretting over the eraser issue too. it's been raining, and we didn't want to leave anything for fear it would just get wet and moldy, but i think the answer just hit me...
Y'all are unstoppable.
This is what it's all about, folks.
I'd like to add that that's some fine stencil-work as well.
I wish I could vote for this now, since I only found out Saturday that you two were behind what I just happened across one day, blissfully unaware it was SF0-related!
Thanks voters! I now do 8% more damage (Level 4)!
As you might expect, the Waller and Steiner Head Space has been down for a long time, now. The end was near when one day we saw that, despite being made of the finest quality Ikea-stuff, our chalkboard had been severely cracked around the brackets that held it to the telephone pole. We think someone tried to hang off it, punch it, kick it, etc too many times. We added a few more screws to try to eek another few days out of it. One day, though, I found it resting on the ground next to the telephone pole, and this public art opportunity was over. For some reason or another, I didn't bring the chalkboard home, and the next time I went back it was gone! A few people wrote nice "WHY?!" and "Bring it back!" notes on the remaining shards of chalkboard - thanks, people! Ever mindful of our civic duties, Laura and I returned to remove the brackets, chalk can, and so forth. Now no trace remains, and it's about time we put something new up at this corner.
Oh man, you best take photographs intermittently of what gets left behind by others. On a related note, how do folks erase what came before?