Another Rain Barrel Art Event!

MRCN is organizing another Rain Barrel Art debut and reception! This time we have partnered with the CARE Gallery in Columbia.

“The CARE Gallery is a summer arts program sponsored by the Office of Cultural Affairs and the Parks and Recreation Department and is part of the city’s overall CARE Program, an effort to teach work and life skills to youth ages 14-18. The Gallery offers summer jobs to at-risk high school students referred by their art teacher and guidance counselor. Professional artists work with Gallery participants on a variety of community arts projects.” (From the City of Columbia website.)

The youth in this program listened to a presentation by Rebecca, Lance and I about AmeriCorps in general, storm water and rain barrels, and the art of painting a rain barrel. They then brainstormed ideas and themes which the barrels could fall under, and started sketches before refining and choosing an idea to carry out on the barrels.

These barrels will be featured in Columbia’s Artrageous Friday event on July 23^rd , 6-9pm in the courtyard of Orr St. Studios, 106 Orr St., Columbia, MO. That evening will open up the eBay auction, where individuals can bid online to own of these unique creations of functional art. The auction will run from July 23^rd -29^th, proceeds benefitting the educational presentations of MRCN and the CARE gallery.

To view the rain barrel art, visit our website, facebook page or search eBay for “Rain Barrel Art”.

Hope to see you out there!

Rain Barrel Art Review and Barrel Roll

Friday, March 19^th was our first ever Barrel Roll in conjunction with our Rain Barrel Art Review. We had 13 artists design and paint rain barrels, and one more barrel completed by children participants at the Sustainability Fair in the fall of 2009. Three of the barrels were at Orr St. Studios during the reception and the rest were at their host locations around downtown Columbia.

The evening began at Orr St. Studios at 5pm. Visitors passed through, picking up maps of where the barrels were located around town and did the Barrel Roll, seeing them all and enjoying the amazing weather. We had two computers up and running for people to begin bidding on the barrels on eBay. Thirteen out of the 14 barrels sold at auction, and we think we have a home for the last one!

Paul Grace provided some bluegrass music from 6-7pm. Then attendees voted on People’s Choice, which we announced as Katrina Thomas and Stirling Williams. We also announced our Jurors’ Choice Awards as the Kellenberger Family, Josie Cozean and Thomas Matthew Pierson. After announcements we enjoyed the musical stylings of Logan and Hunter Park.

We believe there were about 75-85 people in attendance at Orr St. Studios, not counting any people who did the Barrel Roll, but didn’t stop by Orr St Studios. There were also reporters from MU’s The Maneater, the Missourian and KOMU TV. Below are links to the stories from that night.

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2010/03/19/rain-barrel-art-draws-crowd-raises-awareness/

www.themaneater.com/stories/2010/3/23/orr-street-studios-hosts-rain-barrel-art-review/

MRCN wanted to thank Boone Electric Coop Community Trust for funding the event and all our sponsors who provided prizes for the artists. We thank the artists for providing their time, expertise and talent. And we thank the host locations, who shared their spaces and welcomed the many Barrel Rollers. We think the night was a success, and many, many people were made aware of the possible beauty and uses of rain barrels.

Barrels on Parade

Hi Clean Water Lovers!

I wanted to update you on the Rain Barrel Art Review. February was almost completely taken over by barrels.
The first week in Feb. was exciting as this was the time period for the artists to return the completed barrels to the office. It was great to see the ideas and sketches in real life as they slowly trickled into the office.

The next step was to deliver the barrels to University Chrysler’s Body Shop to get them the donated clear coat to protect the artwork from the elements. The clear coat also gave the barrels a great glossy, shine. We picked up the 14 barrels and stored them in our tiny office. It was like living in a cave of painted barrels! Lance was putting in the fixtures, so the barrels would be ready to use and to show people how they worked while I was calling the venues around town, reminding them the barrels were coming, the barrels were coming!

I photographed the barrels and created a postcard with all the images, the artists’ names and our generous sponsors. The printing of these postcards was donated by FedEx Kinkos in Columbia, thanks!!

Now the barrels were ready and all our informational handouts were ready and we were ready to have some room to move around! We delivered the barrels around town in groups of 4, which kept things manageable. We were able to load them into Sarah’s van, instead of renting a truck, and were easily able to maneuver around downtown. All barrels but one were in place for the True/False Film Fest, which draws thousands of people to downtown Columbia. When we checked up on the barrels the Tuesday after, most barrels had few to no handouts left. Good news! This means all that info is in the hands of potential Barrel Rollers and barrel purchasers. We are getting the word out about storm water conservation!

The next time I post, I should have a good idea of how the auction and Rain Barrel Roll and Art Review went. Stay tuned or better yet, come out to the event, Friday, March 19th at Orr St. Studios in Columbia, MO! For more info, you can always go to www.moriver.org, find Missouri River Communities Network on facebook, or give us a call 573-256-2602.

Take care!

eBay Giving Works for Non-profits

Hi Clean Water Enthusiasts!

Since it has been so cold outside, and our Columbia/Boone County Rain Garden Grant Program is winding down, I have been focusing on more planning for MRCN's 2nd Annual Rain Barrel Art Review!

I have already mentioned that we are having artists design and paint rain barrels, that we will then post around downtown Columbia to raise awareness of water conservation and Best Management Practices of using rain barrels and rain gardens.

However, our search for artists isn't over! We are extending the call to artists throughout January. If there are any artists or anyone who likes to paint, please let them know they still have the opportunity to share their talents and help the environment by painting a rain barrel. We currently have 10 barrels being painted and would love to have 5-10 more completed by Feb 5th, 5pm. If interested, please email: booneraingardens@gmail.com or call the office (573)256-2602.

The other aspect of the Rain Barrel Art Review is the online auction, hosted on eBay, to sell the barrels to continue to fund our educational programs. While researching for this event, I discovered MissionFish and eBay Giving Works. Giving Works is a part of eBay where non-profits can auction/sell items and be charged no fees! Also, their name is added to a list and sellers can opt to donate a portion (10-100%) of their proceeds to the non-profit. Or, individuals can donate items to the non-profit to sell/auction for themselves, again, with no fees! Additionally, people can use eBay to donate directly to the non-profit.

This is a great opportunity for non-profits to raise funds, sell items and receive donations. Anyone out there in a non-profit should register with MissionFish for free, who will verify your tax exempt status. Then you are ready to be featured as a non-profit on eBay Giving Works. I hope you check it out and can take advantage of this benefit to non-profits!

Let me know if you have questions about the process.

Thanks for reading!

Rain Barrel Art Review Planning

Hi all!
This month has gone by very quickly. First I was out of town, then Thanksgiving. . . time has flown by. Mostly what I have been doing this month is a lot of planning for the Rain Barrel Art Review, culminating March 19th, 2010 with the first ever Barrel Roll (art walk), reception, live auction and kick off of the online auction on eBay (search for the non-profit Missouri River Communities Network and Rain Barrels). We sent out a call to artists to submit a design for a rain barrel in the suggested theme of "water conservation". By asking for a design, giving a theme and sending the request to the universities to distribute, I was hoping for many committed responses. (Last year, unfortunately, two artists took barrels but were unable to complete them.)

So far, it looks like we have the same number of responses as last year, even though I had several galleries promise to send out the call to hundreds of people on their mailing lists. If anyone has done this type of event before and has suggestions, please let me know. Also, if anyone is trying to plan one and wants to discuss, please leave a comment and we can share ideas!

We have been successful though in drumming up media. Today I'm being interviewed for the Columbia Missourian and next week will be taping Radio Friends with Paul Pepper on KBIA to air Dec. 14th at 8:50am and a different segment to air Jan 29th, same time.

I think since this is only the second year, we need time for people to get to know us and what this event is about. As an organization, we will continue to get more coverage and use advertising to help people become more aware of what we do.

Oh, I felt most accomplished the day before Thanksgiving. I spent the day making envelopes out of old conservation pamphlets that we had laying around. They were too old to hand out, and just taking up space, so I cut them to the right size and folded them up into unique, recycled envelopes. I'm using these to send our sponsor request letters to businesses. Hopefully they will see our commitment to the environment!