2012 Artisphere Street Painting

This past weekend, I was fortunate to have created another street painting at the Artisphere Festival in Greenville, South Carolina with Art for After Hours.  This was my third year being down there and I have to say that the festival is one of the best I go to each year!  The hospitality and the crowds were amazing as always.  Other than a deluge of rain on Sunday which prevented us from doing a third day of street painting, I think the street painting this year turned out pretty well.  The original art used for this piece was created by Daryl Thetford and was used as the festival poster this year!  Thanks to Daryl for allowing me to recreate his amazing art.

2012 Artisphere Street Painting by Shawn McCann
"News Person, Original Art by Daryl Thetford"

Was great to meet the artist himself, Daryl Thetford!

Crowds from Saturday!  lots of great art to see

Playing with a new medium! UltraViolet black light paints and chalk!

I know what you are thinking.  Why would Shawn want to try even more types of art materials and why hasn't he tried this amazing stuff before?  Well, the answer to that is that up until this point, I had no reason to use UltraViolet black light Chalk and paints.  I am finding though that I am loving the material and the great effects you can get as you 'light' up the night.  Here are a few pictures of the materials.  These happen to be the black light chalk that Eternity Arts sells.  They are a a great resource for all of your street painting needs.  Though this time, I would not be using them in the street, they are none the less amazing and can't wait for my black light paints to show up tomorrow to start playing with those too!  As for the reason for my using them, I am hoping to share that with you very soon :)

The variety of colors to choose from Eternity arts Black Light Chalk

Illustration Friday: "Return"

Here is an image of Anana returning from a long day.  This is an illustration from my illustrated book "Staarabu was Wise, Anana was Gentle"

I might be off the radar a little bit over the next couple of months!

Having been enjoying this weather the last couple of weeks, it is hard to believe it is still only March!  How temps in the 70's and 80's make those last few weeks of winter so much more pleasurable.  But, I am so looking forward to what the next couple of months has in store and am anxiously awaiting all the fun to begin next week!  Between School Visits, street paintings, paintings, drawings, and other projects, the fun will be taking me to Arizona, South Carolina, North Dakota, Minnesota and beyond!  So, if you happen to be near any of these events and want to say hi, it would be great to see ya!  Ohh, and if that isn't enough of a crazy thing, I decided to start the process of moving to a new place soon!  More to come on that later.  If you are wondering why I have a picture of a violin on the top, that is my new canvas for a project for the Minnesota Orchestra.  Will definitely be posting images of the finished project when that is done!

So here are my Upcoming Events:

1.  "Technology for Artists" Workshop Wednesday March 28 from 6-9pm
     Simply Jane Studios in South Minneapolis
     Instructors:  Shawn McCann, Beth Rapatz, and Scott Spinks
     Details here

2.  Foley Children's Book Artist Residency.  April 2,3, and 4th
     Foley Elementary

3.  PopUp Park final viewing:  Make sure to swing by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts to see the                                PopUp Park before I tear it down on Monday April 16!  Info about the park here

4.  Poston Butte High School Art Show:  Thursday April 19 in San Tan Valley, Arizona.  This will be a blast as they have entrusted me to judge their district wide art competition! The pressure is on to find that next big talent :)

5.  Florence High School visit:  Friday April 20th in Florence, Arizona!  This will be great working with the high schoolers and talking to them about the arts.  This will be my second stop in the little bit warmer Arizona

6.  "Art in Bloom" children's day street painting at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Saturday April 28.  Swing by from 1-3pm to help chalk up the sidewalks at the museums children's day event in conjunction with "Art in Bloom"  More info here

7.  "Wahpeton Elementary and Central School Children's Book Artist Residency", May 3 and 4th in Wahpeton North Dakota.  This will be a blast going back to my hometown for a couple of days to spend time with the kids!  Can't wait to show what we have created during my time there

8.  "Southwest Minnesota Arts and Humanities Artist Retreat Workshop"  Saturday May 5th in New London, Minnesota on the shores of St. Andrew.   1-3pm.  Info here

9.   "Artisphere 2012" in Greenville, South Carolina.  May 11-13.  Come say hi as I will be doing another street painting for my 3rd year in a row!  Can't wait to be back with all that southern hospitality.  For festival information, click here

Whew, I think I got the next month and a half figured out, but might have missed something in there.  Again if you don't here from me, this is the reason why :)  Have a great start to your spring.

Cheers!

Willow Community Pre School Signing this Saturday!

If you happen to be near Long Lake, Minnesota this Saturday from 1-4pm, stop by the new Willow Community Pre School in Calvin Church!   I will be signing books and there will be many other activities going on for the kids to enjoy!


Information about the event is below:

Located 177 Glen Dale Drive, Long Lake MN...off Willow in Calvin Church 

A school committed to the Creative Arts and Healthy Living 

"We believe children learn in many different ways and through concrete exposure to a variety of learning styles and opportunities, children are free to find their best path for learning. Active classroom  engagement, cooperative learning and play, and an emphasis on social relationships and emotional development are practices at WCS that help to foster a life long love of learning in children." 

Please join us for a free, fun family afternoon. 

Music by State of Lakes  

Book signing by Minneapolis Illustrator, Shawn McCann 

Jen Edwards, a local acting talent will be hosting a dramatic play workshop

Local garden designer, Leslie Pinski  will be spring planting with the kids 

Naturalist, Shanna Hendrickson, will  explore bird’s habits and habitat 

Many wonderful craft and game activities for children of all ages. 

Refreshments Served too! 

Come support your community and have fun with your family! 

For more questions contact 

Pam Hendrickson 612-226 -1788    

The amazing artists I meet along the way : CREATONE

Myself with Anthony Cappetto and CREATONE in Mumbai, India 2012

After getting back into the groove back here at home the last few weeks, I am constantly reminded of the many wonderful people and artists that I run into on my adventures in street painting and illustration events.  Having grown up in a small town in North Dakota, I would have never thought that i would be conversing with and becoming friends with people from all over the globe.  Having such an amazing ability to converse and freely chat via social media and the internet, it really makes for an exciting adventure in the daily grind!  The inspiration and encouragement that one gets completely keeps the fires burning and can only hope it expands as more projects take me places i would have never dreamed.  One of those places recently was Mumbai, India where I was fortunate to have worked on a large scale mural.  Meeting so many wonderful people there like Rajat, Animesh, Anish, Pawan, Ashish, Vipul and Aseem to the artists that i got to work with like Julian Fernandez, with whom I would have not been able to finish the small mural without!

Then there was the collaborative group of street artists that go by the name CREATONE.  CREATONE is a group of 5 artists that are going to college together at the L.S. Raheja School of Art in Bandra that quickly became great friends, even if we saw each other for a few days!  The group is made up of Jatin Waghela, Ashray Dmanankar, Deepak Rathod, Pratik Patil, and Kiran Patil.  Seeing these guys work together as a creative force was exciting and their piece they created for TechFest 2012 really spoke to their ability as a team!  It is going to be fun watching these guys not only continue great things in India where they are already creating a name for themselves, but what will be when they hit the world stage.  Never knowing where exactly one will go with their creative endeavors is exciting.  Getting to share that excitement with all the wonderful people you meet along the way and see their journeys as well makes it even better!   

CREATONE in front of their finished mural

The atmosphere on the job site was always fun around these guys!  You never know what you would be looking at when you turned around!

The side of my mural and CREATONE's all lit up ready for TechFest to begin!

Hopefully as time permits, I will begin doing more blog posts about other artists that I have met along the way as well.  Having a great community of artists in my life is what makes it so great!

The PopUp Park at Minneapolis Institute of Arts comes to life

Well, 8 months has gone by since I was first approached by the MIA to create a installation piece in the front lobby of the museum.  How those months have flown by!  With many many meetings, revisions of concept, and a steep learning curve into the world of fake tropical plants and astroturf, I am pleased that the PopUP Park at the museum is getting lots of great use out of it.  Having all this fun color in the lobby really has warmed up the space and love how the Stella upstairs really seems to pop off the wall between the colors in the lobby and the painting.  To show some of the progress and overall project thru pics, here are a few for you to see how the park came to be!  These first few are from the opening night on the 19th of January.

Right before opening night

Opening night fun!

Wonderful turnout for opening night

More peeps!

First concepts 

First concepts

Then picking out the plants

Revised drawing

Fairly finalized layout

Couldn't have done the park without Al fabricating the mounds

Before

AFTER!
Yes, I do see you hiding in the corner Mom and Dad!   Great to see them come all the way from North Dakota!

My aunt Deb and uncle Steve

Great time in India!

Well, it is hard to believe that my Indian adventure has come and gone, but I can easily tell you that I had an experience of a lifetime!  From the warm hospitality of everyone on campus at IIT Bombay, to the atmosphere at Techfest, the trip was one that i will never forget.  Of course the main people I must thank include Anthony from Art for After Hours, whom I am one of their artists and was brought on board for this project.  I also am grateful to Rajat, Animesh, Anish, Aseem, Palash, Julian and everyone else that I forgot to mention!  There are way too many memories to start writing a book here, so I will let the photos speak for themselves :)

Finished large mural - 96ft x 15ft

Finished small mural - 25ft x 15ft

On my morning walk to work ;)

The artists from CreatOne.  Worked on Graffiti mural next to my piece

My trusty assistant Julian Fernandes!  He helped make the small mural come to life!

Off on another fun adventure. Cheers to 2012!

I know it is a bit early to be ringing in the new year, but with my trip tomorrow to Mumbai, India, this might be my last post of the year.  First off, Happy 2012 to all of you who have been with me over the last year and those new to Studio McCann.  I know I haven't had the chance to blog as much as I would like, so here's hoping to renewed effort for the new year in bringing you some decent posts ;)   Along that line, I am very excited and anxious for my next adventure which begins tomorrow and runs the first couple of weeks of January.  I will be heading out to Mumbai, India to work on a large wall mural on the campus of IIT Bombay as part of their Techfest 2012.  Having most of the major players in the technology field along with Nobel Laureate's, Robot Wars, and many more fun activities should keep the 2 week venture in high drive.  I definitely look forward to sharing with you the results of the mural and wish you and your families the best for the start of 2012!  Cheers!

The creation of a PopUP Park

Well, having worked on a number of other interesting art projects, I share with you one of the most recent.  This summer, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts asked if I could help in the creation of a PopUp Park this coming winter to create a space that was a retreat from the elements that typically spring up in Minnesota, ie, SNOW!  That being said, we decided to create a tropical feel to the space that is the main lobby outside of the museum shop and arts cafe.  Having nearly 2200 square feet posed both a project of immense size but also creative placement since we have thousands of visitors that will be interacting with the space on a daily basis.  With that, the final plan was drawn and we are now in the build phase of the project.  Once I return from my overseas adventure, the MIA's PopUP Park will be installed and will be accessible to all!  I can't wait to show you the final images of the park and will let you know of the opening night festivities when they are set.  Until then, here are a few teaser images of the "build" phase and more

Workin on some new drawings

As you can probably tell, the posts have been a little sparse lately.  I am hoping that starting the new year will allow me to do some more posts.  Having a hectic schedule and some really fun projects coming up is making for a little bit of craziness!  But I won't complain as it is good to be busy and out of trouble.  So as the year begins to wrap up here, I have been doing a fair amount of charcoal drawings lately.  Having not done them in over 5 years, i have been reinvigorated to keep working on new drawings.  This one above is a self portrait that i did recently.  The other image is of my grandmother.  With each new one, it is getting a little bit easier getting back into the swing of things with the charcoal.  Plus, it is just another reason to get messy in the studio :)

Sarasota International Chalk Festival

The full piece.  30'x40'

Anthony Cappetto with the AR birds!

Thought I would post an image of my and Anthony Cappetto's most recent street painting "Visions of Cambodia".  At 1200 square feet it was definitely a huge amount of work but one that was definitely worth it!  Plus, we were the first street painters to include augmented reality in the piece.  More information about that here