DIY Dinner Napkins and Napkin Rings – Saturday, Dec. 15 from 2-4 pm at the Southern Food and Beverage Museum

Looking for a last minute holiday gift? Want to spruce up your dinner table? Well join Project Create this weekend at the Southern Food and Beverage Museum as we make our own napkins and napkin rings! The event is free once you pay for entrance into the Museum ($10). Check out the listing posted on the SoFAB website:

This Saturday: DIY Table Settings

With Project Create

Saturday, December 15th from 2:00 to 4:00 PM

at the Southern Food and Beverage Museum

$10 per person ($5 for SoFAB members)

Join SoFAB and Project Create to craft some timely last minute gifts or place-settings for your friends, family, or even yourself! This simple activity allows you to create unique napkins and napkin rings that make your table stand out through the holidays. It’s easy enough for the kids to do but fun for crafty adults too!

Project Create is an upstart art nonprofit dedicated to encouraging all members of the community to participate in and create art. They are New Orleans’ first art studio where everyone can be an artist and create art without limitations. They provide the supplies, instruction, and studio space for YOU to create art.

Saturday Activity – Be A Student In Our First Painting Class: New Orleans Style Architecture!!!

On December 8, from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm, Project Create is hosting its first painting class!!! I could not be more excited.

Here is the flyer for the class:

What a great (and cheap) gift idea for a loved one! The class will take place during the December OCH Holiday Arts Market, so make sure to check out the great vendors before and after the class.

To sign up, please email jordanfrankel@projectcreatenola.org.

Free Kids Art Activity At The Arts Council Arts Market – November 24th and 25th

Project Create is pumped to invited back to the Arts Council of New Orleans Arts Market this month. We will be there for the 2 day market providing another FREE Kids Activity Booth.

This month we will be making Origami Animals!!! Here are a couple of examples for the kiddies:

Here is the info for the event, and check out our write up on the Arts Council website!

Saturday & Sunday, November 24th & 25th

10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (Kids Activity from 10:30 – 3:30)
Palmer Park, S. Carrollton and S. Claiborne Aves in Uptown.
Free and open to the public

Hope to see you all there!

November OCH Art Market – Recycled Art!

Well we had another great day at the OCH Art Market this month.

First, I want to give a huge shout out to our very first volunteer, Heather. She is a current Tulane Law student who took time out of her busy schedule (trust me, I know) to man the booth at the market. She did an amazing job and I could not be more grateful.

The theme this month was recycled art, and Project Create provided another group art project. In traditional NOLA style, we made a recycled hanging Fleur de Lis:

Project Create Group Art Project: Recycled Fleur De Lis at the OCH Art Market 11/10/12

I found the window sash on the side of the road (please be careful when picking up items off the road…they can have glass still attached that is VERY dangerous). The fleur de lis is made out of an old cardboard moving box from when I moved to New Orleans. I cut the symbol into 29 puzzle pieces, and let customers at the market pick a piece to paint however they wanted. The symbol is attached to the sash with some old fishing string I had lying around. Here is a before picture so you can get a better idea of the pieces:

What do you think of the piece? After the holiday, we will be installing it at the OCH Art Market space permanently, so make sure to check it out at the December market.

Also, don’t forget to sign up for our First Painting Class on December 8!!!

Little Wings, Big Dreams: The Louisiana 22q/VCFS Support Network Fall Picnic

A few weeks ago, Project Create had the great honor and pleasure of providing an art project at the Louisiana 22q/VCFS Support Network Fall Picnic.

For those of you who do not know about the condition, it is (in very simple terms) a chromosomal disorder that affects both physical and mental behavior. Here is an excerpt from the International 22q Foundation:

The 22q11.2 deletion syndrome is caused by a missing section (microdeletion) of chromosome 22 which is present from the time a child is conceived. Present in 1 out of every 2,000-4,000 live births, in 1 in 68 children with congenital heart disease, and in 5 to 8 percent of children born with cleft palate, the 22q11.2 deletion is almost as common as Down syndrome, a widely recognized chromosomal disorder.

The symptoms of 22q vary widely, but there is one thing every child with 22q has in common: dreams of a bright future! So Project Create and the Louisiana 22q/VCFS Support Network teamed up to bring a group art project to the annual picnic.

The project is called Little Wings, Big Dreams. The children at the event created unique birds out of construction paper and attached them to a cypress tree cut out. The piece represents the individuality of the children and their dreams of flying free. The tree represents their parents and the Support Network, providing them the stability they need before setting off on their own. Here are the pictures from the event, with a how-to tutorial to recreate this project:

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The project was a great success and everyone had a great time making their birds. If you are interested in having Project Create provide an art project like this for a private event, please contact Jordan at jordanfrankel@projectcreatenola.org.

Also, stay tuned for a tutorial on how to recreate this project and please donate so that we can open our studio!!!

December 8 – Be A Student In Our First Painting Class: New Orleans Style Architecture!!!

On December 8, from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm, Project Create is hosting its first painting class!!! I could not be more excited.

Here is the flyer for the class:

What a great (and cheap) gift idea for a loved one! The class will take place during the December OCH Holiday Arts Market, so make sure to check out the great vendors before and after the class.

To sign up, please email jordanfrankel@projectcreatenola.org.

Faubourg Delassize: A Night Out Against Crime

A few weeks ago, Project Create had the amazing opportunity to provide and participate in a community art project at the Faubourg Delassize neighborhood’s Night Out Against Crime. The event was put on by Jericho Road, a New Orleans housing initiative that helps provide affordable and energy-efficient housing opportunities.

I was contacted by one of Jericho Road’s community developers, Caitlyn, who was actually one of Project Create’s first painters at the OCH Art Market in September (check out her painting here)! She had remembered our company and reached out to me to provide art entertainment at the event. Talk about AWESOME!!!

The Night Out Against Crime was part of the nationwide effort to promote crime prevention and awareness. What a great event for PC to be a part of!

The Faubourg Delassize is a very close knit community in the Central City area of New Orleans, and there was an overwhelming level of participation and acceptance of Project Create’s group art project. We created a Wish Board using the Delassize community symbol. I had pre-cut the symbol out of reclaimed wood, and all of the materials cost less than $20 total. With over 30 participants, the group artwork was made for less than 75 cents per person!!!

The Wish Board represents the hopes and dreams of the community, with each participant writing down their dreams on a ribbon (we used surveyors flagging tape, so it would withstand the elements). We then tied the ribbons onto the board (attaching them to screws that were screwed around the border of the symbol). The ribbons were weaved in and out of each other and around the screw border, creating a fabric of dreams and wishes for the community. We installed the piece at the corner of Saratoge and Seventh Streets, on the fence surrounding the city owned, abandoned lot. That location was chosen to represent the community’s desire and ability to beautify their own neighborhood with their own hands.

Here are the pictures from the night!

It is for events like these that Project Create exists. People being creative just for fun. We had a great time that night, and look forward to participating in similar events. If you know have anything you would like Project Create to provide art entertainment for (including birthday parties!), please reach out to Jordan Frankel at jordanfrankel@projectcreatenola.org. Also, to keep free events like the Night Out Against Crime happening, please DONATE to Project Create!!!

Finally in the Big Leagues: Free Children’s Art Event at the Arts Council of New Orleans Arts Market

Well I can say with no small amount of pride that Project Create has made it big!!! We are now working in association with the Arts Council of New Orleans to provide an activity booth for kids at the Arts Market this weekend…as in the Arts Council actually contacted Project Create and hired us (enter screams and shouts of glee and merriment)!!!!!!!!!

So come on down tomorrow  (10/27) to Palmer Park (on the corner of Carrollton and Claiborne). We will be there from 10 till 3:30 with painting activities for your kids! And don’t worry, parents and adults can paint too (if you ask nicely…).

For more information click here.

Free Day of the Dead Masks: Latin Art at the OCH Art Market 10/13/12

This month, the OCH Art Market will be showcasing Latin art and artists…muy caliente! Make sure to come on down and see Project Create, where we will be hosting another free art project: Day of the Dead Masks! This is a great opportunity for art lovers, young and old, to express their creativity and explore the beauty of Latin Art.

The OCH Art Market is proud to be collaborating with the Roger Thayer Stone Center for Latin American Studies at Tulane to celebrate Hispanic culture on OC Haley Blvd. in staging the Latino Art themed OCH Art Market in awareness of National Hispanic Heritage Month. The OCH Art Market is held on the second Saturday of every month at 1618 O.C. Haley Blvd, right in the heart of Central City. This building, also home to the Zeitgeist Theatre, is a protected historic landmark and with its 18 foot ceilings is a tourist attraction in itself. The market seeks to provide a foothold for returning Central City and Dryades Street to its former glory as a thriving commercial district second only to Canal Street.

More information on this market can be found on the OCH website, http://www.ochartmarket.com/ or by contacting us at ochartmarket@gmail.com with any questions or comments. Find us on Facebook (Project Create, O.C.H. Art Market) or Twitter (@PrjCreate_Nola, @OCHArtMarket). Also check out the talk about town about OCH from the Gambit http://www.bestofneworleans.com/gambit/oc-haley-avenue-the-new-freret/Content?oid=1989543

Vote For Our Chair Reupholstering Project on Instructables!

Our tutorial was entered into the Cabot Woodcare contest, and we think that is pretty awesome! If you have a minute, please click on our link and vote for our project. You will see the link to vote in the top right of our page on Instructables.

You can either sign up as a new member (which is free and gives you all kinds of awesome DIY ideas) or you can log in via Facebook. Either way works for us!

Thanks!!!