Wendy MacNaughton is an artist and illustrator living in San Francisco. She was recently awarded a $1,000 Awesome Foundation Grant to help fund Meanwhile: The San Francisco Public Library in it’s own Words— a narrative and illustrative documentary “about the people who work [at libraries], who use them, and how they serve as a community hub for many people, including the aging and homeless.” Wendy’s unique vision and observations pace themselves well in the scrolling narrative to be found online and in a newly published book. She has done a series of Meanwhiles and you can always find them on the Rumpus. I’ve been talking with Wendy a bit about her project— on the phone, over dinner with other Awesome Trustees, and by email: Why the San Francisco Public Library? Wendy: My partner Caroline Paul is a writer and voracious reader who never buys books, only borrows them from the library. I think she suggested it first. And a dear friend of mine, Anne Wintroub, was working at Friends of the [San Francisco Public] Library at the time—she suggested it as well and created the opportunity. Without her introductions to Jill Bourne, the deputy city librarian, and Michelle Jeffers, the… read more →

There was a whole lot of Awesome in the submissions bag for the Boston chapter’s September 2011 Fellowship. One in particular stood out. Internationally known mural artist, Caleb Neelon, applied for spray paint and sandwich money to underwrite the transformation of a large wall for the Tobin School in Mission Hill. For those who love art and our fair city, Neelon’s TEDx Boston presentation (‘Courting the Creative Class’) is a must watch. Want to know more? Here’s a blurb from the application: I’ll have some artists coming in from out of town and it’ll be a great time. Right now I don’t have any idea what we’ll be painting, but that’s the way I like it, and the school principal is fine with that. I know it’ll be really colorful. The wall is boring crummy brick and needs some love. This will be the 2nd project Neelon has done for the elementary school. Weather permitting, painting will begin this weekend as a lead in to his upcoming talk at the MFA (Sunday, September 25th @ 2pm) and recently released book, The History of American Graffiti. Follow the link to Amazon. The reviews are pretty freakin’ awesome.

Remember that scene in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indy ends up fleeing from a mammoth boulder? Now imagine that scene with you in it, only instead of running through an ancient crumbling temple, you’re racing down an alley in DC. The boulder? An enormous zorb disguised like a boulder. (Don’t worry: You’ll still get to wear the hat.) That’s right folks! The DC Awesome grant for August goes to the Laurenellen McCann for her project: Indiana Jones and the Alley of Doom! She had us with the title, but we asked Laurenellen to go ahead and explain the project in more detail: The Alley of Doom is a pop-up experience that’s one part theme park, one part guerrilla theatre, and one part pure, geeky wish-fulfillment. Cameras will be set up along the course to capture the action so that, after you run, you’ll no longer have to just *imagine* yourself in the scene: You’ll be in it. All video will be edited into personalized segments that will be loaded onto YouTube (and the Alley of Doom website), and folks who give their email address when they run will get their race sent to them… read more →

Sometimes, here in DC, we get so overwhelmed with awesome projects that we need to experiment with new ways to fund more than one a month. One such project came our way this August from the creative powerhouse of Bluebrain – also known individually as Ryan and Hayes Holladay. Ryan and Hayes live and work in Washington DC and have gained a reputation for innovative and often large scale works, installations, concerts and experiences. Their most recent endeavor, an album called ‘The National Mall‘, made available exclusively as an iPhone app, is a musical chose-your-own-adventure that allows the listener to explore music as they traverse the landscape in downtown DC. They have been featured in WIRED Magazine, Fast Company, The Washington Post and others. The Awesome Foundation DC is hosting a special starlit fundraising dinner in their honor to raise an additional $1000 grant to fun their new project: The Living House. The Living House is a 2 day sound installation that transforms a house on H St into a walk-through sonic experience designed by Bluebrain and featuring contributions from other sound artists and composers. Each room in the house will be equipped with a separate speaker that will combine to create the entire work. Sounds will literally run through the house, rooms will harmonize with one… read more →

Artwork by Kateriela Snipes This August the DC Chapter of Awesome was joined by the organizers of Tribal Affairs http://tribalaffairs.tumblr.com/, a local group of arts, fashion, design and culinary students working to support young artists in The District. Tribal Affairs generously donated the proceeds of a recent event as an extra $500 grant to be awarded to a young artist. The winner of this grant was the inspiring Katrieia Snipes, for her arts mentoring project. It is an 8-week, daily after-school program designed to inspire young people to believe in themselves and build confidence in through art. https://apotheekpillen.nl