Wandering Art Society- musings on free art and finding the unexpected

At long last, my collaborative free-art project Wandering Art Society is finally a go!

Wandering Art Society is a group of artists and crafters dedicated to sharing art for free with the world. We make objects in a variety of media and leave them in random places for people to find. Our goal is to bring a smile to someone’s face, to create unexpected experiences, to create and share freely.

This is something I’ve been thinking about doing for many years. I think the idea first occurred to me while walking in that weird underground concourse from City Hall down Broad St. to get to a class at UArts. There are all these pillars, and I thought “this would be a great place to hang art! It would be totally unexpected.” I love stumbling across unexpected things that snap you out of your routine auto-pilot. I love the idea of separating art from commerce and from the usual means of getting it out into the world. But the idea got pushed aside for other projects/going back to school/working/starting my business/etc. Such is life.

Wandering art in progress

Also I started having doubts about doing such a project at all, for fear that it would seem like some sort of promotional gimmick , which is totally not what I wanted it to be about. I remember reading an article about Adam Neate, a British painter who left hundreds of his paintings in the street for people to find. Awesome, a kindred spirit! But he eventually was “discovered” by a gallery and given a big solo show, and now his paintings have sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars. That’s awesome, and I’m not in any way trying to knock him for his success. He started out putting his work on the street not as a self-promotional thing but as an “open exhibition.” His statement “The whole concept of the free art thing was challenging the notion of art as a commodity and its worth in society” really resonated with me, but I felt like if I started just putting my art on the street it would be different somehow since I knew of at least one artist who had found a path to commercial success that way. I debated if I should put my name on the art or not. If I put my name, it seemed self-promotional. If I didn’t put my name, I’d have to truly let the art go and never ever know what became of it.

Eventually I discovered some awesome fellow artists and crafters through Handmade Philly, and after starting two other collaborative projects Philly Makes and Handmade Philly Book Exchange, decided to revisit the idea of leaving art out in the world for people to find. I feel pretty happy with how it’s going to work. It’s up to individual participants if they want to put their names on their work or not. Every item gets a tag with a number and is listed on the blog, that way if someone who finds it wants to find out more or leave a comment, they can. With multiple participants, the art will end up in a greater variety of places than it might otherwise, and it’s a lot more fun to trade art with others and not just place your own art in the world. I’m super grateful to everyone who is participating thus far- thank you for making a long-cherished project of mine finally a reality!

Some other inspirations and thoughts:

Found Magazine- “We collect FOUND stuff: love letters, birthday cards, kids’ homework, to-do lists, ticket stubs, poetry on napkins, telephone bills, doodles – anything that gives a glimpse into someone else’s life. Anything goes…”

Toy Society- “The Toy Society spreads love throughout the streets of the world. Nothing to it really just a bunch of handmade toys looking for a nice home. What started as a small street art project in Australia is slowly spreading around the world.”

Ben’s Bells- (I found out about this project when I found a bell, which totally made my day!)

“We decided to make hundreds of the Bells and distribute them randomly in our community to encourage the kindness that we so depended on to get through each day. Since Ben’s death, it had been the kindness of others, strangers and friends, that had helped us begin to heal. We wanted to find a way to pass on that kindness and to help others in the process. On the first anniversary of his death, hundreds of Ben’s Bells were distributed throughout Tucson, hung randomly in trees, on bike paths, and in parks with a written message to simply take one home and pass on the kindness.”

Rosa Murillo’s Found Art Tuesday- (Sadly seems inactive since June 2009, but still worth checking out!) “This new project is about leaving art incospicously in public places for others to find. It’s a way to make art and share it. Please join me! The world needs good art! I will document the pieces and also take pictures of where they’ve been left.”

The Art is Found- (Another seemingly defunct project, alas!) But I love their statement: