SHOWTIME! Underground Art Gallery Opening and Show

BuskNY is an arts advocacy organization formed to promote public art in public spaces

#iThinkOutsideMyBox™is proud to participate with BuskNY in the gallery opening of SHOWTIME! Underground Arts at Armature Art Space in Bushwick/Brooklyn (316 Weirfield St., 11237 - Metro: Halsey St. on the L line) on Friday, 3 October from 7pm to 11 for an exhibit opening, interactive art experience, performance, music, dancing, refreshments and garden party.

We'll be bringing the entire #iTOMB gallery and studio and inviting all to paint – then, all painted work will become part of the exhibit too:) Click on any of the links above for more info, directions and featured artists and performers. I look forward to seeing you all in #iTOMB's first gallery show:)

Giclée Prints on Acid-Free Paper Now Available

Our great thanks to Mary in Hong Kong for supporting #iThinkOutsideMyBox from the very beginning - and also for being the first to contribute and receive lovely prints of her choosing from our gallery. Prints (2) are now available for $100 donation + shipping and handling*.

Readying Mary's prints for shipping to Hong Kong

As has always been our policy, the paintings made and gifted to #iTOMB will never be sold. They become part of the largest collection of publicly painted work in the world. But as a way to support our organization, we do offer prints in return for donations to the project.

Giclée prints are lasered on acid-free, water colour paper and mounted to shadow-raised, corrugated cardboard, affixed to an 8.5"X11"acid-free, water colour backing sheet - ready to frame in a standard 8"X10" frame. Prints are numbered 1/1 as each is a handcrafted original and signed and dated.

#iThinkOutsideMyBox™ operates as a non-profit foundation and is currently in application for 501(c)3 non-profit status. 

To select your print, either look in the lower lefthand sidebar for our Gallery, NYC Skyline, Modern, etc. slide shows - or go to the timeline slideshows by year in the righthand sidebar.  Note the name and date of your selected prints - choose your donation method, tax deductible (Fractured Atlas),  or standard (PayPal), then email me with your print title and mailing information. And Voi La, your prints are on the way.

With winter coming and #iTOMB being somewhat of a seasonal activity, ordering prints is a fabulous way to support us through the colder months. We thank you all and look forward to hanging on your wall as the Holiday season approaches:)

* $10 shipping and handling/US, $20/International

Signed, sealed, delivered. 09.13.14 (cardboard frame is packing material, not matt)

A Second or Third Anniversary for #iThinkOutsideMyBox - A Celebration Either Way

#iTOMB.Emily painting on the High Line 09.08.12

When I look for our first painter at #iThinkOutsideMyBox on the High Line I find Emily, above, from exactly two years ago today. But when I look for the first painter at 22nd St., our current location, 9 September, 2012 comes up, so that puts our 2nd anniversary of painting on the High Line solidly at this week. But the entire concept dates from nearly a year before that at Occupy Wall Street in New York.

#iTOMB Little Girl painting at Zuccotti Park 10.25.11

Here, on 25 October, a little girl paints with me in Zuccotti Park as I sit in one of the first actual boxes at the Occupation in the days when the one-line joke of a man sitting in a box that said "I Think Outside My Box" was the big idea. Below, the box that launched it all and was featured in the Wall Street Journal on 7 October, 2011.

David Everitt-Carlson at Occupy Wall Street, 10.07.11 Photo: Brian Derballa for the Wall Street Journal

And so we have evolved, from an activist statement encouraging creativity to solve real world problems, to a vehicle for spontaneous self expression celebrating the First Amendment, to today – simply engaging the public in Public Art. And with us has grown our list of contributors and original artworks.

#iThinkOutsideMyBox Founder David Everitt-Carlson - Photo: Matt LaVere

Today, as #iThinkOutsideMyBox nears 20,000 paintings in two years, we are actively promoting the project to both museums and galleries and would still like to see some significant journalistic attention to what has become the most attended and successful public engagement activity on the High Line park in New York City - and for these activities, and our continued success, we could use your help.

#iTOMB 2nd Anniversary Family Fun. Photo by @mattlaverefoto on Instagram

Below are a number of things that are integral to our survival and would just be fabulous anniversary gifts:) Should you be able to help in any of these areas, or know of someone who can, please let us know or contact me by email, Facebook or on Instagram @iThinkOutsideMyBox.

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1) FUNDING: #iThinkOutsideMyBox is a global community studio and gallery that supports itself through contributor donations. We receive no funding from the High Line park and are most definitely not a trust-fund project:) To help with significant donations, please see the lefthand sidebar and buttons for Fractured Atlas, our fiscal sponsor (tax deductible) or PayPal (Donate button).

Currently we are in great need of an Apple computer to maintain this site and keep our online profile visible and growing. This will cost $1000 minimum - or we would be happy to take a pre-owned Mac as a donation. Either way, your support is crucial to our being able to continue and grow.

2) PRESS: I am always asked, "Hasn't the New York Times written you up?" And the answer is, no, not yet. But it's also not like you send a press release to the NYT and they send a reporter over that afternoon. Press is best attained by referral, so if you are familiar with writers for the Times or other significant media: print, TV or digital, please pass us along as a story suggestion. In the menu bar above is a link to our press kit. Please feel free to download and forward.

3) SCHOOLS/NON-PROFITS/CORPORATE: #iTOMB is available for schools and private events. Our rates bill at 1/2 day and full day. Contact me for details. I am also personally available for creative staff motivation, training and public speaking. With an impressive background in the advertising business I have worked with McCann Erickson and others to open avenues to more creative and productive thought. Please contact me for more details on customized presentations to help any business staff think outside their box.

4) MUSEUMS: Each week I am actively exposing the #iTOMB project to museums around the world as well as those in town.  But as in journalism, referrals carry more weight than I ever could by sending press releases or otherwise tooting our own horn. I have had productive discussions with both the Children's Museum of the Arts and the Smithsonian's Cooper/Hewitt National Museum of design, but so far, nothing finalized. If you know somebody, or know somebody who knows somebody, or are somebody:) we are very interested in pursuing museum associations. Contact me.

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So whether we're really having our second or third anniversary, is no matter. It's an anniversary all the same, and one I couldn't have forecast 3 years ago when I found a box and what I thought was a thought provoking idea. Who could have known that public painting by the public could be so powerful? I thank you all and look forward to growing the project with your support. Over the next few weeks I'll be inviting musicians and other performing artists to come celebrate with us. Join us on the High Line at 22nd St. and express yourself freely with a little public art:)

#iTOMB Absolutely Stellar at Night 09.07.14

Engaging the Public in Public Art: The Magnetized Child

One of the things I never saw when designing the display for #iThinkOutsideMyBox was how attractive it would be to people who are about two or three feet tall:) In this video of stop-frame animation, a child is drawn in and back a number of times, as if magnetized by the colors and shapes he sees, as I am setting up.

Thanks to photographer Andrew Lepley for this cinematic interpretation. It's clever:)

The same location at 22nd St. on the High Line by Daniela (#Columbia) 08.19.14

The #iTOMB Gallery Second Anniversary

#iTOMB Tanya 08.01.14

As we near our second anniversary on 9 September, I am reminded again of our Gallery section - artworks that I believe, if enlarged to 10'X10', would fit in well with a great deal of the work shown in the Chelsea galleries. 

Remember, all our work is on 3"X3" squares of cardboard and created by non-juried visitors to the #iThinkOutsideMyBox salon - which I think makes them all the more amazing. Take a look at the slideshow below and tell me if you don't feel the same:)
 

Should you like a print of any of the works shown in their original size on archival paper, we are happy to provide for a donation of $100 plus shipping and handling. Just send me an email with the caption info and number of prints desired.

Penny Harvest and #iThinkOutsideMyBox Celebrate the Run For Change

07 June, 2014 – #iThinkOutsideMyBox was pleased to join with Common Cents' Penny Harvest to celebrate 21 years of student service to the community with the Run For Change, a run and rally on the Hudson River. But as you can see, the #iThinkOutsideMyBox activity is much more suited to sitting than running so we were happy to camp at the Independence School, in the shadow of the World Trade Tower and welcome participants after the run for a leisurely painting session.

#iTOMB at the Penny Harvest - Run For Change. Photo Jim Saylor

The Common Cents Penny Harvest grew from one child’s desire to feed the homeless, and since 1991, children between the ages of four and 14 have been converting their natural compassion for others into action by collecting pennies and turning those pennies into grants for community organizations. That adds up to over $9.5 million in grants donated by children since 1991.
 

And as #iThinkOutsideMyBox encourages independence and freedom of expression for kids through positive communication, the Penny Harvest teaches them to take a first-hand proactive approach to community service by being part of the change they wish to see – well before they become adults.

Our thanks to Common Cents Program Director, Keith Hickman and Founder, Teddy Gross for seeing the synergies in our respective approaches and also to Jim Saylor for the lovely photographs – and of course to all our energetic student painters. It was a  wonderful day:)

For more information on #iThinkOutsideMyBox events, contact David here.

A blank Canvas

#iTOMB Blank Canvas 07.02.14 

There's something intimidating about the blank canvas but something liberating as well. A time to sharpen vision and point forward. My thanks to the friends who have helped in our reconstruction this week. We'll be in full operation for the Independence Day weekend. Above, the #iThinkOutsideMyBox gallery awaiting installations. Feel free to come by and paint:)

A new era – #iThinkOutsideMyBox gallery and studio stolen

#iTOMB Schoksi.com 11.25.13"

Today is both bitter and sweet. On Tuesday the entire art cart that carries the #iThinkOutsideMyBox gallery and studio was stolen from outside a restaurant I was in. Yes it was locked and chained to a pole but that din't seem to matter much. It was still taken.

And what did they get? The original historic box, all the art, the display and supplies – not to mention the custom designed cart that carried it all so efficiently for more than a year. Now it's time to rebuild and that's not going to be easy. I estimate around $500 to replace the baby stroller frame and gallery plus supplies plus work. The box and all my work will need to be repainted. Luckily, most of the work had been photographed, but not all of it. My apologies to the artists who's work was lost in this heist. New York. Art thieves. Go figure.

Happily, that same day, the nice folks at StrangeTogether.com, a website of fringe art and alternatives New Yorkness had a few kind words for #iThinkOutsideMyBox. See their feature at the links.

Otherwise, I will be extremely grateful for any donations to help rebuild the gallery and studio. Look in the lefthand sidebar for donation options.

Like us on Facebook as well. I plan to carry on and can only do so with your support. 14,000 paintings and counting can't be wrong. Thank you all.

iThinkOutsideMyBox.com

Photo: Eileen Lerner 06.07.14

"A Better World is Just Around the Corner" says the cornerstone of our gallery – or today maybe just more simple world. Now you can access our website by only using iThinkOutsideMyBox.com instead of .blogspot.com. It's the first step in owning our name by making it easier to be found all over the web. Besides, too many people can't spell b l o g s t o p.

Thanks to Eileen Lerner for the wonderful multiple exposures also. You can find her whole experiment here. And for you Facebook fanatics, don't forget that you can keep up with all our goings on by using Facebook.com/iThinkOutsideMyBox so be sure to "Like" us:)

Feel free to LIKE us on Facebook:)

Welcome to #iThinkOutsideMyBox on Facebook – a place for you to join in conversations with fellow painters and keep the engagement going. We're over 13,000 paintings now – all intimate conversations by the public in a public space – redefining the concept of public art, every day:)