The new studio and summer events

Wow. Time seems to really fly these days between my blog posts. There are long stretches that I just don't have anything really interesting to report. Then, suddenly, a huge number of things come up that I want to share. Let's see if I can get them all out there now. I'm not even sure where to start.  Some of these items will be of interest to the local Rochester folks.  Others may matter to those of you that are a bit farther away.

Airigami's new home

Let's begin on the local front. I mentioned last month that Airigami was moving into a studio in the Hungerford Building in downtown Rochester. We have moved in. The setting up of the new place is going a lot slower than I had hoped. Kelly and I wanted to focus on the move, but there's been more than enough work to keep us busy without the distraction of fixing up the office. That's made it rather impossible to just stop and play in our new space. On a positive note, the new studio does offer us all of the space we need to get things done. One thing we've already managed to do, even without all the fixtures in place, is shoot some video for some upcoming instructional materials we'll be putting out. Prior to this, we simply didn't have enough space to point a camera and have a clean shot of anything.

In my last blog post, I babbled excitedly about being amidst other artists. My excitement about that hasn't changed. The building has a rather active group of creative individuals, called the Hungerford Urban Artists. I've now had a chance to meet a number of them. When I have some time, I expect I'll be writing about some of their work. One of the best parts of this group is the monthly event they put on.  The first Friday every month brings an open house at the Hungerford. Many artists take part. Doors are open. Munchies can be found all over. Last month, there was tons of conversation. We were barely in the building and hadn't expected to open our doors.  We didn't feel we had anything to show yet. Our walls are still bare, even now, a couple weeks later. Still, we were inundated with questions about what we do. Other artists from the building, along with many guests from outside came to hang out and see anything we could show. We were able to quickly set up a monitor with some video of our interesting projects, and some of the gallery pieces we've made ended up leaning against walls where it was at least visible. Despite our ragged appearance, we seem to have even made a sale.

In the future, we hope to build a sculpture during each First Friday event. That is, starting in August. We thought we'd be ready for everyone to show up on July 2, but that was before we found out we'd be out of town. But that, in itself, is a story. Of course, you don't have to wait for First Friday to come around if you want to visit and check out the artwork and books we have for sale. Just give us a call if you want to stop by. You can also preview some of what we have in the Airigami web store.

The summer is looking to be busy

So, why won't we be available for the July First Friday? For the second year in a row, I've been asked, along with a small team of other artists, to entertain invited guests to the White House Independence Day celebration. Last year, a group of us, including Todd Neufeld and Buster Balloon, had an opportunity to install a giant American flag on the White House lawn. This year, our focus will be strolling and entertaining the crowd. Our pieces may be smaller, but we plan on making just as large an impact on the event. Hopefully we'll be able to avoid the very confusing lost gun incident from last year. While this is my second July 4th event at the White House, it's the third White House event I'm taking part in. There have been great stories to share from each, so I'm looking forward to this year's event and whatever will come out of it.

Upon returning home, we'll have to start planning the pieces we'll be making for the Rochester PRIDE parade on July 17. Details still have to be worked out, but right now we're talking about creating costumes that reflect the pride and history of the LGBT community in this region. This should be a really fun event to take part in. Of course, if that doesn't already sound like a big enough project to keep us busy, we also offered to assist with a  sculpture for the Hunter Resch Foundation on the same day.

Upcoming dates

Don't forget to look for interesting events on the Airigami calendar. Here are the next few events coming up.

  • June 28 - Larry Moss and Robbie Furman teach at TJam on the Road in Fort Lee, NJ.
  • June 29 - Larry and Robbie teach at TJam on the Road in Plymouth, MA. Details and registration at TMyers.com
  • July 4 - Larry and Kelly meet up with Todd Neufeld, Laura Caldwell, and John Reid to entertain on the White House lawn.
  • July 17 - Costumes made by Larry and Kelly will be worn in the Rochester PRIDE parade.
  • July 17 - A sculpture made by Larry and Kelly will appear at a fundraiser for the Hunter Resch Foundation.
  • August 6 - First Friday at the Hungerford. The studio will be open for visitors.
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