AAA (At Artomatic Again!)

Saturday was my last volunteer shift at Artomatic and this time I was assigned to looking after the donation box on Floor 11, the top of the building so it got pretty busy as most folks started here and then worked their way down.

It was another fun session, again pleased to greet plenty of people that I knew and meet lots of new folks too. One guy hooked me in to believing that there was actually a workshop for Turnip Twaddling. Well, there's so much funky and fun impromptu stuff going on here that for me it was easy to swallow. The shift went quickly, finishing with the best brownie I've ever tasted which came from the cafe downstairs. We had a little drama early on when someone came up to me reporting that a friend of his had had her art vandalized. I reported it immediately and discovered that this was actually the 3rd time the poor lady had been victimized.

She had a tiny room in which she displayed baby portraits with a description about the purity of babies and their first sensory experiences. She'd covered half the floor with baby powder which stank out that section and some bright spark had gone in and written 'cocaine' in the white powder. Pretty immature, and they'd done this three times. I met the artist when she came to repair the room and I think she may be dismantling early. I was itching to enquire what the significance of the crocheted circle and the plastic white soldiers were but thought better of it since she was upset. Wish I had asked now as it really plays on my mind...
As soon as I finished my shift I bought a beer and started walking some of the floors I'd not been to. Here are some of my favorite exhibits.

 Loved these vivid colors and texture.

 A mosaic class was taking place and the finished pieces will be placed around DC.

I loved these lamps. About 20 years ago I had a period where I painted many of my light bulbs to create these same effects on walls and ceilings. I'd completely forgotten about it until I saw these. And so now I'm looking at one of the lamps in the lounge. Hmmm...

An interesting artist who created pieces incorporating guitar strings.

 Another artist influenced by Alice, this time in a bag made from a book.

T-shirts along with other items in the Merch Shop, all printed by Emblemax!

Another wacky exhibit but I happily obliged and vacuumed the carpet in my Artomatic apron while others took photos.

A WTF exhibit. No idea of its meaning.

These 4 were my favorites of the day with Johnny nudging his way to the front.

There are a couple of floors in the building that have no exhibits and have instead been opened to the public which can do what they like on the walls with whatever they want to bring in. It's only just kicked off so I only managed to find a couple of clever pieces and one keen artist was happy to have his photo taken. I'll post more as the walls develop.

A couple more pieces that I liked and then I saw these wonderful outfits. I would love the dress. And so I left my last shift with tired feet but looking forward to my next visit as I still haven't seen all the floors. Viva Artomatic!