The Shoes of Rochester :: the wellie ... in process.

the wellie ... in process. it's taller than me., originally uploaded by artstreamstudios.

Today the sun is finally showing it's face. Hoo-ray! So, I started painting my 5'7 inch Wellie! The base coat is the same as the real thing. This boot is part of the "shoes of Rochester project" which is sponsored by Art Esprit, the non profit group which I am part of. Adam Pearson sculpted 11 huge sculptures of shoes. Many of them were modeled after the ones made right here in Rochester NH.

The project involves visual artists and poets working as teams to create a public art piece relevant to the history of Rochester as well as celebrating the cultural capitol we have living here in the city. Each shoe will have a poem written about them and will be presented with the shoe (or as in my case boot!).
The kick-off (pun intended) is on June 6th with a huge walking tour of the pieces. It will stretch over 2 miles in the downtown area with a scavenger hunt for the children and each shoe sporting their artist and poet. Additionally these huge shoes are planters. They will be adorned with lovely plantings coming out of the tops. Cool thing additionally is that school aged children and adults will be making small replicas of the shoes with old discarded shoes - painting them and planting a small annual inside! These will be placed in area downtown businesses for display during the week before and after the kick off.
Pretty cool, huh? Lots of photos will pour forth over the next month. Stay tuned!