think i could LOVE it here.

its been my absolute pleasure to be one of many incredible volunteers for creative clay in st. pete the last two days.  if i didn't have an hour drive from sarasota they may have to fight to keep me away.  for those of you who don't know about this fantastic place (i.e. missouri folks) here is a copy of their mission statement:

making the arts accessible to all
Creative Clay's mission is to make the arts accessible for every interested member of the Tampa Bay community regardless of age, gender, ability and/or race. 
Since 1995, Creative Clay has been providing local artists with developmental, physical and/or emotional disabilities an opportunity to pursue their passion for art making. Our arts programs consist of studio and community based activities for exploring unique personal realities in an inventive, professional environment. We now have eight arts programs to serve various populations who traditionally have been marginalized.   
Creative Clay is committed to promoting the work created by its member artists through bimonthly art exhibitions in our downtown gallery and various public venues throughout the greater Tampa Bay region.

i spent friday cranking out some awesome artwork with polly and my new friends teresa, hanna, steve, roxi, and lindsey.  one of the projects we did in the studio that day was create free wishes to go along with the "i wish" exhibition currently on display in the gallery.  students painted backgrounds, crumpled them, then after they dried wrote personal and collective wishes.  when they were done we rolled them up and tied them with ribbon for people to take with them when visiting the gallery.  when i dipped my hand in the basket i received the especially cryptic message below.  not quite sure what the wish is for - but hey, if you tell people, isn't it supposed to not come true? :)

my favorite wish was hanna's: "i wish to meet jackie chan."

last night i helped out with their first annual art block party.  there was great live music, food, gifts made by the member artists, and art stations.

i manned the block printing booth which wasn't nearly as popular as the ever-charasmatic chris's portrait booth next door.  at a lull in my art traffic i was pleased to sit for a portrait.

here are some of the artists I got a chance to work with block printing.

i also met several new friends including Mr. Lamont Russ who also created a portrait for me.  Through our conversation I found out Lamont has done animation for some pretty awesome companies and is also currently working creating production art for AMC's Walking Dead.  How cool is that?  Be sure to check him out!

though i've encountered nothing but pleasant floridians thus far, i have to say, i really hope i can figure out a way to live near the wonderful people in st. pete.  they live and breathe art and hospitality.  fingers crossed!