Last fall, I approached Gretchen Schermerhorn at Pyramid Atlantic with an idea that Paul Emerson of CityDance and I had been hatching for awhile. Actually, Paul was patiently waiting for me to get the courage to put my idea out there, after an initial brainstorm in the spring of 2007.
This fund-raising project idea is a reflection of my interest in artistic collaboration, cross-pollination between the visual and performing arts, and making a difference (okay, let's be honest: I love the book arts and I'm a life-long dancer. This was really a ploy to get a bunch of folks excited and involved in my greatest passions).
The project involves ten artists, each interpreting a theme or idea from CityDance's 2008-2009 season through an artist book. We're doing an edition of 50 small books each, which we'll house in custom 2-tier lidded boxes.
To say that this project involves a lot of moving parts is an understatement. But the name, Moving Parts, is a reflection of what it takes to conceive and pull off a professional dance company's season. For a glimpse behind the scenes on that story, check out Paul's blog for CityDance.
Moving Parts is on the move. Montgomery County TV is filming our monthly progress meeting tomorrow night at Pyramid (I'll post the airing details here once I know more), and my piece for the project just got accepted into a national exhibit at 23 Sandy Gallery in June.
I hope this is just the beginning. As the project progresses, I'll profile the other artists involved and events supporting our interest in getting the word out here. In the meantime, in the words of a good friend in reaction to seeing my prototype book for the project, "heaven is a tutu!"