The roll out (pun intended and regretted) of the Woodson Art Museum’s Art à la Carte offering has been enthusiastically embraced by visitors, however, staff envisioned more. For curator of exhibitions Shannon Pueschner, facilities manager Dave Jones, and me, the Art à la Carte cart needed some improvements – better yet, a custom build.
When Team Woodson Workshop embarks on a new project – be it an Art Park installation or Stop-by Studio structure – we use drawings to get our creative wheels turning (shameful pun number two) and help us communicate design ideas. Our back-and-forth doodling is punctuated by taking turns rattling off adjectives to describe a vision, which evolves with each exchange.
Our Art à la Carte aesthetics ranged from “Parisian market cart” to “bohemian caravan” to “folk art assemblage.” Tassels and fringe? Of course. Vintage hubcaps and handlebars? A must. Eventually we got a grip (poor-taste pun number three) and reined ourselves in, landing on a more contemporary and multi-functional form with pops of color and, what we hope will be, an eye-catching sign.
We made art cart maquettes to help us determine an overall shape and features we wanted the final build to include.
I’m the type to put the proverbial cart before the horse (final pun), and I couldn’t resist playing with ways to add visual interest to corrugated transparent panels, which will serve as cabinet door fronts.
We look forward to debuting our cart creation on the Woodson Art Museum campus soon and hope you’ll join us in the galleries or grounds for some drop-in art making during your next visit.
