Tim Harris ~ A Gift To The World

Tim and the snowman he picked out!

Me and Tim~ Tim's Place reached 40,000 hugs while we were there. Oh Yeah!

Harrison asked me to get Tim's autograph. Tim did him one better and wrote him a note!

Who knows now how I first stumbled a crossed Tim’s video, but it is now a significant part of my history. The day I found it, I watched it about 10 times! It may seem excessive yes, but that's so like me. Once I listen to Redbone’s “Come and Get Your Love” 100 times over the course of a single weekend; I liked the way the song made me feel at peace about me in the world. The same thing happened to me when I watched Tim’s video. It spoke to something very deep inside me; we are all gifts to the world, we all have something to contribute, and we can accomplish our dreams if we put our hearts into it...but how do I convey this to somebody?

I felt this over welling sense to give back to Tim.

I surprised myself when I called down to Albuquerque and found myself talking to Kevin the manager of Tim’s Place: Breakfast, Lunch & Hugs. He was very nice and not a bit shocked that a grown man was calling from Boise, Idaho blathering about Tim, art and “feelings”. We talked for a little bit. I explained to him who I was, what I do, and that I wanted to give Tim some of my art. He took down my web address and said he would help Tim pick something out.

When we got there Tim was at the door. Things were kindda busy. A lot of people. A lot or regulars. It was the kind of place that Tim sat down at your table if he knew you. Food was great. I got two hugs. It was a hug fest! When I gave him his picture I handed it to him and snuck away to our table. Out of the corner of my eye I could see him hold it up to the whole restaurant. He liked it, that's what mattered.

             We all have our own way of communicating, and art was my way that I could tell Tim he was a gift not just to the world in general, but to me specifically.  It’s about reaching out. I don’t know all the places the thought is written down, but it is in the New Testament it says ~ “Ask and ye shall receive ~ Knock and it shall be open unto you ~ Seek and ye shall find”. Sometimes it’s just as easy as asking. Other times it’s a little harder and you have to go asking around. And still there are those times you have to search high and low before you get what you are after.  This trip had a little of all three. But in the end I felt like the great conversation of life had happen for me.

Tim's Place is the kind of place I could go back to a hundred times!

Oh Yeah!

Traffic Light Project

It's that time again!

Traffic Box Call-to-Artist

Artists are invited to apply for an opportunity to design art for traffic control boxes. Several creative folks will be selected and others added to a "Registry" for future traffic box projects.

Since 2009, the Mayor's Neighborhood Reinvestment Program, Capital City Development Corporation, and Boise City have provided funding in partnership with the Downtown Neighborhood Association and the Downtown Boise Association to commission Idaho artists to design murals for Ada County Highway District
traffic control boxes in Boise. 70 are wrapped. Artists who have designed a box before are eligible to re-apply, however the selection panel may give preference to artists who have not yet participated. Boise's Department of Arts & History is facilitating artist selection process and project management.

TO APPLY

1. Artists send in ten digital visual examples of past work, letter of interest and resume (72 dpi jpgs).

2. A selection committee made up of representatives from stakeholder groups will review the applications and choose artists with whom to work. Additional artists will be selected for Traffic Box "Registry" so that if, in the next year, additional funds are available to transform other boxes, artists from the registry will be selected to create designs.

3. Selected artists will be paid $1,000 to design one mural each, featuring a community-related theme, using provided templates as a guide. Artists do not fabricate or install the final art on the box.

4. The fabricator will take the artist designs (which can be prepared as illustrations, paintings, computer designed images, quilts, mosaics, photographed sculptures or photographs), transform them into a vinyl wrap, and then apply them to the traffic boxes.

5. Artworks will be celebrated with a dedication and walking tours on a date to be announced.

Georgia In Space

This is a follow up of sorts to "Brady Bunch on Acid". It is part of the never-ending saga that is my family. This piece entitled "Georgia in Space" is an idea I've had for months and months. I even drew it on a Post-it note and carried it around in my wallet for awhile.

In this episode our girl finds herself lost in tall-tall grass in her front yard, pulling a humongous chawahwah,  wearing a pink tutu, riding in a tiny red wagon...That's it! I got nuthin' else. No parable. No deep meaning. No political overtones. Just what you see in front of you. Sometimes a chawahwah wearing a pink tutu is just a chawahwah wearing a pink tutu!