Opening reception on Thursday!

Hatch Show Prints at the Austin Museum of Art.

We will open the conference on Thursday evening at the Austin Museum of Art at their downtown location at 823 Congress Avenue. Join us from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. for hors d’oeuvres and a glass of wine. A charter bus will pick-up conference attendees at the Hyatt hotel at 5 p.m. on the dot. We suggest having dinner after this event downtown or along South Congress Ave. (just south of the river). Check the side bar for a list of suggested dinner locations.

Fundred Armored Truck at St. Edward’s

The fundred armored truck drove through Austin, and picked up the fundreds we’ve collected so far at St. Edward’s. Thanks to all of the schools who sent in fundreds for this event. We will still be collecting fundreds at the TASA 2010 conference, so if anyone needs more templates please let me know.

Here are some pictures of our recent pick-up event.

Robert Hite at TASA conference

This is going to be a great conference. We have so many presenters this year, and we are hoping to see a record number of conference attendees.

One highlight is visiting artist Robert Hite, who will be displaying and speaking about his work at the conference.

Fundred Dollar Bill Project

CALLING ALL TEXAS SCHOOLS & UNIVERSITIES!

Fundred Truck will be here on March 8th!
Be a part of the Fundred Dollar Bill Project, an artistic project connecting and collecting the voices of 3 million people across the country. By creating artistic interpretations of 100 dollar bills, participants will support the clean up of lead-contaminated soil in New Orleans. The special Fundred Sous Terre armored truck that will take Austin Fundreds to Washington D.C. will be here on March 8th at 2:30! Please join us starting at 1 p.m. in front of the Fine Arts Building for our Fundred Pick-up event: make a Fundred, have a snack, and listen to some music while we wait for the armored truck to arrive.


You can be a part of the solution! Make a Fundred.  Make a Difference!

How it works:
Participants draw their own Fundred Dollar Bills — original, hand-drawn interpretations of US $100 bills — which we will deliver to Washington DC. Your Fundreds will be picked up by a special armored truck and presented to US Congress with a request for real funding to make safe lead polluted soil in New Orleans.

Participation is fun, simple, and free!
1. Distribute one Fundred template per person
2. Everyone draws their own original artwork
3. The Fundred Project will collect and deliver your drawings

Interested in participating?
Please contact our Austin/St. Edward’s University Fundred Coordinator, Hollis Hammonds
email: lauraah@stedwards.edu   phone: 512-492-3159

www.fundred.org

SPECIAL NOTE:
If you want to participate, but can’t make your Fundreds by March 8th, don’t worry. We will still be collecting Fundreds at St. Edward’s University through the month of April. Get more info, templates, and details from Hollis Hammonds at lauraah@stedwards.edu.

TASA 2010 Collaborative Iron Pour

Casting Iron at TASA 2010
Co-facilitated by:
Butch Jack, Lamar University
Amy Gerhauser, St. Edward’s University
Donnie Keen, Keen Foundry

A Charm Bracelet for Texas
Some of you may have heard about the in-progress project to cast an iron chain with links from all fifty states; the Charm Bracelet for Texas is an extension of that idea. There are a number of academic iron casting programs in art departments in Texas universities and each can cast a link for the national chain; but Texas was previously a nation unto itself and it deserves a comparable project. Since TASA is the statewide organization of those programs, it seems logical that it should be the venue for the project. St. Edwards University, the host institution for the 2010 conference, has offered to be the agent for the production of this “linked”, but separate endeavor. We would like to invite every school in Texas, attending the TASA this April, to bring a mold of a “charm” that represents their school to the 2010 conference to be filled as part of the iron pour.

The parameters are that the mold be either a set-sand or ceramic shell mold that will stand the high temperature of cast iron. If the mold is ceramic shell, bring a metal trash can or similar container & enough loose sand to use as a mother mold. The pattern can be any image, shape, or form, but should not require more than 50 pounds to fill (including plumbing and pouring cup.) Each pattern should have a “ring” incorporated to one side (corner, whatever) so that the collection can be attached to a common steel chain with another steel ring, in the manner of a standard charm bracelet. It is envisioned that the completed “bracelet” will travel between the participating institutions, so the image should take the travails of shipping into account in the design.

The pattern should be capable of multiple molds, just in case we have trouble casting at the conference. Finish chasing the castings is the responsibility of the institution it represents and the final assembly will be accomplished in Houston at Keen Foundry/Meredith Jack’s studio.

Please email Amy Gerhauser at amyg@stedwards.edu well before the conference with info about:
· Number of molds your school is bringing
· Total pounds of iron needed to fill your Charm Bracelet mold (and any other 50lb-or-less molds you bring)
· How much iron you are bringing? (needs to be broken up into 1/4” thick max by 1” x 1-1/2” pieces, no big stuff)

Get Your Totes Here!

Students and faculty at St. Edward’s University collaborated to design and create one-of-a-kind goodie bags for the 2010 TASA conference. The first one-hundred conference attendees to check-in at on-site registration will get one of these conference themed totes.

Finished goodie bags.

James and Nicole silk screening the goodie bags for conference attendees.

Sewing them together.

Book your room at the Hyatt

Online room reservations are now available here.

Mel Chin – Keynote Speaker!

We are pleased to announce that Mel Chin, Houston born and internationally recognized artist, will be the keynote speaker for the 2010 TASA conference! You may know Mel from his appearance on the first season of the PBS series ART21 (Art in the Twenty First Century), or you may know him from the numerous projects he has done in the state of Texas. We are super excited that he was willing to join us to speak about art, activism, community and of course the FUNDRED DOLLAR BILL project. For his full bio see the speakers page.