Public Art Projects - Buddha Board & Barbara Bernath
If you
have never experienced a Buddha Board – they are sublime – a paint
brush dipped in plain water turns into temporary jet-black-ink when it hits the
surface. Drawings come easily, images appear boldly and instantly, then
disappear in minutes as the water dries.
When set up on a large scale and in a public place, it means hundreds of people can engage in novel and simultaneous ways, moving from solitary experiences to engaged-visual-dialogues, over and over on the exact same pristine surfaces. Images, gestures and words coming and going, rising and falling, emerging and fading, using nothing more than the simple elegance of water and human imagination.
PROJECT #1: The Art of B-Being @ The Vancouver Art Gallery / Spring 2017
When set up on a large scale and in a public place, it means hundreds of people can engage in novel and simultaneous ways, moving from solitary experiences to engaged-visual-dialogues, over and over on the exact same pristine surfaces. Images, gestures and words coming and going, rising and falling, emerging and fading, using nothing more than the simple elegance of water and human imagination.
PROJECT #1: The Art of B-Being @ The Vancouver Art Gallery / Spring 2017
The first
project I designed with Buddha Board and brought to The Vancouver Art Gallery was a sleek, modern, zen-inspired lounge. There, hundreds of participants flowed together over
a Family Fuse weekend to paint a never-ending river of personal-expression on a huge, gorgeous,
black and white, floor-to-ceiling wall of meticulously-gridded Buddha Boards. It
was so satisfying to create a space where people of all ages and abilities were
drawn into such an active, yet meditative, creative zone.
PROJECT #2: The Eternal Painting Circle @ Folk Festival / Summer 2017
PROJECT #2: The Eternal Painting Circle @ Folk Festival / Summer 2017
The second project I designed with Buddha Board transpired at Vancouver Folk Music Festival where the massive music-crowds could disperse over the weekend and relax in the grass near the ocean and paint on large Buddha Boards perched in an ancient sacred-circle on classic-wooden-painting-easels. It was a dream to design a unique context where people could create endless amounts of art under a canopy of trees and filtered sunlight and dip into a little Art History, Plein Air Painting, and the bliss of creating spontaneously in Nature.
(Note: If you have never experienced a Buddha Board - they are NOT made of regular paper! A paint brush dipped in plain water turns into temporary jet-black-ink when it hits the surface, then disappears in minutes as the water dries.)
Participants were encouraged to use the street-setting and the dual nature
of Buddha Boards to go public and private, both outward and in. I posted two basic questions: “What are you ready to let go of” and “What are you aching to let in."
Utilizing the ephemeral nature of Buddha Boards, the public could enjoy writing thoughts and feeling guaranteed to fade within minutes. The project was an invitation to step up, share, and RELAX. It was a public reminder that nothing lasts forever, all of life is in constant change. Take a risk. Express yourself. Write on! A beautiful tribute to the celebration of personal expression, public communication, and the primal power of the handwritten word. xox
Utilizing the ephemeral nature of Buddha Boards, the public could enjoy writing thoughts and feeling guaranteed to fade within minutes. The project was an invitation to step up, share, and RELAX. It was a public reminder that nothing lasts forever, all of life is in constant change. Take a risk. Express yourself. Write on! A beautiful tribute to the celebration of personal expression, public communication, and the primal power of the handwritten word. xox
Although all of our pop-up, participatory, public-events are designed specifically to celebrate the impermanence and all things LIVE – they are amusingly well-suited to having a forever-home in the digital realm, where images and animations created in person can be further shaped, looped, posted, shared, and celebrated online.
We welcome you to join in our interactive fun. xox
#BuddhaBoard
#BarbaraBernath
#BarbaraBernath