grace

… filling in the negative space with positively everything

Oh My! Pocket Pies : “Paint Our Food Truck” Contest

Have you ever seen bad graffiti/tags on food trucks and thought you could do better? Here’s your chance:  Oh my! Pocket Pies (OMPP) has just launched a “Paint Our Food Truck” challenge,” open to all Houston artists who want the opportunity to paint the startup restaurant’s truck. Any style is accepted, including graffiti, pop, abstract, …whatever your imaginative heart desires. To compete, artists must submit a detailed sketch of their idea by email to info@ohmypocketpies.com

OMPP is a new inner-loop mobile food vendor, owned by Joe Phillips and Joanna Torok who were united through a dedication and deep passion for urban sustainability. Torok explains:

OMPP was created out of an appreciation for the local talents and resources that exist in the local Houston economy. We’re showcasing Houston products in our menu options; we will be supported by Houston residents; we wanted to continue that thread completely through our entire concept and find a Houston artist to help promote his or her work.

While there is no financial compensation for the winning artist, Phillips calls it “a great opportunity for your name and artwork to be promoted across Houston on the side of our truck, and on the ‘links’ page of our website.”

All materials to paint the truck will be paid for. All entries must be submitted by Wednesday, October 7 at midnight.

About Oh my! Pocket Pies

ArtCamp Houston – The Dialogue Begins

Last fall, a certain guy – “Il Douche” – said some things that painted a distorted landscape of Houston’s arts community. He cherry-picked items, took them out of context, and presented them as indicative of massive mismanagement of “your money”…even though it wasn’t. “Your” money. It’s tourists’ money. It’s the money visitors like me spend when we go to Houston to enjoy its art and cultural offerings, and stay overnight. It’s Hotel Occupancy Tax money.

A few of us were wary of the effects this misinformation would have on the general public: Would it curb – or stop – public support of the arts in Houston? Would arts organizations and venues be squeezed or shut down? Would people lose their jobs? Would artists still be able to perform, exhibit, create, …eat?

It was a great opportunity for the arts community to spin the situation positively and speak out in one voice to advocate for GREATER support for the arts: if arts organizations had more money, they could afford to hire in-house accountants and/or dedicated administrators to do greater diligence in holding grantees accountable to their grant stipulations. As it is, arts organizations are already strapped to provide services for their members, constituents, audiences and stakeholders; to do development and fundraising; to do marketing and promotions; to coordinate events; and to just manage day-to-day operations.

Via Colori – Street Art Benefiting CHS

This past fall several members of Houston’s creative community were selected to serve as Culture Scouts for the Houston Arts Alliance’s “Art the Heart of Houston” viral video campaign. Our three-month misson: to explore new venues, to seek out new art and new installations…and to capture them with Flip videocams for upload to the website.

The Flips were fun; the uploading was not. But the goal was, and is, important: in a city as sprawling as Houston, we have to take it upon ourselves to seek out, recognize, and share great work when we encounter it, so that others can discover and enjoy it, too.

I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing so many great openings, exhibits, and performances within the past few months: one of my favorites by far was Via Colori – a street art event to raise funds for the Center for Hearing and Speech (CHS). I couldn’t upload all of the great pieces to the campaign site; but here they are via YouTube to enjoy:

And if you want to help support the arts, please join us this Saturday (February 28) at ArtCamp Houston 9:30am-5pm at Caroline Collective – it’s free!

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