Art Opening at Monty Shane's Gallery

What a great evening it was! We had a big turnout with lots of proud students showing off their table legs to their proud parents. Pictures were being snapped, and refreshments served. Thank you students and parents. Thank you teachers Amy Lutterloh and Becky House, for involving your students in this PILOT program. Thank you Monty Shane for donating the space. And thank you PTSA and Brett Magdovitz for the fantastic refreshments.

More updates to come,

Inspire someone today,
Lisa M. Williamson

The Children's Museum of Memphis

Today, not only did Brett, Lilly, Isabelle, and I make the trek to Walls, Mississippi to fill orders for 130 more table legs; but, Brett and I pulled double duty with David Early (Heritage Association) to check out what the Children's Museum of Memphis was giving away. We loaded up three SUV's and a trailer, and still barely made a dent in the materials the folks at CMOM donated to us.

Thank you Cecilia for contacting The JunkYard about donating all of your "junk" after reading our article "Get ready for The Junyard" in last Friday's Commercial Appeal. Thank you Dick Hackett, the new Executive Director, for wanting to be involved in the community and inspiring your staff to donate. I am thrilled with all of the great stuff we are gathering; which includes, but is hardly limited to: exhibit pieces, a castle, a life-size spirograph, large tubes for slides and tunnels, can lights, scaffolding, and other building materials, and lots and lots (and lots) of really cool junk!

We have guesstimated that our trucks and trailer can hold a few more things to cart to a "holding" facility tomorrow, but have rented a larger moving truck for Thursday. Even with a larger truck we expect to make two trips to the warehouse in Walls. (It's that much)

This is definately a great addition to the materials we have collected thus far, and as those of you who are familiar with the concept know, most of this will get recreated into wonderful works of art for our youth to enjoy. Be sure to...

Inspire someone today,
Lisa

Climbable Sculptures

If you have just read the article in today's Commercial Appeal, thank you for visiting. There are so many people to "thank" already, but we still have a very long way to go. We need a building and we need seed money. This is a project that is starting at the grassroots level.

As "ambitious" as I am, I think the picture of the students' work speaks for itself. It is through the effort of the ambitious students that will drive this project to be successful. It will also be through the effort of the ambitious teachers who sign up their students to participate, because they know what a challenging and fulfilling project this will be for their students.

When I gave my first presentation to the schools, I was met by "ooh's and aah's" from the students. (And I think we can all agree how difficult that is to extract from a teenager!!) They took this project very seriously, and it is apparent in the finished works of art.

The finished pieces will be incorporated as decor that surrounds a "found" object fountain; as well as, large climbable sculptures that span several stories tall, and will be built by area artists and engineers.

We are working diligently to build a place for the young and young at heart, and we need your help. Please contact me to see how you can be involved
Please visit us at our temporary site: http://home.earthlink.net/~cwlmw2004/thejunkyard/
email me at: junkyardmemphis@earthlink.net
or call: (901) 826-5574

Inspire someone today,
Lisa

What is NOT The JunkYard?

Hanging over my computer is an article my dad sent me from the Indianapolis Star entitled "Art museums cater to kids with hands-on exhibits." From MSNBC, I saved an article called "Good news for kids: Doctors advise more play. Youngsters between 5 and 16 need to be active for 1 1/2 hours a day." A friend of mine passed along an article from her Christian Science Monitor called "Kid friendly art that clangs, chimes, and shimmies." A great artical I received when visiting the museum studies class at University of Memphis is entitled "Dude, where's my museum?" My husband always passes along articles to me, and I usually have no problem finding something that relates to this project somewhere in the news. What all of these articals have in common is the target audience: 'tweens and teens. Approachable art and physical activity are common themes in the news these days, so why not provide a place where both can be explored?

The JunkYard is many many things, but most importantly,
The JunkYard is...
1). NOT a place to be quiet
2). NOT a place to sit still
3). NOT a place where "don't touch" signs are posted
4). NOT a place where "don't climb" signs are posted
5). NOT a place with age restrictions
6). NOT a place that is pretentious

Inspire someone today,
Lisa

Welcome!!

Welcome to The JunkYard Blog!

I have created this site to post the development of The JunkYard.
I will post items such as: What is The JunkYard? Where is it? How can you contribute? What progress is being made?
All these answers are coming soon...
I need your help to spread the word!

Thank you,
Lisa M. Williamson