AFHny Studio

ARTfarm Update: all planters are anchored to the slope…

After a few quiet weeks, an update is overdue, but we are back with really exciting news. Over this past weekend we installed all our planters. This time we had a little help: after some serious considerations, AFHNY studio decided that unless we wanted to be working in the Bronx till Christmas of 2012, we needed to bring in some expert hands for the daunting task of drilling into stones. Thanks to Henry and his crew, we conquered the slippery slopes and anchored our remaining planters.

Our next and last task: PLANTING!

We are having one last Big Party-Planting day session next Saturday September 4^th, 9am to 5pm. We encourage everyone to come out. The Bronx Museum is lending us space to celebrate the completion of the installation, with some food & refreshments. Please contact studio@afhny.org to let us know if you can join us.

Note: if you live in Brooklyn, have a car and are interested in coming; we would love to hear from you, as specific help is needed for transporting the plants from our partnered nursery to the site.

We would like to thank all our amazing volunteers that have joined us during these past months. If you never visited us on site this will be a perfect opportunity for you to check it out.

We look forward to see you on Saturday!

ARTfarm keeps growing…

Work on the stairs is continuing as we installed more planters and planted the vines along the railings. Check out the latest pics.

AFHny Studio would like to thank all our amazing volunteers that keep braving the heat and come out to build ARTfarm. Workdays vary each week, please contact: studio@afhny.com for exact times of the next workday.

Last but not least, big thanks to our 81 backers that supported us on Kickstarter, we reached our funding goal, YAY!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/839815895/artfarm-an-art-and-urban-farming-project

ARTfarm starts to grow…

 

At last we started working on the slope, let’s see

Permit from the city: check

plants & paint: check

enthusiastic and very helpful kids: check!

We ended our last build day of June with our first really big planters in place with their blooming and drama queens hydrangeas.

Big thanks go out to the Bronx Museum and local community for their precious help and for bringing us water; from bottles (us) and from the hydrant (plants)

Please join us as we continue building ARTfarm. We will be there on July 3^rdand July 10^th in addition to that we more likely will have build days during the week too, so let us know if you are interested in coming up.

For exact times and more information on other ways to help, please e-mail us at: studio@afhny.org

If you would like to donate to this project please visit our Kickstarter page, we only have few days left!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/839815895/artfarm-an-art-and-urban-farmin...

Working from the Museum terrace

 

These first 2 weekends of June saw AFHny STUDIO working from the Bronx Museum outdoor space. Once again luckily the rain did not make an appearance and we are happy to report we finished assembling 71 planters! We also painted and treated them with sealers. Now the fun really begins as we are going to anchor them on the slope. Please join us as we continue building ARTfarm. We will be there on June 19^th, June 26^th and possibly more.

For exact times and more information on other ways to help, please e-mail us at: studio@afhny.org

Lastly our Kickstarter page is up: spread the word!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/839815895/artfarm-an-art-and-urban-farming-project

ARTfarm moves on site, well very close to …

At last we did it! Our last day working from Re-builders source went smoothly, thanks again to our awesome volunteers that helped all day assembling boxes and then loading and unloading everything to the Museum storage area and parking lot.

We are very lucky to have found a new spot to work that it is inches away from the site.

From June 5^th we will be setting up in the parking lot behind the Museum, join us as we start this new phase. Follow this link for map and directions:

View Larger Map

Family Affair Day at the Bronx Museum

The day was a stunning one, the weather fully collaborated. The museum set up a place for us in their private courtyard and armed with brushes and paint we greeted the local kids.

We had 7 circular planters to paint, each divided into 4 quadrants. We started by giving each kid one quadrant to paint one solid color, it was fun to see how excited children get around paint; parents and older siblings were also eager to help. By the end of the first hour it was clear that one quadrant was not enough! And each kid started to draw on them: flowers, hearts, faces, the creativity was unleashed!

Right next to our station, Edwin one of the educators from the Museum held another activity that beautifully supported our project. Each kid was given a little pot to paint and by the end of the day, they were each given tiny plants to keep into their own planters. This activity brought a strong connection to ARTfarm, where every family will enjoy their full size painted planters on the steps of Carroll Place.

We would like to thank the Bronx Museum for inviting us to be part of this event and for supporting ARTfarm, by letting us use their storage facilities.

Stay tuned for moving weekend update…

Work in progress to bring ARTfarm to life

The work on ARTfarm has been progressing. A big thanks to Joel from the Rebuilders Source for offering the workshop space and material at discounted prices. However Rebuilders Source shuts its doors by the end of May and we are on a look out for a new space to work through the month of June. The AFHny studio volunteers have done a great job of coming all the way to Bronx to help us build this installation. On Mar 22nd, we are participating in the 'Family Affair day' at the Bronx museum where kids from local community will help us paint the planters. These planters are being made from dresser doors and other waste material like elliptical tubes. If you know of a workshop space in Bronx or Manhattan that we could use through the month of June at a discounted price, we would really appreciate the help.

Potential Project - The Future of WORK

Call for Solutions: The Future of WORK

The current world climate has created many topics of debate, such as global and local economies, technology, healthcare, unemployment, and the environment.  Not surprisingly, these themes are all tied to the core of our existence – work.  While governments and corporations are implementing major overhauls to fix the system, the architecture profession struggles to manage these rippling effects that influence all aspects of the industry - from architectural education to clientele.

The Project is: A conference that draws designers and related fields together through a series of lectures, panels, exhibition, and workshops to help explore the future of the architecture profession (please see concept prompt under additional information).

The target community for the Project is:  Architectural profession – architecture firms, architecture schools, independent designers, consulting industries, and professional boards.

What is the current condition the Project will be working with? (ie., What is so? What services are needed?)  This project deals largely with event planning – drawing a diverse body of people from the architectural/design profession to debate the future of the industry as it relates to current world events – such as financial instability, malleable workforce, global communications and diversified education.

How can we frame this challenge as an opportunity to redesign of our profession through the changes and challenges taking place in our world today?  What is the future of the WORK?

We ask you to redefine: WORKspace, WORKplace, WORKshop, WORKtime, WORKforce

Design Review for the Feb 11th

Following are the Images from a presentation that was made to DOT as a part of series of design reviews. A very commited group of AFHny Studio volunteers made this presentation happen.

Proposal for the Urban Arts Program submitted Sept 24th

ARTfarm was proposed to the DOT as a part of the UrbanArts  program. We won this competition in Nov 2009. As the name suggests, ARTfarm  derives inspiration from the Bronx Museum and the local farmers market. The site is three flights of steps. There is a weeded, run down area surrounding these steps. We propose using found objects like fruit crates and dresser drawers (donated or discarded by the local community and the huge neighbouring C-town) to create planters and seating elements to create a community space.

Other than that we want to initiate a local ‘donate a planter day’ where the community would get a chance to use a discarded item to create a seating element or a planter within the site. The artists will instruct the overall vision of the site installation but the installation will come together by the donations from the community and the skilled labour of the AFHny volunteers. We plan on encouraging ownership of this space by asking neighbouring households, bodegas etc to adopt a planter in the site and look after its upkeep. The installation will sport a mix of design, art, community and culture.