Author: Melissa Schilling

الشمس لم تقل للأرض ابدا "أنت مدينةً لى". انظر ماذا حدث لمثل هذا الحب. لقد أضاء السماء كلها

Let’s Get Messy! Art Class Fundraiser

May 6, 2014 Melissa Schilling Fundraiser

RSVP: Click Here

Where: 416 Dolores Street, San Francisco, CA 94110
When: Wednesday, June 4th, 6-9pm
What: Want to try out your artist’s hand but not sure where to start?! Come get creative with me! PAINTING PARTIES in my studio workshop!! Classes cover a wide array of topics and mediums, and you will learn color theory, gesture, composition, and brush stroke techniques…and if all goes well, you will take home a finished piece each class! Plus, there is WINE involved! And lots of dates to choose from!

Here are the deets:
• Classes are 6-9pm, but start/end times are flexible, as I know that people are coming from work and heading out to hot dance parties. (right?)
• $40 per class ($35 if you pay in cash) and ALL supplies and a glass of wine are included! (I accept cash/check/credit/paypal)
• Shoot me a message or call/text 303-817-5830 to reserve your spot or if you have any questions!

* Tuesday, May 6th, 6-9pm: Playing With Color: Learn the Color Wheel, Mixing Color and Brush Techniques!

* Monday, May 19th, 6-9pm: Replicating a Master Painting: Van Gogh! (Specific image yet to be determined…let me know if you have preferences!)

* Wednesday, June 4th, 6-9pm: Oil Pastel Rothko Class: Experiment with mixing and blending color and create your very own set of Rothko-inspired Drawings! [FUNDRAISER CLASS!!!! All the proceeds from this class benefit Project HOPE Art and my upcoming workshop I will be teaching in Haiti!! Please Spread the word!]

*Classes must have at least 3 people to run, or they may be subject to cancellation. Tell your friends and feel free to add them to this event!

There are lots of upcoming classes, but I’m always happy to add on new classes, so feel free to let me know if you have any great ideas, would prefer a different topic or medium, or if you have certain evenings (or weekends) that work better than others! I’m VERY flexible and want as many people as possible to be able to explore their artist side! If money is an issue, let me know and maybe we can do a trade or find a creative solution!!

Can’t wait to get messy with you beautiful people!

tutu tuesday 6 year anniversary: may 13th in sf

May 6, 2014May 6, 2014 Melissa Schilling Fundraiser

Our next Fundraiser is here! A tutu dance party. Huzzah!
Tutu Tuesday 6 Year Anniversary Party
featuring 6 hours of Atish
May 13, 2014 – Harlot San Francisco – 46 Minna Street, San Francisco, California 94105

Featuring Artist Tracy Piper

Born from the seedy underbelly of Bay Area circus as a contortionist baby, this multi-
disciplinary artist brings not only years of experience working in the creative field but also a unique perspective on all things empirical and contemporary. Tracy piper captures the personality of San Francisco through capturing the personalities of San Francisco. Her exciting and often titilating work focuses on capturing characters in repose. Her subjects rages from local circus performers, to famous drag queens, to tech entrepreneurs. She has shown at both SCOPE Miami and New York as well as being bi-costal. She graduated from the Illustration program at California College of the Arts with distinction in 2012.

Save-The-Date August 9th – Fourth Annual Donor Dinner in Oakland with the Rara Tou Limen Dance Troupe, featuring an art print from Tracy Piper in our Silent Auction

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About the Tutu Party:
The Tracy Piper art pop-up and 8pm bubbles toast hosted by Golden Gate Dolls

Fernet Branca comp shots at 8pm and drink specials all night

Airbrushing by Icarus Zaure
Face painting by Cassandra Love Lambert
Hair styling by Julian Contreraz and team

Performances from Erin Shredder, Inka Siefker, Katie Scarlett, and Jym Darling

Photography by Lance Skundrich and Tim Coy

$10 or $2 in a tutu before 11pm
handmade tutus for sale
door profits donated to Project HOPE Art

From its early beginnings at Vessel to a brief stint at Triple Crown before making waves at Santos Party House in Manhattan followed by a magical era at 222 Club and ultimately landing at its Harlot haven, TUTU TUESDAY has always been a joyful blessing that I am thrilled to share with you.

Never when I heard the words “Tutu Tuesday” on a lovely stranger’s lips on an art car at Burning Man 2007 would I have dreamed that my 2008 New Year’s resolution to wear a tutu every Tuesday for the entire year would lead to a 6 year long adventure of mesmerizing music, fantastic friends, and so much LOVE!

Due to the close of 222, we were dispossessed of our plans for Atish to play for 5 hours at the 5 year anniversary so we haven’t celebrated an anniversary for two years and THIS, my friends is going to be the BIGGEST celebration in Tutu Tuesday history with Atish playing a made-of-dreams 6 hour set.

Atish’s residency with Tutu Tuesday coincided with our debut at 222 and pretty closely aligned with the inception of his DJ career. Since that time he has enjoyed a bewildering amount of well-deserved success. His humble genius has been received enthusiastically by fans all over the world and it is simply amazing that we get to enjoy this man’s music at every Tutu Tuesday with rare exception. His commitment to Tutu Tuesday has made it the special fairyland it has become and I am forever grateful.

In honor of Atish’s determination to serve the less fortunate, we will be donating this anniversary’s door profits to Project HOPE Art, a charity benefiting the impoverished youth of Haiti by sharing with them the transcendent beauty of art and music. Operated by talented humanitarian Melissa Schilling, who will be moonlighting as our door hostess, this monetary gift will help to bring a new music program and electronic pen pal system to these underprivileged yet inspiring children. So, simply by coming this soiree, you are doing your part as well. Feels good, doesn’t it?

We really want you to come early and stay all night; to be with us on this musical journey. For that reason we are escalating the production of this event and scheduling many exciting happenings for the early part of the evening.

For one, we are opening up both floors for the entirety of this unprecedented occasion. Upstairs, the Golden Gate Dolls will host a complimentary bubbles toast at 8pm for early arrivals. The Tracy Piper will be showing her art work, some of which was created live at Tutu Tuesday, and also some prints of her popular works will be available for sale. Lance Jeffrey Skundrich is setting up a loft photo studio where we can immortalize you in all of your tutu glory. He and Tim Coy will be tag teaming the dance floor bringing their unique perspectives on your shining moments.

Downstairs, Cassandra Love Lambert will be offering her loving hands with some face painting creations AND the ridiculously amazing Icarus Zaure is going to bring his air brushing talent to the table. Seriously, you are welcome in advance. Between the two of them, some of our most zealous attendees will be decked out in intricate embellishments that you will wish could last longer than one night. Even further, Julian Contreraz is bringing a crew of stylists to offer sexy updos for our early-comers from 8pm-10pm.

Some of our best performances of the night are going to occur well before midnight so don’t miss out on any of the night’s fabulousness (and the opportunity to be beautified by our able-handed helpers) if you can help it! Erin Shredder is going to light up the dance floor with an eye popping hula hoop show, Inka Siefker is going to make you disbelieve your eyes with her unparalleled cortortion abilities and you won’t be able to take your eyes off of Katie Scarlett as she graces us with her sexy presence. Let’s not forget Jym Schmidt who has kept us bursting with smiles with his next level costumes and artful dance moves.

Well friends, I think that just about covers it. All that is left to discover are the wonderful, much-anticipated surprises of what creative costumes you will wear, which new and old friends you will be dancing with, and how many hugs and kisses we can collect along the way.

THANK YOU ALL for making this so perfectly possible.

bunny power!

April 25, 2014 Melissa Schilling 2014 Gardening Class, Fundraiser, Haitian Culture/Language

In February 2014 we took a team trip to the mountains to learn about rabbit husbandry. Then we built our custom rabbit hutch and just yesterday filled it with bunnies for our weekly Gardening Class.

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The entire Project HOPE Art team would like to thank Brian Peltz of ISEC, Inc. for single-handedly jump starting our new Bunny Rabbit Husbandry Program.

How Rabbits Can Save the World (It Ain’t Pretty) With no religious taboos against consuming bunny meat, the animal may be a key ingredient in the fight against hunger. It also can be raised grain-free. It is a fact universally acknowledged that rabbits reproduce at a rapid rate. But did you know that rabbit meat is kosher, halal and acceptable for Hindus who decline beef for religious reasons? All of that is good news for the world-wide war on hunger—if bad news for bunnies. Rabbits Over 1,700 Haitian rabbit producers now maintain some 1,250 rabbit facilities, Dr. Steven Lukefahr says, which are home to 32,650 breeding rabbits. rabbits community The program has grown by 142% in the last two years and has helped increase family income by an average of $19.95 a month per family with some producers seeing as much as $200 a month in income from meat sales, a significant boost in a country where the average annual family income is $1,700.
Read more: How Rabbits Can Save the World (It Ain’t Pretty) | Time Magazine (link: http://world.time.com/2012/12/14/how-rabbits-can-save-the-world-it-aint-pretty/#ixzz2lJ6EjQv5)

Meet our Students: http://projecthopeart.org/project-hope-art-center-at-haiti-communitere/gardening-program-and-the-art-botany-lab/2014-gardening-class/

Donate Here to keep Compassionate Animal Programs running in Haiti:
http://projecthopeart.org/2013/11/13/sponsor-a-student-in-2014/

RAJEPRE School Trash Make-Over

April 1, 2014April 1, 2014 Melissa Schilling Art Projects

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Putting Trash Makeovers into the hands of many, this project focused on giving a facelift to the RAJEPRE School in Bwa Nef. Each and every year builders, innovators and organizers assemble at the Project HOPE Art Center at Haiti Communitere eco-base to fan out their ingenuity. These visionaries create new solutions (and celebrations) in poor Haitian neighborhoods. In one of the hardest hit and poorest neighborhoods, Cité Soleil, resides the RAJEPRE School, home to 100 school children who would otherwise not attend school or receive an education. This was the site for the sculptural installation.

Materials Used: Plastic Bottles: 500, Aluminium Bottle Tops: 250, Plastic Bottle Caps: 250, Plastic Sachet Dlo bags: 250, Feet of Wire: 350, Gallons of Paint: 2, Sewing Machines: 1, Hours Spent Making Over the School: 96

Creating LIGHT where there is darkness, lead artist Shrine beamed a brigade of resourceful talent from Los Angeles, Salt Lake City and Oakland to Port au Prince in order to assemble from reclaimed materials a school makeover. Described as a contemporary Folk Artist and leader in the LA art scene, Shrine has a long history and diverse portfolio of art installations.

About the School: RAJEPRE is a dynamic organisation in Bwa Nef that concentrates on civic education. They run a community school and teach the children about environmental preservation and tree planting, while mobilizing the community to keep their streets clean.
School Director: Luc Winter
Contact Information: (509) 38664656
Most widely available found materials on the streets: plastic water sachets, cardboard juice boxes, bottle caps, tin cans from fish and tomato sauce, plastic bottles, cardboard, dust, sand, mud, small rocks
No. of Students: 150
Age Range: 4-18

Shrine’s advice to the children of Bwa Nef . . .

“Forge ahead. Do other stuff with sticks, rocks, bricks, feathers, bones, tires, car parts, jars, dirt. Get some paint, scissors, string, pliers, wire, cardboard, a pencil. Now your ready to be free, put the dirt in jars, see if that makes sense. Make your own sense, nay sayers be dammed. put seeds in the dirt to make even more sense, add water. Add water to your heart, shower of love, see if it grows. Forge ahead.” -Lead Artist Shrine

Trash Make-Over Instructions

Painting a wall: To paint a wall in the style we did, start by drawing a shape that inspires you on a piece of cardboard, cut it out. Using chalk, outline the template to draw your shape on the wall. build up a design using the same shape. Add new shapes. If this sucks then draw right on the wall following your hearts desire, abandon the template. watch lines come out of your hand, laugh, smile, continue. Paint in your shapes or drawings. Do not pour the paint on your friends head. Do paint designs on your shoes. Don’t worry, if your not thrilled with what you painted you can always paint over it.

Plastic bottle, can, lid, Garland: First collect some trash, now look at it. Look at it differently, see if there is something beautiful there. Look at everything thrown away differently. Look at it like you just bought it in a fancy store, marvel at its design. Every Plastic bottle, every can and all the other packaging you use was designed by somebody somewhere. Cut off the label, Make a hole, add some paint, string the items on wire, make loops at the end of the wire. Hang it up, have a small party.

Plastic Water Bag Tassels: Carefully cut the bags open and sew together, cut into strips, make a loop on one end. Smash bottle caps, make a hole, put the loop through the hole. If you don’t have a sewing machine, tie strips of plastic together from water bags or any king of plastic bag.

‘Shrine’s entire art practice is about making the dead and discarded objects of the ordinary world live whole new lives as fresh-faced stars of a new visual culture. He calls that visual culture the Empire of Love, and if it had a slogan, it would be “Art from Trash,” advocating ambitious dumpster-diving as a serious form of design for a legitimately sustainable society.’

The Team: Shrine On, Jade Mangiafaco, Feather Chyld, Luc Rajepre, Lindsay Leigh, Laura Puts, Delphine Bedu, Fanel Duce, Students of the Rajepre School & Melissa Schilling

The Ladies of Arm Wrestling

March 31, 2014March 31, 2014 Melissa Schilling Uncategorized

The 2014 Ladies Arm Wrestling Tournament: Great Brawl of Fire raised a whopping $940! We’re halfway to our goal of $1850 for our Autumn Music Class with Haitian musician, Gueldy Rene and American musician Ernie Trevino and artist Rachel Znerold. Congratulations to our winner (holding her Golden Wrestling Arm): CleoSmackYa from Macedonia! During the month of April if we can raise the other half of the funds needed to run our music class through an online donation campaign we will send everyone a 2015 Calendar (DIY Downloadable) filled with never before seen images of Powerhouse Sexy Lady Wrestlers and their On-Stage Personas.

DONATE HERE

All donations are tax-deductible and directly benefit the children in Haiti. Project HOPE Art is supported by volunteer hours and does not deduct any administrative costs from donation. Project HOPE Art is now fiscally sponsored by Fractured Atlas! To help support HOPE Art and keep art alive for kids in Haiti, please consider making a tax-deductible donation. Your donation is greatly appreciated!

“Music changes people’s lives. For some it is an expressive outlet. For others it is a way to stay focused on the everyday. It develops the brain and complements other pursuits. It creates a way for community to gather and share at concerts and shows, family events, and community gatherings. This creates a positive artistic synergy which not only enhances students’ musical skills, but makes for a nurturing experience for all.”

Thank you to all of our Wrestlers, Ref’s, Donors, Attendees, DJ’s, MC’s and Asbestos our #1 Chocolate Sales Man! Without you we could never facilitate creative growth and educational opportunities for children in need.

How your donation helps:

$50 gives art supplies to a hospital

$100 provides a classroom of students sketch books to keep a creative journal

$250 employs local interpreters for our artists

$500 offers the opportunity for orphans to learn a creative trade

$750 buys an artist transportation from the US to Haiti

$1000 supports “the frame”; what holds PHA together and keeps us creative