/ /
/ /
***
Sometimes I have trouble knowing what goes into the goes in the squishy center oval of the Venn Diagram of Nelle Dunlap's Artwork. The two circles are easy enough. The left one is Community Arts – bringing artmaking into non-traditional venues. The most recent addition is the transformation of a warehouse from punk thrash-house music venue to art studio space and performance venue that I helped orchestrate, but also scribbled in there are the years I've spent at Iowa City Senior Center Television, my short time on the board at PATV, my burlesque troupe, perhaps even my time as graphics editor at the Daily Iowan and DITV.
I am interested in pushing this grayness of artmaking to futher limits of desaturization in the physical world. Not only are gallery spaces taking a back seat to internet display, but also alternate art spaces are becoming more and more viable in the physical world. It's a Thing now to "run a warehouse" – people know you aren't talking about managing a storage space for a Big Box retailer. I have been lucky enough to do this aforementioned activity, and in doing so have learned what a vibrant national movement public art is now. So with the right circle as multi-media performance art and the lefts community art practice, what goes in the middle? Recently it has seemed these two actions might come together in teaching. This spring I will be teaching burlesque class to seniors at the Senior Center, and at Public Access Television will be instructing children in creating music videos – from writing the songs to shooting and editing. In my community art practice with Les Dames du Burlesque, The Wherehouse, The Senior Center, the Public Access Station, all my focus is on creating a new audience by presenting the work in a non-traditional space.