What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/1405208
It all goes back to Factory Obscura's founding in 2017, Karper says. "A mysterious email was sent to potential artistic collaborators, and we dove in with an introductory meeting with about 30 artists," she remembers. "We talked through the vision of what we wanted to create and quickly realized we had the artistic capacity here in Oklahoma City to explore some bigger questions, including: What would an artistic experience that gave space for wonder, joy, and play for all ages look like? What would it look like to employ and pay artists as the professionals they are? How can we create common experiences that transcend the everyday? "By posing these questions, and many others, to ourselves and seeking to answer them through our experiences, we see ourselves changing the world," Karper explains. "By allowing space for people to feel their feelings and share a common experience in community with others, we are creating a framework for joy and exploration that encourages the sharing of wonder. By paying thriving wages with good benefits, we help strengthen the experience economy and provide more good-paying jobs that add to our community's well- being. By working to ensure our experiences are accessible on all levels, physically, emotionally and financially, we are striving to create equitable access to these sorts of artistic experiences. We believe the future is collaborative, and that the future is now." For the Downtown Springdale Alliance, which programs the Famous Hardware windows with funding from the Tyson Family Foundation, "art experiences like Factory Obscura strengthen communities at their core by bringing people together for a unique shared experience," says Jill Dabbs, executive director. "The energy these experiences inject into our downtown drive foot traffic, economic development and curiosity for what's happening next. Public art reflects how much a community is loved." The Tyson Family Foundation was introduced to Factory Obscura's work through the King's Mouth installation hosted in partnership with the Arts Center of the Ozarks in the fall of 2019. "We look to create platforms that encourage engagement and experimentation," says Olivia Tyson of the foundation. The real key to the Famous Hardware installations is universal accessibility, concludes Castleman. "It's work that no matter who you are, there's something to enjoy about viewing it or to identify with while viewing it, even if it's the simple pleasure of spectacle," he says. "An easy read on one level but also work that has layers of sophistication that might not be immediately apparent on the surface — work that if you choose to dwell with it and dig a little deeper, the layers can continue to unfold. Those are the challenges combined with the scale and the desire to meet the expectations of the client that are all part of the formula — not that any of it is formulaic." AUGUST 29-SEPTEMBER 4, 2021 WHAT'S UP! 37 COVER STORY PRESIDENT Brent A. Powers EDITOR Becca Martin-Brown 479-872-5054 bmartin@nwadg.com Twitter: NWAbecca ASSOCIATE EDITOR Jocelyn Murphy 479-872-5176 jmurphy@nwadg.com Twitter: NWAJocelyn REPORTER Lara Hightower 479-365-2913 lhightower@nwadg.com DESIGNER Deb Harvell ! UP WHAT'S ON THE COVER The installation "BRAIN TO BRAIN PAPER PLANE," created by Oklahoma City-based Factory Obscura, currently fills the display windows at Famous Hard- ware on Emma Avenue in downtown Springdale. (COURTESY PHOTO/DOWNTOWN SPRINGDALE ALLIANCE AND MEREDITH MASHBURN) What's Up! is a publication of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Hardware Continued From Page 4 "Art experiences like Factory Obscura strengthen communities at their core by bringing people together for a unique shared experience," says Jill Dabbs, executive director of Downtown Springdale. "BRAIN TO BRAIN PAPER PLANE" is interactive. Viewers "are invited to participate in the work through interactive touch-sensors placed on the window glass," says Kelsey Karper, co-founder of Factory Obscura. (Courtesy Photos/Downtown Springdale Alliance and Meredith Mashburn) Factory Obscura was formed in 2017 in Oklahoma City around the premise that "the future is collaborative, and that the future is now." "The Factory Obscura team first met Dayton Castleman when we took a team field trip to Bentonville in February 2020," says co-founder Kelsey Karper. "Dayton was working as the museum manager of the 21c Museum Hotel in Bentonville at the time, and we were connected by a mutual colleague. We have kept in touch, and when this new series began at Famous Hardware, Dayton invited us to submit a proposal."