Linda Chido ~ Collaborations & Public Artworks

Art Rocks Project 2021

A temporary public art project by Linda Chido and Amanda Rainey in collaboration with the artists of the Buda Area Artists Collective, the City of Buda, Texas, and the Inspired Minds Art Center in Downtown Buda. The project ran from March 2021 to June 2021.

The Spring of 2021 brought with it the hope that life would begin again after a year of Covid lockdowns. With Covid restrictions still in place and everyone pretty beaten by the year we all just lived through, Amanda and I wanted to do a project that would be fun, simple, and bring everyone together without physically bringing everyone together. In addition, we wanted to remove barriers to art viewing (real and perceived) so the community could enjoy the art safely and at their conveince.

We took a simple art form - an art rock, and elevated it to fine art by inviting local artistic talent to create an Art Rock. In tandem to the collection of Art Rocks growing in an outdoor garden at Inspired Minds Art Center, we ran a social media campaign inviting the community to engage and interact with the project by posting selfies with their favorite Art Rock to Instagram with #baacartrocks.

Through highlighting local professional artists and engaging with the community, we made a bold statement about the tangibility and preciousness of art, and showed the depth and breath of the talent of local visual artists.

At its conclusion on June 13th, the Art Rocks Project "gallery" held 66 Art Rocks created by 28 local Buda Area artists. In addition, approximately 60 unique selfie posts were made by community members, within Buda and from surrounding areas, through the social media campaign. The Buda Area Artists Collective (BAAC) Instagram grew to over 500 followers during the Art Rocks Project, and the BAAC membership grew by 40%.

In addition to the public art portion and the social media campaign, The Art Rocks Project professionally photographed every Art Rock produced and created a video as the project's final exhibit and summery. This post phase added another two local artists to the project.

"Stained Glass Visions" 2020 - a collection of murals

A set of murals created by artists of the Buda Area Artists Collective and donated to the Inspired Minds Art Center. The murals house the upper story windows of Inspired Minds Chambers Theater and serve to darken the windows for performances. The theme of the project was the Texas Hill Country and was executed in a stained glass motif. Eight marine grade mural panels, each 3'x6', were donated by Eastside Lumber and Decking. The project was installed October 2020.

Below: 'Monarch', my mural panel.

Right: All 8 murals wrapping around the Inspired Minds Chamber Theater.

Artists who contributed (top right photo, starting left): Linda Chido, Gena Destri, Joy Bliss, Amanda Rainey. (bottom right photo, starting center): Sinead Whitestone Meuth, Cristina White-Jones, Jessica Mason, Ronald Gross

Buda Area Artists Collective

Co-chair 2020 + 2021

The Buda Area Artist Collective was started in January 2020 after a group of local Buda Area artists got together after a meet-up. Our meetings the following months focused on brainstorming and project planning - then March 2020 brought the first Covid lockdown.

Once the dust began to settle and life became a new normal, a small group of artists set to the task of formalizing the BAAC's mission and goals. As the new year rounded into 2021, Linda Chido and Amanda Rainey formally partnered to build the social media components and the website needed to develop the BAAC as a viable entity. In March of 2021, Linda and Amanda successfully ran the Art Rocks Project through the BAAC framework.

The mission of the BAAC is, "to connect the creative community so that, collectively, we can make the Visual Arts a part of the everyday." The BAAC's core principles are: collaboration, communication and connection.

As of June 2021, the BAAC is made up of 57 professional, local, artists.

https://www.budaareaartistscollective.art

Amanda Rainey's website: http://www.3paintedmoons.com

Holiday Daze 2003

Poem by Ronald Gross, leather and framing by Martin Somers, illumination by Linda Chido

Earth Park Labyrinth

Collaborative project between architecture students from SUNY Buffalo, NY and Morris Brown College, Atlanta, GA

The design is an octagonal labyrinth that sits amongst eight trees on the back lawn of the School of Architecture on the University of Buffalo's South Campus. The labyrinth is composed of strips of untreated lumber and grass. Surrounding the labyrinth on each side are benches constructed and brought from Atlanta by the Morris Brown students.

On April 19, Earth Day 1991, the park was dedicated to the University of Buffalo and the community.