Arty Johnstone is an Austin, Texas based artist who recently made a Kickstarter campaign to fund a collaborative art project and artist residency on a remote piece of land in beautiful New Mexico. There are only a few days left to support this fantastic project-- go here to check out Arty’s Kickstarter campaign and to make a contribution!  

Some of you may remember Arty as a former Grove employee from previous blog posts about his work. Around here he is the stuff of legend. Arty is recalled daily at the eerie sound of the siren coming from the mobile burrito cart passing by our shop. He would often go chasing it down for a morning snack... He was a sanding powerhouse and since leaving Grove has travelled across the United States to all of its major art centers-- drawing to his heart’s content and checking out the art scene and museums in each city. For a while he even worked for Ken Tomita’s mentor at Bamboo DNA building crazy bamboo sculptures!

About the project:

A Kickstarter project is a way for artists, musicians, designers, filmmakers, (and more) to receive direct funding for their projects from the general public. Often for each tiered donation there is a reward of some kind-- for Arty’s Kickstarter all donations receive original works of art for rewards! Yeah! The only catch about a Kickstarter campaign is that if you do not meet your pre-named monetary goal then you don’t receive any of the donations. (It’s an all or nothing type of thing).

By funding this project you will be supporting six emerging artists and helping them to hone their vision? They will be living in a one room compound in the wilds of New Mexico 77 miles away from the nearest town-- far from the distractions of city life and from the comfort of the Internet. More than just a collaboration they will adhere to a schedule of rotating tasks and food duties so that each artist has equal opportunity to focus on their particular craft while taking care of each other’s needs.

Did we mention the risks of braving the natural world? There are beavers, mountain lions, coyotes, and grey wolves out there-- be careful Arty!

Go here to check out Arty’s Kickstarter campaign! 

Written by Mike Schultz. Mike is an oil painter from Ithaca, New York. When he is not working for Grove, he’s painting and drawing to his heart’s content. You can see his work on his blog and his website.