"This is the coolest field trip I've ever been on," a Wood Gormley sixth-grader said on a visit to the Due Return art installation at Santa Fe Center for Contemporary Arts this summer.---
Along with the rest of Mary Olson's art class, the girl was checking out the 2,500 square foot life-size model galleon that drew more visitors than any other installation in CCA's history. Complete with a six-breasted mer-lion figurehead, and beached in a otherworldly landscape of glowing cave formations, the exhibit was as wildly imaginative as anything a kid could dream up—and not purely by coincidence.
Olson's class didn't just visit the Due Return—they had a hand in creating it. Over a two-week period, Santa Fe art collective Meow Wolf worked with the class to design a kids' bunk area inside the ship, making lanterns out of empty soda bottles and inventing characters said to have made up the crew.
"The opportunity of such a massive scale project with such a multidisciplinary intent has the ability to breed a community involvement that I think is incredibly unique and possibly sort of a new paradigm," Meow Wolf founder Vince Kadlubek said during a video made of the collaboration.
The class' participation in the Due Return was a pilot project that led to a new initiative called Chimera, begun in September. It's a collaboration between Meow Wolf, CCA and Santa Fe Public Schools designed to expand kids' exposure to art. In November, Chimera's entry into the Recycle Santa Fe Art Festival won first place in the youth category. Three hundred and seventy-five third- through sixth-graders from Gonzales Community School, Eldorado, Carlos Gilbert, Wood Gormley, Acequia Madre, Atalaya and Ramirez Thomas elementary schools worked together to create their entry: 16 different magical creatures made from recycled materials.
Last Friday, CCA exhibited more Chimera work from three more schools—Agua Fria Elementary, Ortiz Middle School and Gonzales Community School. Kids made short films of either 30 seconds or 3 minutes that ran in a loop at CCA's Cinematheque, accompanying an exhibit of Meow Wolf art. The exhibit, called Collective Collected (see colored pencil work above), also featured a wall of thank-you notes from grateful Chimera participants.
Chimera's goal was to work with 800 SFPS kids, but CCA administrative manager and Chimera director Sandra Napua estimates about 1,000 will actually get to take part. But in order to secure needed funding, Chimera needs to meet a $3,000 "kickstarter" goal by Monday, Dec. 26. As of last Friday, before the Collective Collected opening, they were at $1,160; they're now at $2,380. Click here to learn more and help.
"Everyone seems to be really embracing it," Napua says. "Parents are excited to get their kids involved."
