#putabirdinit

"Have nothing in your house that you do not believe to be beautiful or useful."  -- William Morris

Or crazy, or imaginative, or ....

CALL TO ARTISTS. WeMake is seeking artists, designers, architects, builders, and makers of all sorts to help us raise money for arts and music education in Portland, Oregon. 

We are selecting a total of 40 artists and/or teams to participate in this project with a live auction to be held on April 19, 2016 during Design Week. Apply below to be considered. 

BIRD'S THE WORD. HELP US TO CONTINUE THE MISSION OF DESIGN-IN-ACTION AND RAISE MONEY FOR ARTS & MUSICE EDUCATION.

The project formally known as Put A Bird In It, maybe taking on a new name, but the spirit is the same—raise money and make something awesome for the birds!

CALL TO ARTISTS NOW OPEN

For the last three years we have been holding a celebration for design and making with the spirit of community in mind. We call it WeMake Celebrates. Each year we have closed off the festivities of Design Week Portland with a big-o-party, inviting the community, our friends, and families to come play, learn and make. During the event we host live maker activities and music, as well as our design in action fundraiser—Put A Bird In It. We've raised close to $20,000 for arts & music education, and last year we raised $11,000 in just three hours, Boom!

This year we hope to out do ourselves, and need your help!  80+ makers have been invited to create a unique one-of-a-kind birdhouse that will help us with this goal. These makers are illustrators, designers, furniture makers, ceramists, industrial designers, painters, and general creative geniuses. 

For this week only we offer these houses up for a BUY NOW option in a pre-sale. Check out the store here. 

The silent and live auction happens on Friday night, Oct. 10th, at the Leftbank Annex. Starting time is 7pm—we hope to close the auction by 9-ish, so be sure to come on time to get the house you want! We are happy to have Andrew Dickson as our MC and auctioneer, he will definitely add some fun to the show! 

It’s because of the community and generous sponsors that we are able to hold such gala event. Friday night will be one DWPDX event you won’t want to miss, and it’s FREE!

SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NIGHT:

• Big Cartel is planning a collaborative maker activity with Jolby & Friends called “RAD LIBS”—a make your own poster station using custom stamps illustrated for the event. • Tanner Goods is pulling in their truck and setting up shop!  You can make some nice leather swag for free and get to know some of their guys behind the scenes. • A special edition print made by Jessica Hische (when she had her sketchXchange with us back in May) is the art we are using to silkscreen whatever you like! Golden Rule Design is once again operating the press, so bring a t-shirt or buy one on site and you can pull the screen for free. This is a one-of-a-kind print made especially for WeMake and we are thrilled that Jessica is letting us share it with you! • School of Rock is performing two sets and these kids can rock! There will also be great food by Bunk Sandwiches, Home Plate Sliders, Fifty Licks and CHOP. Plus we have an assortment of libations for any pallet.

Proceeds from this event will help fund arts & music education. Come out buy a house, buy a beer, and make with us. It will be a night to remember!

A NOTE ABOUT PARKING: There is parking in the Rose Quarters West Garage for $5 a car. The street car and The Max also runs right in front of the building. The Leftbank Annex is the very large building on the corner of Weidler & N Vancouver.

Directly before the party is a private sketchXchange with celebrated artist Lisa Congdon. She'll be talking about process, pattern making and sharing her sketchbooks. Plus we'll have a few of her books on site for you to get signed. All attendees of sXc will also receive a free special edition 5x7 Scout Book designed by Lisa.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to our AWESOME SPONSORS

We couldn't put on this amazing event without the help of our sponsors and in-kind donations.

Earlier this year, Justin "Scrappers" Morrison launched the magazine Stay Wild, a publication centered around the unconstrained adventurous spirit and journeying into nature. We're excited to have this Creative Director/Art Director/Art Producer/Illustrator/Maker take part in Put A Bird In It, and we appreciated him taking the time to answer our questions.

CM: What inspired you to launch Stay Wild?

JSM: I wanted to work for a magazine that brought travel, action sports, sexy-nature-loving, art, and all the other stuff that totally inspires people to stay wild. I looked everywhere for that magazine, but only found it once we made it.

CM: Describe a typical day.

JSM: Here we go: fart really loud, wife (Amy) pushes me out of bed, announce "I'm Up!", son (Camper) walks in on me peeing and punches me in the butt, boil water for coffee, stretch, push ups, stretch more, sprinkle brown sugar & honey & maple syrup on healthy boring cereal for Camper, check email titles to see if there is anything that can't wait till I get to work, Instagram, drink coffee with Amy, talk about dreams (both asleep and awake kinds), Camper jumps on me spilling coffee on my swim trunk peejays, pack lunches for me and Camper, put on pants from yesterday, put on fresh t-shirt with awesome friends art on it, walk Camper to school early to play on the jungle gym, drop him off at kindergarten, try not to cry, hop on bike, go to work, surf an endless wave of emails and try to make fun stuff happen all day long until I wash up exhausted in bed with a belly full of ice cream. That ice cream will make me fart really loud the next morning and start the whole ride over again.

CM: Tell me about your birdhouse.

JSM: My first idea was a giant hand flipping the bird. Get it, "birdhouse". Then I decided that was too obverse and the world doesn't need another middle finger. I really like big goofy, yet graceful seagulls, so I wanted to make one of those instead. Somehow I'm turning the bird into a house. Should look pretty stupid/genius since I'm paper mâche-ing it out of back issues of Stay Wild. I don't have a process. I don't want a process. Get your laws off my body!

CM: Beverage and music of choice for birdhouse building?

JSM: Pineapple soda pop & old exotica records.

CM: What do you make in your “free” time?

JSM: Driftwood forts, sand castles, Lego space ships, retarded doodles of human animals, bathroom graffiti, camp fires, and Stay Wild magazine.

Photo by Christian Columbres

Ezra Cimino-Hurt is a character, in a good way. He's got a fantastical way of thinking that helped him envision Case of Bass. Case of Base is today's boombox for those with a design sensibility who appreciate the handmade. These portable music sound systems are locally made from repurposed materials and mostly vintage suitcases. They're just cool. The lucky bird that get's this perch is in for a treat.

YPE Where did the idea of Case of Bass come from?

ECH Case of Bass was hatched from the need to have a boombox of my own.  I went to Best Buy and while the TDX model designed by Ziba design no less was the object of my attention, I saw flaws in it, and wanted to tweak my own design.  The ability to want to create something and just allow yourself to go down the rabbit hole and see where it takes you.  I didn't set out to build what I do today, but my skill set and vision of what I enjoyed and what made me happy shaped the products I make today.  

YPE What's the most elaborate one you've made?

ECH I had the opportunity to work with Lindsay Joy Holmes of MapleXO this past spring to put together some pieces for National Go Skateboarding day on 7/21.  I had been envisioning a boombox made out of skateboards that was a feature you could skate.  Grind the handle as it played your music.  We started talking and her idea was that's fun, but what about a ramp?  That was it and we ended up designing and building a Quarterpipe Boombox that was entirely veneered with skateboard maple end grain, complete with a horn deathbox and concrete pool coping.  The challenge wasn't making something that looked good and sounded amazing, it was doing that and building the art to withstand the abuse of thousands of skateboarders hitting it over and over.  We did and it did.  It's rad.

YPE Have you made them for any celebrities?

ECH  I have, but they aren't the heroes in this story.  I find out later that celebrities ordered cases through my website and I deliver them their goods like everybody else.  I like to think that you become the celebrity of your block when you order a Case of Bass and drop it on your stoop on a nice summer day.  

YPE Is there a dream Case of Bass you'd like to build?

ECH  Oh boy, I just want to build them all perfect.  The challenge of the perfect assembly while working with imperfect materials and reusing old items is constantly throwing me curve balls.   I move from crazy idea to crazy idea, and once I flush it out I move on.  I have wanted some sort of interactive drum machine and smoke machine case to be built.  That's my current unicorn.

YPE What about the Put A Bird In It Project has inspired you?

ECH I had to realize that I was building it for myself, and sharing it with the show.  I started thinking about what would people like to see, then was overwhelmed with what I would like to see.  I am pretty weird, so you get something that might be on the weird side.  

YPE Why do you make?

ECH If I don't I would die.  I don't have another setting and it's how I fill everyday of my life.  Even if tied to a tree without the ability to physically put my ideas into reality I would imagine them.  They would probably include creative ways to get untied from a tree.