We invite you to an evening where everyone's creativity is welcome. We begin with an art-based workshop where we will devise a collective tapestry together. We will explore themes of connection and memory through various media stations: watercolor, graphite, found objects and more! Our crowd-sourced mosaic will be displayed in the Opsis 920 gallery and will be followed by a panel that will discuss the role of interactive public art and how it can foster meaningful human connections.

The panel will discuss the role of interactive public art and how it can foster meaningful human connections. We’ll discuss various layers of the process, from community building, participation, collaboration, and involvement, along with a presentation of our project: from developing the concept, music, and graphics, storyboarding, animation, and augmented reality to the final execution of the mural and the public unveiling at Pride 2022.

We'll also talk about how the mural was received, and what we hope to accomplish in the future.

This discussion is for anyone interested in mural-making, LGBTQIA+ community involvement, and augmented reality!

Speakers:

• Ridan Arellano Artist, mural designer
• G. Stewart Animator, AIGA mentee
• Crystal Meneses Director at Activate Arts
• Garth Klippert Principal at XGSDX, Senior Designer at OMFGCO, AIGA mentor

Opsis Architecture, XGSDX & Activate Arts are co-hosting the event

About Opsis Architecture

We design, first and foremost, to support the fundamental human need for connection, expression, exploration, and discovery. Our work seeks to place people first – creating spaces where individuals and communities find joy, accomplishment, confidence, contemplation, or comfort – in environments that celebrate the people and places they serve.

We aspire to discover the inherent possibilities within each project to create innovative, enduring, and sustainable architecture. We seek a thoughtful and authentic architecture that creatively solves complex problems through clear concepts that guide the form, materials, and detailing. Our architecture formulates our client’s goals and aspirations into a compelling concept that is derived from the unique qualities of the program, site, and context. We aspire to realize buildings that work, inspire and express beauty through construction, composition and form, materiality, and craftsmanship with attention to detail.

About Activate Arts Founder, Crystal Meneses (in her own words)

​Hi! My name is Crystal and I am the founder of Activate Arts. The mission of Activate Arts is to inspire arts activism in the community. The model of this organization is unique in that it is using my personal experience as an arts activist to activate community art. I will invite you to join me in community activism by becoming an arts activist yourself. Activate Arts is also a nonprofit that organizes arts in the community. I have worked for nonprofit organizations since the age of 17 (21 years). My range of nonprofit experience is vast, starting as a volunteer placed in parking lot duty at fundraisers to being an Executive Director. Activate Arts is an artistic risk I have been wanting to take for many years. I am creating a nonprofit model on purpose that is seeded in my personal methodology as a creative.

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About PDX Design Festival:

PDX Design Festival is a week-long celebration of design in the city of roses. After several long years of isolation and virtual collaboration, Portland's creative community is back and ready to reconnect. Our inaugural theme, chosen by the AIGA Portland community, is connection and echoes these sentiments. This is a can't-miss event for all of Portland.

Events tickets are reserved for festival pass holders—get your all-access festival pass on the PDXDF website.