picture perfect

the time has come for me to live up to my promises and tell y'all about Picture Pot! :)

like i explained in the last post where i spoke about this, Picture Pot is an annual event run by one of the community engagement societies here at Rhodes. Masincedane, the society in question, is made up of this incredible group of young people who help run a soup kitchen in the 'township' just outside of our town. they do a CRAZY amount of good work, and on top of this, they come up with the most inspiring, artistic and smart ideas for fundraising events! 

one of their recurring events is called Singing For Soup and is fairly self-explanatory - the society's committee members rally together a whole bunch of local musicians, mostly made up of students (and trust me, there's no shortage on the musicians side among the Rhodent population) who play on an evening where soup is sold and all proceeds go to the furthering of the kitchen. doesn't that sound epic? :)

the second main event which they hold every year is the one i want to talk about - PICTURE POT. the basic idea behind this fundraiser is to gather artwork created and donated by Rhodents - be it paintings, sketchings, photography, collages, sculptures, pottery, even baked goods - and display all of this fantastic art on an evening - sort-of like a shnazzy art gallery opening! at the door, you pay an entrance fee and this fee entitles you to ANY ONE of the pieces of artwork on exhibition, provided it hasn't been claimed by someone before you. amazing, right? 

here's the beautiful illustration i walked away with last year:

and now, onto THIS YEAR!

the trick is to show up early if you want the cream of the crop, because it's incredible how fast pieces go. it's also sometimes in your best interest to act on impulse and claim an illustration that grabs you rather than looking through the whole exhibition and returning to something you liked... because chances are, by the time you get back to it... it'll be sold! ha :)

Sindi and i met up and Picture-Potted together; i was tasked with taking a few photos at the event by the student newspaper i work for, so i surreptitiously tried to get shots of artwork that i really liked but that had already been claimed - like the little "If-You-Give-A-Mouse-A-Cookie"-esque muisie in the photo below! how cute is he? :D

there was also quite a range of photography on display, which mesmerised friend Mike... :P

...while Clarkie the Bandmate was bemused by some of the more intriguing art ;)

...seriously, though, the art just went on and on - even under the stairwell of the little house the exhibition was held in!

Sinds and i got there fairly early, so we were among the lucky few to get some REALLY awesome artwork! funnily enough, each of us got an illustration by the same girl - my incredibly beautiful friend Emma :) Sindi's favourite of the three illustrations Emma submitted had already been claimed by the time we got to it (you can see it in the first image i've posted of this year's event - it's the illustration of a girl in a colourful skirt with the words, "there are still ROADS in my shoes" written in), but the one she claimed is just as awesome! observe:

so great and hitRECord-ish :)

and mine... oh, i just adore mine. i'm not even going to talk about it, you should just LOOK at it.

yeah, i love it.

so, that was this year's Picture Pot! i'm so grateful to have experienced it twice now, and to have walked away with such incredible artwork on both occasions! i'm inspired by the creativity and love that goes into this project and all the projects of Masincedane :)