Des Moines Art Festival

This weekend, Tiny Circus traveled to Des Moines, IA for the annual Des Moines Art Festival after weeks of preparation. We took off early Friday morning and spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday working with festival-goers. Part of the work we did included a do-it-yourself animation station, which allowed passerby to come in and learn about stop motion by creating their own out of assembled objects. At another station, people made props for an animation called "The History of Cities." Finally, inside our newly-completed mobile airstream studio, festival attendees helped us shoot the animation with freshly made props.

Our participation in the Art Festival also included a showing on Friday and Saturday nights. The Saturday night show even included some raw footage taken from the day's shooting!

At the animation station, Ally demonstrates the kinds of movements that make stop motion work.
A crowd gathers in the do-it-yourself area on Friday as "The History of Maps" plays out of the baby airstream. Participants had the opportunity to shoot a few frames and then watch the playback.

Inside the new airstream studio, a group of young volunteers helps with the shooting for "The History of Cities."
Inside the airstream, looking out at the festival...
Outside, festival-goers work on creative paper props, including animals, a parade, and more. Both children and adults collaborated to make beautiful and original work.

Saturday night's audience waits patiently for the show to begin, with another beautiful Iowan sunset in the background.

All in all it was a wonderful weekend in Des Moines. Tiny Circus was glad to get out, enjoy the festival, and make art with people.

T-Shirts For Sale e-mail tinycircus@gmail.com for more information

T-shirts are now available

for more information contact tinycircus@gmail.com

Greta using her amazing screen printing skills.

Waiting to dry.

Hangin' out.

History of Hiding T-shirt design.
History of Repetition T-shirt design.

Tiny Circus logo t-shirt.

History of Ghosts t-shirt.

History of locks t-shirt.

All t-shirts also available in Light Blue!

Shake Rattled and Rollin'

Mona's Polishing in high fashion

Elizabeth shows off a great insulation and wiring job on the interior of the trailer

More insulation and wiring

All the great brains here working on different parts of the project

'STREAMIN'

Tiny Circus had a show this past Saturday at the Art Farm Kids Art Camp in Grinnell. It was a success and enjoyed by all that attended. The show was in a beautiful wooden barn with the screen on the inside and the tiny projection airstream right outside the barn doors. What a beautiful evening! Followed by a dance party.

It has rained part of every day for a week. That just means shifting of tents, beds, etc. searching for a dry spot...

The Banner for the side of the Airstream known as 'Silver Unicorn', or our new Animation Studio Airstream:

Work on the airstream does not stop. Ever.

Work on the airstream does not stop. Ever.

The ABCs of Tiny Circus...

Animations



Today new arrivals and temporary Circus members made their very own animations! Here, Mona and new Circus member Sarah film outdoors. Don't let those balloons blow away!


Banner

Jess is sewing a bright, noticable banner for us to hang on the airstream.



Clouds


Some of us spent the morning polishing clouds.....


.....to make airstream cloudpatches.

Doors and Dogs



Everyone is working hard and we're making visible progress on the airstream. Here John & Jason are cutting a door into the side of it. Pretty soon we'll have the whole exoskeleton finished!



A tiny Circus member draws a portrait of her pal.



Editing



Sarah and Rick edit their balloon animation. We're hoping to have the two animations that were made today in our show tomorrow at the Global Arts summer camp, so there's no time to waste!

Between the airstream, new animations, and our kids' workshops coming up, Tiny Circus is busy as can be. We play every minute of the day!



And we're stopping at E, so that's all, folks!

T-shirts, Harvests, and Polishing

Today Tiny Circus began work on some new t-shirt designs, harvested some radishes and some chickens, and put the roof on the airstream.

Mona is very intent upon her origami creations.

Meanwhile, Greta and Sarah created t-shirts for the Tiny Circus members.

Today, Alex made a patch for the airstream. It's shaped like a cloud. How cute.

Amy cleans a chicken. Pogo watches intently.

Elizabeth began the harvest of the radishes today.

Fai (reflectively) continues work on polishing panels for the airstream.

Susan and Greta wrap up the night with some teamwork wiping down the airstream.

P is for Preparation and Planning

With three up coming shows in the next three weeks, Tiny Circus has been all a buzz getting everything in order.

Busy hands edit away on a number of projects. Kissing needs some 'smooches', Nests needs to lighten up, and all of the 12 second shorts need time for a little...pause.

The Air Stream Studio is also in the works. After days, hours, and minutes, we're starting to have a functioning shelter. Carlos goes about adding on a roof while Jess enjoys the last moments having such a spacious shelter.


We seem to getting closer and closer day by silvery day.

Sanding is of course essential.


Meanwhile, daily life goes right on a spinnin'. Circus members are becoming skilled in a number of tasks, including how to make the finest of fluffy wheat bread.

Yet, no matter how busy or overwhelming the task, we always have time for a friend.

Wrapping up in order to Get Down

Today was all about

computers

computers

and more computers!

Tiny Circus members spent most of the day rendering animations in order to get ready for the
first showing of our new animations!

but we still had to flip an Airstream.....

... collaboration at its best!