Going to M.E.C.C.A.

Since I moved to Eugene, Oregon, several months ago, I've joined an organization called Materials Exchange Center for Community Arts (M.E.C.C.A.). It's a nonprofit that has a great little old historical building next to the train station that is used as a studio, classroom, gallery and store.

M.E.C.C.A.'s mission is to divert usable materials from landfills and get them into the hands of artists, teachers, kids and other people who will use them. They provide low cost art education to adults, kids, and schools.

As a contributing artist (I paid a small membership fee), I get to use the M.E.C.C.A. studio space several times a week when they have open studio time. This is a real boon for me, because the mosaic studio I have in my small rental house is a little mud room off the kitchen, which is nearly impossible to keep warm in the winter. I imagine it will also be difficult to keep cool in the summer! So it's nice to have a place to go, where I can spread out and do my work in the company of other artists.

I also get to make use of the store. Materials are donated from business, industry, and individuals. You just never know what's going to be in the store! It's really fun to watch the volunteers open up boxes of contributed materials while I'm working in the studio. There is almost always something that I can immediately put to use in a mosaic.

That, of course, is one of the fun things about mosaic. I can have a plan of what I'm going to do, but new materials can spark new ideas. The other day I was mosaiking a birdhouse with blue and white Delft pottery, but the coins, buttons, belt buckles and other shiny little things that I found at M.E.C.C.A. gave it a little more interest.

M.E.C.C.A. has a drop-in studio for families with kids each Saturday, with a different simple project taught by one of its members or volunteers. I'm currently figuring out a quick mosaic project that could be done in less than an hour--maybe a coaster for Fathers Day.