It is with great excitement and joy that I introduce the newest member of the family, Florence aka “Flo” the 1977 VW Transporter. It has been a long term dream of mine to own my own bus and someday have a mobile art studio so I am ecstatic that my dream is becoming a reality. My family used to own a VW bus named Monro (I will share his story soon) and ever since we tragically lost him in a fire we have always dreamed of someday owning another. When I interned for the Art Feeds in Joplin, Missouri  (artfeeds.org) two summers ago I had the privilege of serving along side Van Gogh (https://vimeo.com/79296270) and loved how he brought Joplin and the surrounding communities together through art. Van Gogh is  a very important team member in the Art Feeds family and I have a deep admiration for everything that AF does for the communities that they serve. I am honored to call them family and am looking forward to putting to practice all the things I learned through interning and working for them.
   After I interned for Art Feeds  life went on, I graduated college, moved home, started construction on our house, and my family bought a tow behind camper so owning a  VW bus didn’t seem to be a possibility. A few weeks ago however the inspiration lightbulb turned on, well, it more like went off like fireworks, when my stepdad was sent a listing for a VW bus on craigslist. I pleaded with him to buy the bus, which turned into let me help pay for the bus, which turned into wait…I want to buy the bus. That particular one sold but that night I started scribbling down my ideas and dreams for a VW bus that was a mobile art studio that served a purpose. Weeks of searching for the right bus at the right cost was exhausting but I knew that there was a bus out there for me. Through an extreme and unimaginable amount of generosity from friends and family combined with my savings I had a decent budget to work with. The morning of the day that I was going to see a bus that I was 99% positive I was going to buy, my stepdad sent me a text telling me that he received a notification from a bus group he is a part of on FB stating that one of the members put their bus up for sale. He sent me a picture and immediately I loved it because her color is my all time favorite color (if I had to pick just one). He spoke with the current owner over the phone for me while I was at work and found out that she  and I were pretty much soul sisters (it’s insane how much Dana and I have in common, I will share more details of that soon) and this bus was meant to be mine. I spoke with her later on and solidified the deal and after the longest most anxious week and a half of my life (okay maybe not life but I am so excited) Flo is here in Jersey and she is just about mine (just have to finish some paperwork, register her, all that real owning a car stuff)! She needs a tune up and a few things worked on to make her road ready again but that shouldn’t take too long.
Over a year ago when I was putting together my senior exhibition I decided to title the show “Art Across Borders” because it was a visual representation of the development of my passion for creative outlets for kids. After the show was over I hoped to sell some of the work and donate a portion of the funds to the different art programs that I represented in the exhibition but plans have changed a bit and expanded! With Flo’s help I hope to take  Art Across Borders beyond my Etsy shop and occasional craft shows. I will be sharing Flo’s journey and involvement in the community and future plans as they become more clear here on this blog. Her purpose is multifaceted but ultimately I want her to be a resource to the kids in my local community as a space where their creativity has no boundaries, no borders, and they are free to let their imagination run wild. I plan to create a business with her that also offers different art parties brought right to people’s homes, parks, etc. and intend to donate  a portion of the income to the art programs that I am in contact with both state side and overseas. The Etsy shop will be updated today and this week with exciting new pieces that Flo has inspired and that mark the new adventure that Art Across Borders is starting. Thank you so much to everyone who has already supported me in this incredibly wonderful new journey and I can’t wait to share with you all the ways you can be involved with this new chapter!
“There is nothing like a dream to create the future.” -Victor Hugo
#gowith_theFlo #ArtAcrossBorders
artacrossbordersblog.wordpress.com 