Make electronic art at a pop-up public spot
When you come upon a 6foot electronic kiosk that looks like a giant cell phone with Christmas snow falling across the screen, the temptation is to reach out and touch it. And as soon as you do, you become an artist in a unique work in downtown Redwood City.
Called “Digital Finger Painting,” the interactive work by Fresh AV is an invitation to draw on the screen and add your own snowballs, a snowman or ornaments on the tree. If you don’t like the snowy forest backdrop, you can switch it to fish in the ocean, or any of six landmark buildings to color in.
The payoff is that your art can be posted to Instagram by using the hashtag #visitrwc. It can also be easily erased by clearing the screen and moving on. The background scenes provided are just an inducement. The finger painting need not have anything to do with them, says Jessie McDaniel, 29, production manager for Fresh AV.
Her business partner Drew Patterson, 37, demonstrates by coloring a tree in yellow and drawing ornaments in blue and red.
“The left hand works the color wheel,” he explains, “and the right hand draws anything you want.”
The installation was commissioned by the Redwood City Improvement Association and can operate only when Patterson, McDaniel or other Fresh AV staff are out there with it working a control monitor on wheels.
“‘Digital Finger Painting’ is for kids of all ages,” says McDaniel, “but the little ones take to drawing faster than the big ones. They don’t have the hesitation that adults do. ”
The installation is part of a major public art push in Redwood City’s downtown, which includes permanent shadow paintings in the sidewalk and “Magic Lantern,” a 3-D light show against the historic county courthouse building.
“Digital Finger Painting” debuted at a holiday fair in early December. It was followed Saturday, Dec. 16, by “Interactive Spectacle,” which involves a projector inside a retail shop that displays colorful video content on the storefront windows. The trick to it is a Kinect sensor in the store that tracks the movement of anybody who walks by, and triggers video content. For the holidays, it is a moving polar bear.
Both installations by Fresh AV are portable and move around downtown. “Interactive Spectacle” will be at Polam Federal Credit Union at Main and Marshall streets several times a week through Jan. 16. “Digital Finger Painting” will be out there for special events and random days or nights. It is usually in the vicinity of Broadway and Main Street, but can pop up anywhere, anytime, like “Candid Camera.”
“It’s one of those ‘be on the lookouts,’ ” says McDaniel. There are three screens in a row, so nobody has to fight over who gets to paint first.
“Decorating this tree,” Patterson says, as he completes his drawing, “is a lot easier than untangling the lights for the real one.”