General 2 — Marc Leclair - Operations Executive

I am a sometimes artist. My interests favor conceptual art, so don’t expect stunning visual beauty, that’s not my intent. I like the viewer to think - or rethink - about an idea that they’ve long taken for granted. I’ve had opportunities to show my work in various art galleries, both invited and uninvited. My most intensive works though, come from collaborations with my wife, the award-winning artist Diana Arvanites.

Selected Art Projects

Mobile Art

This is an early example of Diana’s vision to bring artmaking to unexpected places. We invited random people to make are with us. We surprised everyone with our offer: families on their way to eat out and young folks getting ready for a night out. They enjoyed the activity and were surprised that this was free.

Go!
The Viewer is the Artist

For this event, we took Diana’s Mobile Art Studio for Creative Disruption (MASCD) indoors. We set up for opening night at for the show at an Art gallery. These are usually passive events. View the art and go home. But since we offered a you-make it art project, folks stayed and interacted with each other. We had a festive atmosphere.

Go!
Recycled Art

When Gallery X held the opening event for their Recycled Art show, they invited us in to provide an interactive art project for the attendees at the Recycled Art Show opening reception.

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Spontaneous Jewelry Making

Based on the popularity of our last performance at Gallery X, they invited up back for the Small Works Opening reception. We set up at the Small Work opening at Gallery X. Keeping consistent with the small works theme, we offered viewers the opportunity to craft their own jewelry.

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This Will Go Down in Your Permanent Record

Displayed in the Central Piedmont Community College Ross Art Gallery’s juried 2012 Recycled Art show. This was my commentary on the increased surveillance and digital tracking that we experience in our daily lives.
Creative Control

Setting the switch to the “Maximun Art“ setting lights the light and perhaps inducres a placebo effect for the viewer, enhancing their creativity. I installed this - uninvited - in the McColl Center Gallery during an exhibition for their artists in residence. Afterward, this was on permanent loan to the Grin Factor Gallery.

Mobile Art

We went to the NoDa district of Charlotte, NC with Diana’s Mobile Art Studio for Creative Disruption (MASCD). We filled the cart with paints, crayons, markers, pastels, paper, cloth, scissors, and more bits & bobs than you could ever imagine.

In Noda, we met families, couples out on date night and later in the evening, small groups looking for drinks and music.

Everyone was surprised to find this free art-making opportunity in the midst of a commercial district. Participants has a wonderful engaging creative experience making art.

There's more!

The Viewer is the Artist

In some circles, art exhibitions have a reputation as boring events. This stems from being a staid, passive event. We turned this upside own with the MASCD. We had the audience engaged, active, and talkative. People who had planned to be merely viewers were creating are n a festive atmosphere.

Recycled Art

Gallery X invited us in to add an interactive component to their gallery opening for the Recycled Works. exhibit. The participants had the opportunity to make artworks from recycled materials.