Art in the Depot
Has Made You the Artist ...
For Ten Creative,
Collaborative,
Community-Connected
Years 

At the Marion Arts Festival, everyone’s an artist.

The annual creation of a participatory public art piece – known as "Art in the Depot" – offers every community member the opportunity to contribute hands-on toward the production of a public art treasure.  A program founded and sustained by Farmers State Bank, past “Depot” projects can be seen in Marion City Hall, Public Library, Heritage Center Museum and Post Office, among other Cedar Rapids metro area locations.

Our special 2010/10th anniversary "Art in the Depot" project featured guest artists Tiny Circus.  A stop-action animation troop who travel the country in converted Airstream trailers, Tiny Circus brings its own special style to communities, working hands on with participants of all ages to create and animate collaborative stories of how certain pieces of history (almost) came to pass.  Run, don't walk, to watch the deceptively simple genius – in both storytelling and technical achievement – of their "History of ..." series.  Run!  And then meet us back here.

Festival attendees were invited to work toward the creation of a whole-community animation, a film during which grass grew, flowers bloomed, clouds floated and bees buzzed, all a result of the day-long opportunity to pull on a quick costume and pick up the dance where the last group of attendees left off.  Trust us, and watch the Tiny Circus video in the upper right of this page.  

In addition to this site, the animation is available for viewing on the lobby monitors of all Farmers State Bank branches, the City of Marion and the Marion Chamber of Commerce.  Further, the film will become part of the archives of the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art and has been distributed to metro area libraries.

Pre-festival, Tiny Circus and CRMA staff and volunteers worked with students at Marion's Francis Marion Intermediate School, to create a Grant Wood-themed animation that will become a part of the video introduction shown guests at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art Grant Wood Studio and Visitor Center.  Check back to view our editing progress.