Guest blogger Sarah Jane Semrad is board president of Art Conspiracy and executive director of La Reunion TX.

In case you’re under a rock, Art Conspiracy 5 is this weekend, December 12 at 7pm.  Under the headline of ‘housekeeping,” let me first direct you to the weather report (cold) and the parking situation.  Wear a coat even though we have heaters and the venue is closed from the cold air.  Think of this as a great opportunity to wear all your cute winter boots, scarves and hats.  Also – be sure to check out the parking map on the Art Conspiracy homepage and note the General Admission parking lot is 2 blocks from the warehouse.  It’s secure and we have professional parking people and off-duty cops as security detail.

Resolana is the beneficiary for Art Con 5.  We at Art Conspiracy believe in the transformative power of art, creativity and community.  The ‘we’ in question is made up of artists, musicians, carpenters, spreadsheet makers and others who care about community.  It’s street level philanthropy.  We invest proceeds from our little event back into the local art economy by funding organizations that use art in their mission.  What we liked about Resolana is how they offer classes in art, dance, creative writing and even anger management to incarcerated women who are looking to change their lives and break the cycle of incarceration. So they can go back to being a mom.  Or sister.  Or daughter.  And be a productive member of our community.

I had the privilege of sitting in an art class a few weeks ago and work with women to make pieces for Art Con 5.  Art Con artwork is typically made with an 18×18 piece of plywood at the event site over the course of a couple hours on the day before we host the party.  It’s our shtick.  The Resolana gals made their pieces in jail over the course of a couple of hours on Nov 13.

Bette and Jennifer first orient the class and explain the materials we’d be using.  We’re limited on what we can bring into the jail and therefore had to be extremely creative with paper, glue and markers for our 18×18 inch boards.  The women had a great time making art all of the Art Conspiracy attendees would enjoy.  Four lucky buyers will get to bid on artwork and take them home.

Art Con tradition is that each we photograph each artist holding his/her work.  With Resolana, it was no different!

Please save the date for Saturday, December 12 at 7pm.  Join us.  Paul Slavens is our emcee and the bands are BoomBoom Box, R2B2, The Crash That Took Me and Telegraph Canyon and featuring artwork by more than 150 local artists.  www.ArtConspiracy.org