Getting Grandma involved in chair making

Peter just heard from his grandma last night. She called to let him know she'd already finished making five canvas chair backs. We'll post pictures as soon as she mails them from Kansas! Check back soon to get a sneak peak at the color combinations!

Just Rest @ #Big Omaha

Hey, this is Peter: Big Omaha is upon us! (well in about 8 hours anyway). We just finished up our installation tonight and Kjell and I hit up Niccola's before heading over to Slowdown (Hopluia on tap = awesome) to meet up with Leslie and Christian from Mosaic. Great turnout! It's always awesome to go to a place and meet so many new people. I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Special thanks to Jeff (@jjsnyc) and Erin (@tinyxl) and all the folks at Big Omaha for all their support and help!

Oh yeah, hey - follow us on Twitter (@justrest). We'll be posting regular updates, including photos of our progress.

A small setback... and an opportunity

We learned earlier today that we unfortunately did not receive grant funding we applied for to fund Just Rest.  However, we're charging full steam ahead with our more grass-roots fundraising approach. We believe our combination of a good cause and innovative service and design concepts will be a tempting target for donors looking for a way to make a big difference with potentially smaller pocket books. 

If you're interested in donating resources - money, materials, time - to the Just Rest project, you can do so through Mosaic Community Development (www.mosaiccd.org).

Check back in the coming days as we'll be launching an online donation option.

Drum Roll Please... Commencing Just Rest

Leslie, Kjell and Peter are proud to have been invited to unveil Just Rest at the Big Omaha conference on Friday, May 8. If you're at Big Omaha, please check out our installation. Be sure to grab one of our limited edition info cards. Each one is individually stamped and numbered (edition of 400) by one of the three of us. You can also get a sneak-peak of prototypes of the art pieces we'll be creating throughout the Just Rest project.

Together, with the help of volunteers, donors and interested parties we will create a lasting change that will benefit Omaha's homeless and the Omaha-metro-area, and that will serve as a model for community engagement and service for other cities!

If you weren't fortunate to land a coveted spot at Big Omaha, here are a few photos of our work.

Leslie Iwai is already well known for her architectural forms (check out the "Sounding Stones" in Elmwood Park). Here, she turns her attention 

to a smaller, poured form evocative of a bed roll or pillow. Speaking of pillows, Leslie will also make a series of vinyl bird pillows (check out our current user id image). 

Kjell Cronn has spent the last two decades exploring installation and performance. For Just Rest, we'll be collecting old shoes and Kjell and our participants will create new work from their ashes. Through adorning and re-imagining a series of old shoes, participants will have an opportunity to share their story through a set of formerly useless shoes. What would you do with three shoes?

Just Rest is a perfect vehicle for Peter Cales' interest in chairs and the theory of relational aesthetics. We're going to shoot for making 50 chairs. Peter's chairs always include an element of interactivity - within the chair, or implied by the interactivity between the chair and user. The Just Rest chair is no different, as we hope it will spark lasting and positive relationships in all the participants who help make them. some of our most vulnerable citizens.

Can you accept the challenge to move beyond your comfort zone and work for justice alongside some of our most vulnerable citizens?