Let's Go To Hawaii

If it were not for the efforts of the fearless crew, the Minnow would be lost.

The Lehigh Senior Citizens Center is the epicenter for fun-over-60 in Allentown. In essence it crochets together a multi-faceted quilt of entertainment and adventure for those fortunate enough to be in the elite "seniors" club. If they can't bring only the best acts here, they will fill a bus and hunt down the good times that are rightfully theirs. In collaboration with the Mayfair folks we had the opportunity to spend a day at the center and make some murals for everyone that had not taken off on a bus earlier that day.
Tape Art Vacation Getaway

Before the lambada, the forbidden dance was unarguably the hula.

The word on the street was that in 1999 the members of the Lehigh Senior Citizens Center would be transported from their land-locked haven in Allentown to the island paradise that is - Hawaii. The excitement in the air was tangibly thick. We decided to capitalize on their enthusiasm and create a mural that was, actually, more of a prediction for the future. The palm trees determined the location, the grass skirts established the fashion and the pina coladas set the mood. Enlisting anybody who dared to make eye contact with us as a model, we quickly filled the wall with hula-hooping mamas and grass-skirt-shakin' papas.

This lady is depicted using the only tool on the market that is actually designed to help with the development of hula dancing skills.

. This woman's openly festive disposition got her enlisted as our first model. Here she is doing the hula and setting the flavor for the rest of the mural.

The evolution of the little umbrellas that are put into drinks must be an interesting one. We just have no idea what it is. But they define fashion over function. First of all they are too small to protect the whole drink from rain. Second of all, even if it were bigger, in the rain all you would end up with is a big smush of soggy paper on a thick chunk of balsa wood. And as for the colors...

COLLABORATIVE MURAL
with Dieruff High Students

When we were at the Dieruff High School the previous week we invited any student who was interested to come join us at the Senior Center to do some collaborative Tape Art work for the old folks. The students were given charge of the theme and layout of the mural and we became mere brushes in their hands. It was a pleasant change to take a back seat in the project.

A rare representaton of wind done in tape.
Here is one of the students wrapping up the cake bearer. The figure was actually modeled from her mom who came to hang out and watch the mural's creation, then deciding it was so much fun she gave tape art a go herself. Can you find the other Tape Artists? The theme that they chose for their mural was a birthday party. It is safe to say that in this environment a celebration of another year past is a big-big occasion and we went forward to fashion the event with many cone birthday hats, balloons and oh so many candles.
Future protector of the free world.

This young guy was soon to graduate and then serve some time in the military to help pay for college. He is a fantastic Tape Artist and we have every confidence that his aritistic abilities will not be stunted by his time in the trenches.