Bringing Home Bricolage

Anne Willson 

It feels like it's been ages since Bricolage, a Greensboro community arts space offering re-purposed materials for local artists and arts workshops by local artists closed it's doors after just 2 years.

From Wikipedia :: The term “bricolage” is borrowed from the French word bricolage, from the verb bricoler, the core meaning in French being, "fiddle, tinker" and, by extension, "to make creative and resourceful use of whatever materials are at hand (regardless of their original purpose)". A person who engages in bricolage is a bricoleur.

I am a bricoleur. And even though Bricolage is closed :: and I will not be able to pop in to see Anne Willson's smiling face . . . what she taught me will stay with me for the rest of my life.

Anne had a vision. She offered our community an eco and people friendly environment to explore creativity.

John Skau's Wood Strips

In her own words "The mission of Bricolage is to inspire and support creativity in the Piedmont Triad. We achieve this by providing low-cost re-purposed materials, workshops, affordable space for creative activities, and projects that generate the production of new art works by community members. Our programs support residents of all ages and skill levels to experience creativity so as to strengthen the individuals and their communities, and to help sustain our local cultural resources."

Helping the community.

I had the honor to work with Anne on John Skau’s Wood: A Point of Departure.

John Skau, a respected world renowned local artist passed away in October of 2007, leaving behind a shop full of materials he would have used to create his amazing works. John’s wife, Judy West, donated much of the wood to Bricolage - with the hopes of literally weaving John’s wood into the community. Anne, Lynne and Myself worked together with over 20+ local artists to honor John's memory. We were his weavers. We were Bricoleurs.

So when I went shopping at Bricolage for the last time. . .

I wanted to bring Bricolage home. I wanted to surround my self with things that would remind me of the friendships I gained, the lessons in giving I learned . . . and the motto that Anne had on display in the window that gave me, and probably many others, that boost that we needed every single visit . . .


"What would you do if you knew you would never fail?"

@BritneySpears singing Alanis Morissette cover has put Greensboro, North Carolina on the social media map

My friend @eddiehuffman, Special Sections Writer to the @NewsandRecord, sent me a message via facebook and invited me to join him Saturday for the @BritneySpears concert in Greensboro.

Having only been to 2 concerts (pause for dramatic

gasps) I was curious as to what kind of Circus Miss Britney would bring to the 'Boro and how social media would be used by all involved.

The news from the Big Top is the You Tube Videos of Britney covering Alanis Morisettes 'You outta Know' . . . These alone should be proof of how busy everyone was with various techie devices (myself included) taking photo's/video, updating facebook and twitter statuses - ultimately watching the entire circus through the camera lens.

Leading up to the main attraction @1075kzl and @britneyspears held a twitter contest where Ashley Miller from Greensboro won VIP tickets.

Even Britney's Facebook fanpage updated fans of the contest as well as sharing the You Tube video from fans.

@Gbocoliseum added to the buzz by annoucing that Britney brought 30 trucks worth of equipment and sharing pictures right before the concert via @twitpic.

The Social Media sideshow has brought and continues to bring thousands of Britney fans to Greensboro, North Carolina. . . I am sure the local business owners and the city of Greensboro are grateful to have hosted Britney's Circus.