The Greater Denton Arts Council wants to bring a vending machine to Denton to offer local artists exposure.
The Art-o-mat, a retired cigarette vending machine converted to sell a cigarette pack-sized piece of art for only $5, would be one of only a couple of hundred in the United States. Artists鈥� creations are either on a wooden block or inside a cardboard box, with selections ranging from paintings and photos to trinkets, tiny sculptures and beaded work.
鈥淭he Art-o-mat allows artists a new platform to share their work, and will enhance the vibrant culture that already defines the Denton arts scene,鈥� Krissi Oden, executive director of GDAC, says in a crowdfunding campaign for the project.
GDAC is seeking to raise $3,650 to purchase an Art-o-mat. They鈥檝e raised nearly $800 as of Friday afternoon.
鈥淲hat a cool thing to have at GDAC,鈥� Oden told the Denton Record-Chronicle on Wednesday. 鈥淚t will literally put us on the map. There is an online map that shows you where each machine is [located].鈥�
Oden said Agatha Beines, a professor at Texas Woman鈥檚 University, Mandy Metts, an artist and founder of Mandy Metts Makes, and Kristen Kendrick Bigley, the director of the UNT CoLab, have all been helping to bring the Art-o-mat to Denton.
Metts first discovered Art-o-mat鈥檚 vending machines about five years ago, when she visited a former art teacher who had Art-o-mat pieces on display all around her house in Austin. They went to visit a nearby Art-o-mat machine inside a market.
A year later, Metts and her husband made a point visiting Art-o-mat machines on a road trip across the country; she realized then that they needed to figure out how to bring one to Denton.
鈥淲hen I think about the metroplex and what town represents art, we鈥檙e it and we need to be on the map,鈥� Metts said. 鈥淭he fact that there is one in McKinney and Fort Worth but not in Denton 鈥� we need to step our game up.鈥�
Metts mentioned the idea to Kendrick Bigley, but the idea went on the back burner for a few years after she had her son. Now they鈥檙e ready.
In the meantime, the Mettses have been collecting the art from the machines. They have a wall dedicated to the art from Art-o-mat machines.
Conceptual artist Clark Whittington first came up with the idea for the Art-o-mat in the 1990s. He had friend who was prompted to go to a vending machine whenever he heard someone open a package of , and Whittington wanted to put art in a vending machine so that people would make a habit of buying art.
He sketched out the idea to use a candy vending machine to sell art, and a friend saw it and suggested that he use cigarette vending machines since they were being banned at the time.
Whittington said he didn鈥檛 like the idea of using cigarette machines, but they were inexpensive compared to candy machines.
Whittington hails from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where Camel cigarettes were long made, and put the first Art-o-mat machine there to distribute his art. People responded well to the idea, and nearly 30 years later, Art-o-mat has 200 machines across the country, with eight of them in Texas.
In fact, the Art-o-mat that GDAC is raising money to purchase is the same one Metts saw in Austin.
Whittington has about 100 unrestored vending machines in his warehouse and said he designs every machine to be part of the community.
He stressed that the Art-o-mat is a collaborative effort with local artists. It鈥檚 geared toward highlighting local art, he said, and not about making money. Out of the $5 charge, $2.50 goes to the artist, $1 goes to Art-o-mat and $1.50 would go to GDAC.
鈥淎rt is kind of lawless,鈥� Whittington said. 鈥淭here are people who handle it like a business and others who are resistant to crunching numbers. With the Art-o-mat, money is not the issue, and those who focus on the money make art that is less interesting.鈥�
Whittington said he never turns down artists who want to participate unless their art is belligerent or unsafe. In fact, he stressed that his company is here to help artists, and that he also needs support. But Art-o-mat does have guidelines that artists have to follow 鈥� in part so that the art will dispense properly from the machine. They just have to resubmit if their art isn鈥檛 accepted.
鈥淪ome artists get it and come back with a nice piece, and others take it in a way that they can鈥檛 revisit it,鈥� Whittington said. 鈥淎ny art that is involved has to be safe, worth five bucks and doesn鈥檛 get me arrested.鈥�
Oden said the machines offer local artists a chance to showcase their work, which is submitted through the . If accepted, GDAC will purchase their art from Art-o-mat to stock the vending machine.
The artists鈥� work could also appear in other machines around the country.
As for the $3,650, Oden said it will help pay for the vending machine, shipping and the first round of artwork to fill it.
Oden said the $1.50 the GDAC makes from the art will go into a fund to purchase more art for the Art-o-mat.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not making money,鈥� Oden said. 鈥淭he goal is to provide access to art for everybody and also for local artists to submit their work and have it in the machine and bring people who follow the machines to Denton.
鈥淒enton is cooler than other cities.鈥�