Introducing “Patchwork Saguaros”
Quilt-like desert landscapes. A series of 72 pieces.
Quick introductions
This blog post is intended to be brief, with a deeper discussion around this new piece coming later after the minting for Patchwork Saguaros has completed.
If you’re just becoming familiar with my generative artwork, you may be interested in reading the blog post that I wrote on my previous piece, Stipple Sunsets. Patchwork Saguaros will be a smaller edition sized piece with 72 mints total vs. the 360 mints in Stipple Sunsets.
Patchwork Saguaros continues to experiment in the style of my previous piece, inspired by elements of printmaking, with additional inspiration from quilt-making. This art form has a familiar warmth to me as I have grown up admiring the quilt work of my bubbie (grandmother). She has an expertise in the art form that has led to her writing a book on the topic!
As someone who spent most of my adolescence in the Sonoran desert of Tucson, Arizona, the desert is place of solace and longing for me. In opposition to the ocean view in my previous piece, which emanates a feeling of escape and vacation, standing among saguaros makes me feel the warmth and comfort of home.
Patchwork Saguaros is inspired by this love for places that feel like home and depicts the saguaro, a cactus that is only found in the Sonoran Desert.
The race for mint #0
Typically when an artist releases a project on Art Blocks, the very first mint off of the press, #0, is reserved for the artist and is minted before public minting is “unpaused”.
While they are not always immediately visually distinct from the rest of their series, these #0 mints are special in the nature that they are the very first for a given project. For Patchwork Saguaros, I thought it would be fun to do something interesting with this mint #0 and allow someone other than myself as the artist to have a turn at getting the first mint.
Tonight I will kick off a 24 hour charity auction for the right to have mint #0. This auction will take form in the auction of a special 1/1 NFT on OpenSea, “Patchwork Saguaros: Coordinate Blueprint”. This NFT is a visual representation of my “coordinate blueprint” for the piece, which I used as a reference while writing the p5js script that is Patchwork Saguaros.
Bidding will begin at the mint price for the series of 0.18 ETH, with no reserve (if OpenSea’s 1E reserve is not met, I will accept the highest bid on the piece), and the winner of the auction will receive both this ceremonial blueprint NFT as well as the very first mint, #0, of Patchwork Saguaros.
Additionally, all of the proceeds of this auction (including the 0.18 ETH mint cost for the piece, which I will cover at the time of minting #0) will be donated to my non-profit of choice for this piece (more on this below in “Continuing to give back”).
While minting will not begin until this coming weekend (Saturday May 15th 2021, at the very earliest), when minting does begin before the project is publicly unpaused, I will mint #0 and transfer it to the winner of the auction.
Check out the auction here: “Coordinate Blueprints: Patchwork Saguaros”
Continuing to give back
As I shared in my previous write up on Stipple Sunsets, giving back through my work is important to me.
Continuing in this spirit, I again will be donating half (it actually will be 51%, in a nod to the significance of this percentage in the world of blockchain, which was a funny note pointed out to me by fellow Art Blocks Factory artist Luke Shannon) of the artist proceeds from Patchwork Saguaros, in addition to all of the auction proceeds from the auctioning mint #0 and the blueprint NFT.
This time I will be donating to an organization that has ties a little bit closer to home: a performing arts scholarship in honor of my late second cousin Nancy who left us too early in life.
The Kent State University Foundation is a not-for-profit entity, that manages donations in accordance with donor wishes, for specific scholarship funds. The Nancy Rockland-Miller Scholarship (19116) is a fund held by the foundation, created to support dance artists, who embody empathy and strive for social justice. Specifically, this scholarship supports professional training opportunities for Kent State Dance Majors or Minors who demonstrate financial need, empathy for others, and the passion and potential for a career in a dance. The aim is to support dance artists with a passion for making the arts an expressive outlet for all children.
In honor of Nancy Rockland-Miller, 1958–2013, who dedicated her life to helping others and provided a stage where physically challenged children were able to be performers. The successful applicant shares a demonstrated interest in Dance Education and in creating life changing opportunities for children to find empowerment through Dance experiences.
More soon
That’s all for now! After minting for Patchwork Saguaros has concluded, I’ll be sure to give another write up that dives into more of the details behind the work. For now, check out some of the Rinkeby testnet mints included at the top of the article and here below and check out the auction on OpenSea if you’d like to bid on owning mint #0 and the blueprint.
💜 🤝
- Jake (rockland.eth)
