What is Your Guidepost? by Molly McCracken

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SEE & DO: Make a collage postcard illustrating a guidepost made of a stack of hand cut “paper rocks” (otherwise known as a “cairn”) thinking about what landmarks capture your attention in your neighborhood. Write a few words on the postcard about what you are mindful of in your community and place it in the box to be mailed back as a reminder at the end of the project.
MEET: Arlington artist Molly McCracken, along with a member from your civic association or a representative from the County’s Arlington Neighborhoods Program.
LEARN: More about the Arlington Neighborhoods Program and Civic Associations and how you can be part of building our communities and noticing what makes them special.

Saturday, June 1, 2024 -  8–noon - Arlington Farmers Market – N. Uhle and 14^th Street N., Courthouse Metro
Tuesday, June 11 - Gunston Middle School – not open to public
Saturday, June 15 - 3–7pm - (entire festival is from 1-7pm) Columbia Pike Blues Festival, Walter Reed Drive at Columbia Pike
Saturday, June 22 - 8–11am –Capital Area Food Bank Community Marketplace at Arlington Mill Community Center plaza, 909 South Dinwiddie Street
Sunday, June 23- 9–1pm - Westover Farmers Market,1644 N. McKinley Road
Saturday, June 29 - 12-4pm (entire festival is 12-7pm)- Arlington Pride Day, Long Bridge Park and parking lot at Aquatics Center, 333 Long Bridge Drive and 475 Long Bridge Drive, Crystal City Metro
Sunday, July 14 - 9–1 pm - Fairlington Farmers Market, 3308 S Stafford Street
Thursday July 18 - 3–7 pm - MoCA on the Move with MoCA Arlington at MET Park, South Elm Street between South 13^th and South 14^th Streets, Crystal City Metro

A stack of rocks along a path to help with wayfinding is called a cairn, a term taken from Scottish Gaelic. Artist Molly McCracken uses pieces of paper in the shapes of rocks to make Paper Cairns (#papercairns) as wayfinding art, a meditative form of seeking balance and being mindful of her surroundings. For this project, choose 3 to 5 hand painted and cut “paper rocks” from a tabletop viewing box. Arrange the rocks on repurposed cardboard postcards in the form of a cairn or guidepost, thinking about landmarks or monuments in your neighborhood and community. After making the cairn postcard, write a handful of words on the back that describe what you feel. Postcards will be dropped in the Art Truck mailbox and sent back at the end of the project in early August, as a reminder of what you were noticing in that moment of focus and observation.

The Community Partner for this project is the Arlington Neighborhoods Program. Meet a member of the local civic association and learn more about the Arlington Neighborhood Program.  

The Arlington Neighborhoods Program (formerly Neighborhood Conservation Program) helps improve and enhance Arlington neighborhoods. When the program was created in 1964, the goal was to empower residents by having them come together to discuss and share ideas for improving their neighborhoods. Today, the program provides funding for a variety of improvements, including: installation of sidewalks, curbs and gutters, streetlights, signs, park improvements, neighborhood art and beautification.

Learn more about the artist

^{Video by Richard Howard for Arlington Arts}