About

$66,424

pledged of $25,000 goal

596

backers

With the Winnebago Workshop, we want to show teens how they can venture out into the world and creatively engage with the people and places around them. 

Our first goal is to discover and recruit a crackerjack collection of teen artists.  We will connect with local teachers, artists and community organizers to scout for a diverse selection of young visual storytellers of all disciplines. 

Our second goal is to create a mobile learning environment.  By converting an old RV into an art school on wheels, we plan to make the world our classroom.  Along with the LBM team, we’ll regularly bring in (or pick up!)  successful artists and mentors to work closely with the participants. 

Our final goal is to engage with the broader community.  We want to show how students can give back to the community through storytelling.  In each area we visit, we’ll create public "pop-up" events such as slideshows of the students' work projected on the side of the RV. 

Who is Alec Soth & what is Little Brown Mushroom? 

Alec Soth (b. 1969) is a photographer born and based in Minnesota.  He has published over 25 books and has had more than 50 solo exhibitions.  In 2015 The Guardian newspaper in England called him “the most important visual chronicler of the US at work today.” 

In 2008, Alec Soth created Little Brown Mushroom as a sandbox to experiment with visual storytelling.  In the last seven years he’s collaborated with a diverse group of artists and writers on numerous award-winning publications and the successful (and highly publicized) "Summer Camp for Socially Awkward Storytellers." 

Why is this important? 

To be an artist is to see the world in new ways.  To teach an artist is to educate in new ways.  With the Winnebago Workshop, we want to help shape the next generation of artists, reshape how art is taught and help more people feel the benefit of an artist’s attention to – and care for – the surrounding world. 

Why Kickstarter? 

Community.  Art enriches the entire community, not just those making it.  So we want to let the community enrich itself.  With your support, we can make sure the Winnebago Workshop remains free for all students.  Kickstarter also enables us to share the progress of the workshop and the art made by the participants with a creative and committed global audience. 

What will your contribution support? 

With your help, the Winnebago Workshop can keep traveling.  Your contribution means that more students will be given free access to more teachers on the road.  You will quite literally be fueling the Winnebago Workshop vision.  Funding will be matched by the Knight Foundation through its Knight Arts Challenge. 

Pledge $10,000 - You get to personalize a vanity plate for The Winnebago

Risks and challenges

Little Brown Mushroom has hosted two workshops, one with adults and one with teens, so we're relatively new to education.  But we've learned a tremendous amount and know we're onto something great with the Winnebago Workshop. 

Kickstarter is not a store. 

Pledge $75 or more
About $75

19 Teens by Alec Soth (Signed) - Kickstarter Exclusive Book! 

Inspired by The Winnebago Workshop, Alec selected photographs of teens from his archive.  19 Teens includes pictures from notable bodies of work like Niagara and Last Days of W along with never before seen pictures. 

Edition of 500 (signed).  These books will only be available via Kickstarter. 

Kickstarter is not a store. 

Pledge $300 or more
About $300

Rare Sleeping by the Mississippi Diesel jacket (Signed). 

Sleeping by the Mississippi is probably Alec's best known body of work.  Alec didn’t license this Diesel jacket featuring a Sleeping by the Mississippi patch, but the parties have resolved their differences.  Now one of these rare, out of production jackets can be yours.  A truly odd and exceedingly rare item for your collection. 

Kickstarter is not a store. 

Pledge $1,000 or more
About $1,000

Have your own personal workshop with Alec. 

Buyers of this reward will spend 2+ hours with Alec either by visiting his studio in Minnesota or via Skype.  Discuss the working life of being an artist, have your photographs critiqued, or play ping pong. 

Also included is a signed and personalized copy of Ping Pong Conversations, a book-length interview of Alec Soth by Francesco Zanot.