Watch out for flying art!

Make that FREE flying art, rolled up and delivered this Saturday at...well, I don't know. But that's Papergirl Charlotte for you.

The organization, which started here in autumn 2009, came out of an idea in Berlin three years earlier. Aisha Ronniger began Papergirl there as a response to tightened German graffiti laws, which equated putting up art posters in public places with spraying graffiti on walls.

The manifesto is simple: "Making art for the sake of art. Giving it away for the sake of giving." (To learn about the local group, see its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Papergirl-Charlotte/171793068998.)

This must be the most egalitarian art project ever. The site explains that "there are no guidelines as to quantity or format: zines, prints, drawings, paintings, photos, textiles, stickers, writings, etc. are all welcome." The only criterion is that you must be able to roll your piece up, so it can be delivered like a newspaper.

Artists can make works alone or together, in private or at public art-making sessions. They can be handed to organizer Mark Doepker or mailed to him in Huntersville. (See "about" on the site.) The pieces get assembled in a public, non-curated show on one day, then handed out the next.

They'll be on view Friday at Pura Vida Worldly Art, 3202-A N. Davidson St., which is open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. You can't buy them -- all of them must be given away on Saturday -- but you can contact an artist if you want a similar piece made.

On delivery day, bicyclists go out into the streets of Charlotte. They put bands around rolled-up artworks that explain the project and ride wherever they choose, handing pieces out to "catchers" chosen at random. There's a celebration afterward, and then the process starts all over for the following spring.

"The world needs more art and kindness," says the site, and who can argue with that sentiment? I hadn't  planned to leave the house Saturday afternoon, but now I'm wondering just where those bicycles might go....