Artist Intake

October 2nd, 2013
MARÍA ELENA ÁLVAREZ Marcalibro, 2013

MARÍA ELENA ÁLVAREZ
Marcalibro, 2013

Over the last few months I’ve been working as a volunteer registrar alongside the incredible staff of Groundswell, a Brooklyn-based, female-directed non-profit whose work aims to bring together artists, youth, and community organizations while using art as a tool for social change.

My involvement with this organization began when two of my classmates from New York University’s Visual Arts Administration program found themselves working at the Groundswell studio. When my friends told me about the organization’s need I welcomed the opportunity to support the public art initiative. I was also excited to gain more hands-on experience working with an organization that would repay my efforts with a sense of agency along the way.

Throughout my experience with the staff I found myself feeling very fulfilled by such a well-defined role within the team. Wearing many hats is typical for creative work, so I was glad to have the unique opportunity to focus on one project, their annual benefit and the intake of artworks. I was able to dedicate a significant amount of time toward its success alongside the permanent staff, seeing the project through many stages of progress.

During this time, I have been impressed with Groundswell’s artistic merits as well as its dedication to socially impactful projects. Groundswell’s program includes public art (in the form of murals,) youth programs (under the headings of Leadership, Empowerment, and Development,) and other special initiatives within the community – including working with youth at all stages of involvement within the criminal justice continuum.

The people at Groundswell have provided me with renewed hope for the achievement of that zen-like balance required in community organizing between aesthetics and the notion of communal responsibility. Because of my positive experience working directly with their Development and Communications Director, Sharon Polli, I plan to investigate their organization further as an academic example of successful community arts organizational leadership.

As I have spent my time at the Groundswell headquarters, I felt welcomed by the entire range of staff and volunteers in a way that has moved me. Whether I was brainstorming with one of their youth interns at the studio or checking in with their director, Amy Sananman, there was a truly communal sense of shared responsibility, shared success; as well as creative and intellectual equality. I believe that this sense of dignity flows from the hearts of each supporter of the organization, from the board and committee members to the donating artists and volunteer art handlers.

I contemplated delaying the publication of this article, in order to report on concrete successes of the forthcoming benefit. However, I decided that it would be more fun to invite you readers to view a small curated selection of my favorite works donated for Groundswell’s 17th Annual Art Auction while they are still available for bidding!

Beginning with the above work by Maria Elena Alvarez, below are just a few more that I enjoy.

*To attend the benefit auction at Christie’s in New York City, this Monday October 7th

find full details here: www.groundswellmural.org/benefit

ALEXANDRA POSEN Tolstoy, 2012

ALEXANDRA POSEN
Tolstoy, 2012

SOFIA MALDONADO Un verano en Nueva York, 2013

SOFIA MALDONADO
Un verano en Nueva York, 2013

 

HANNAH COLE Tape #3, 2009

HANNAH COLE
Tape #3, 2009

GROUNDSWELL YOUTH Beautifying Riverbank, 2013

GROUNDSWELL YOUTH
Beautifying Riverbank, 2013

NICKY ENRIGHT What on Earth (Do you Mean?), 2010

NICKY ENRIGHT
What on Earth (Do you Mean?), 2010

GROUNDSWELL YOUTH You Can Take Our Homes But You Can't Take Our Hearts, 2013

GROUNDSWELL YOUTH
You Can Take Our Homes But You Can’t Take Our Hearts, 2013

**AUCTION HIGHLIGHT**

Honoree Artist, Swoon, has offered a studio visit experience…

SWOON Experience: Studio Tour and Lunch , 2013

SWOON
Experience: Studio Tour and Lunch , 2013

 

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Guest Writer: Eva Ting & her Many Hopes

February 8th, 2013

Photo Credit: Firefly Image Works

I love asking people for money. Let me rephrase; I love asking people to invest in causes that matter with resources that make a difference. Over the last several years, I’ve solicited friends and families with passionate pleas to give their dollars towards various social justice projects: from providing heart transplants for orphaned infants in China to building wells for clean water across Africa. In the last couple of years, I’ve become particularly involved with a non-profit organization serving abandoned and impoverished children in Kenya. The organization, Many Hopes, possesses a mission to educate, nurture and empower children who have suffered injustice so that they may be cultivated to become just and compassionate leaders in their communities and even country one day. Many Hopes’ vision is marked by long-term impact and patient investment with the acknowledgement that true transformation takes time and consistent involvement. In our contemporary American culture marked by instant gratification and quick results, a cause characterized by slow and steady investment without immediate tangible change seems almost paradoxical. But it is for this very reason that I am adamant about Many Hopes’ capacity to create true impact. EXPAND POST

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