Tenacity Art
Digital that Empowers.
Steel that Heals,
Social Justice Projects
CArts Art Project
The CArts Project was created responding to the Housing Crisis of 2008. The project occurred in Denver, Colorado, which I intrinsically sensed had an abnormally high homeless population. During the research phase, I learned why the homeless population was so high. Two highways intersect the city and the nation, I-25 runs North and South, and I-70 runs East and West. People become trapped in Denver trying to reach Canada/Mexico or California/East Coast. As a result, there is a higher homeless population in Denver. It proved my instincts to be correct. Additionally, the homeless population was being marginalized in Denver as the city created and enforced a "No Camping" law across the city. However, Denver did not provide more beds in shelters or resources for the city's homeless. To change this stigmatization of a population in need, I created The CArts Project. In the project, homeless participants would be given a shopping cart, a stigmatized symbol of homelessness, and transformed into a sculpture that represented who they were as a person. The Drum Set pictured above was a creation of an artist/homeless participant. As he stated, "Drumming in a drum circle at the 16th Street Mall was the only thing that got me through (homelessness). The cold and pain would melt away. I would have pure joy, even if just for a moment. Music helped me to keep holding on. Now others can participate in a drum circle and share my love of music." Later, the Drum Set was selected by DAVA to perform at a Downtown Aurora First Friday Art Walk. DAVA is an organization that brings art to Aurora youth. The kids seen playing the Drum Set are from the DAVA program. Due to the homeless crisis, DAVA would drive to the motels along Colfax Avenue, pick up homeless kids from their "motel homes," and bring them to DAVA for art lessons. Hence, some of the kids pictured above are homeless.
The Immigration Project
Healing Is... Project
The Immigration Project was created in response to illegal immigration. Since I grew up in Southern Colorado, many of my friends were illegal immigrants that worked the farms in the area. In the news, illegal immigrants were seen, in my view, as "less than human," however, for me, they were my friends, neighbors, and, hence, my community. I wanted to change the stigmatization while giving the younger kids in my area help to get into art school. Art in high school is notorious for being underfunded. The underfunding is even more true in rural farming communities. Many students live in the United States for half of the year. Hence, schools only received half of the funding. These kids and their families would stay in the USA during the farm season and return to Mexico for the winter, which is why they are called "illegal immigrants." Once the USA/Mexico border was closed, families were trapped and separated. As result, "illegal immigrant" kids are lost between two worlds and have even fewer resources. So to help these kids, I taught high achieving art students from Manzanola Schools. I taught them sculpture, photography, and graphic design as these were the skills many students in the school lacked to get into college level art programs. Students learned Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, and Final Cut Pro. As a result of this program, half of the students successfully attended college art programs.
The video above was a stop motion project created by one of the students, Brian, using Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects and Final Cut Pro. It was inspired by the work of Pes. Below is the photography work created by the students along with images of their sculptures.
Description:
This is a collaborative project between myself and multiple organizations across the state of Connecticut. Some of the current collaborators are: Artreach, Inc., Mental Health Connecticut, Trinity Episcopal Church, Prime Time House Inc., NW Cultural Coalition, Culture Coalition of South Eastern Connecticut, Five Points Gallery and Art Center, Reliance Health. Currently, I am collecting stories from survivors of COVID-19 which will then be projected on the side of a building during a mental wellness fair. This will be a traveling exhibit across the state of Connecticut.