Individual Artist: Community Collaboration
Individual Artist: Community Collaboration
A Moment in Granite
Cheri Buzzeo: theater, music, The Barn Theatre administration, Willmar Main St participant; Jessica Welu: writing, music, SW Regional Development Commission; Anna Johannsen: fiber artist, art teacher, Remick Gallery board, president of Windom Women's Investment group, treasurer of Cottonwood County Animal Rescue, officer of Cotton Quilters; Georgette Jones: literature teacher, theatre actor/director/teacher; David KelseyBassett: visual artist, musician, Hinterland Art Crawl board; Shawn Kinsinger: theater director, actor, musician, Palace Theatre executive director, Green Earth Players vice president, Luverne Street Music board member, Luverne High School Theater artistic director; Darlene Kotelnicki: theater, city council, library board. Kristen Kuipers: musician, private lesson and K-12 classroom music instructor, theater, writing, volunteer with Jackson Center for the Arts; Cheryl Avenel Navara: education, Worthington Public Arts Commission chair, SW MN Opportunity Council volunteer; Alison Nelson: art, music, and dance teacher, KMS Community Ed director, Kerkhoven Fire Department Auxiliary fundraiser; Anne O'Keefe-Jackson: human resources director, bead and quill work; Michele Huggins: Granite Area Arts Council treasurer and volunteer, member of the Artisan Grain Collaborative, founding member of ACHALA; Betsy Pardick: musician, actor, Dept. of Public Transformation committees; Michele Knife Sterner: theater (actor), SMSU Associate director for Access Opportunity Success program; Louella Voigt: music, fiber art; Blue Mound Area Theatre board; Erica Volkir: performing arts, Pipestone Performing Arts Center board, Pipestone Area Chamber of Commerce and CVB director; Janine Teske: music, theater, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley school board; Mark Wilmes: Lake Benton Opera House board president, actor/director, musician, reporter;
Robert Dorlac, visual art, education; Jais Gossman Lacktorin, multidiscipline; Daryl Hrdlicka, theater, film; Georgette Jones, theater, education, SMAC Board; Michele Leininger, writing; Eva Miller, visual art; Mark Wilmes, theater, music; SMAC Board
ACHF Arts Access ACHF Arts Education
I have worked heavily in community art, and amassing stories to composite the idea of a person or place, but never delved heavily into the identity of a single community. So while the work will be familiar, its depth of place is an exciting new challenge for me. I am also thrilled at the idea of taking something I have worked in heavily digital media in, and creating an art object that can be held, poured through, and saved ? passed down to future generations commemorating this place and moment in time. I love the image of being able to hand community members their own words, their parents' recipes, their own memories as art. Reframing art as a community action, that brings us together and enables us to understand each other and the place we share better, is a hugely compelling purpose. It will be interesting to measure demographics of attendees for these final public events, and see how many new relationships are made as a result of these shared experiences and conversations. Statistically, it's difficult to measure relational impact, but we will be distributing surveys to participants, audience members, and even with book purchases to catalog responses, and potentially change as a result of the project.
This project really grew my experience in the art that I do. I think posting it on my creations page really brought me some extra audience. This project really is one of the best that I have ever been able to do thanks to the grant that I received to buy all the extra expensive materials. I compared my work to past star quilts that I've attempted and really learned more patience with this kind of creation.