DREAM ~ CREATE ~ CONNECT

COMMUNITY STAR MAPPING

Each participant receives a tightly wound ball of soft woolen yarn... as they wind their yarn together around and across the trees the question is asked "How do you see your light in community?" Together we create a web in an effort to uphold one large crystal at it's center. As each yarn ball continues to be unwound the violet yarn turns to delicate silver thread and finally the silver thread unfolds to reveal a tiny crystal at its center representing each individual's inner star now woven into the collaborative web. Upon completion the web balances and holds the larger crystal, a larger light available through our collective efforts~

In Partnership with: Wilderness Wisdom Journeys

THE HUMAN WEB PROJECT (all ages)

A community-centered interactive art project for all ages, the Human Web Project focuses on the interconnection between human beings as experienced through the metaphor of thread. Choosing from spools of many different colors of yarn or thread participants are shown how to attach yarn to the installation space. Participants then weave the threads around a given space intuitively. Throughout this process a multi-colored web forms, mapping the collaborative movement that has taken place, leaving behind a rainbow web installation to enjoy. 

In partnership with: Emerson Umbrella Center for the Arts (Concord, MA), Lemual Shadduck Hospital (Boston, MA),  Cambridge Friend's School (Cambridge, MA), Massachusetts College of Art and Design Community Partnerships (Boston, MA), Boston Children's Museum (Boston, MA)

WEAVING STORIES: A Collaborative Community Portrait (12 and up)

Participants  are invited to participate in a collaborative weaving project by bringing in a personal object and weaving it into a large handmade wall loom. After adding to the weaving each participant is asked to identify the item they wove and share it’s meaning and significant in the personal landscape of their lives. The Weaving and its corresponding stories are displayed  as a communal portrait for all to enjoy. 

In partnership with: The Jeremiah Burke High School (Boston, MA), Buckingham Browne & Nichols (Cambridge, MA), Massachusetts College of Art and Design Center for Art and Community Partnerships (Boston, MA)

ICE TERRARIUMS: Creating Without Leaving a Trace (all ages)

This project was created in response to an activity called “Mission Hill Cleanup.” Participants were asked to help clean up the neighborhood park by picking up trash. After this activity, participants were presented with tables full of organic materials such as flowers, seedpods, sticks, leaves, and grasses. Using plastic recyclable containers they filled them carefully with the organic materials provided. . Participants then add water to their containers.The containers are placed in a freezer over night. The following week we retrieve our ice sculptures and pull them out of their containers outside to enjoy. Together we talk about how our art was made not to last but to disappear as part of a natural process that happens with organic materials. We then compare this to the idea of littering and re-connect it the purpose of the “Mission Hill Cleanup” and treating our environment with care. 

In Partnership with: Massachusetts College of Art and Design Center for Art and Community Partnerships (Boston, MA), Tobin Community Center (Boston, MA), Emerson Umbrella Center for The Arts (Concord, MA), Cambridge Friends School (Boston, MA)

COMFORT OBJECTS: Based on the work of artist Leighton Collier Roux (12 and up)

Participants are shown a brief presentation on artists that make work that responds directly to the body and ideas of comfort. Participants are invited to experience a myriad of different herbal smells and different types of fabrics ranging from rough to silky and filling of various kinds including rice, beans, and traditional soft stuffing that can be used in their creation. Using these materials each individual  designs a hand-sized soft sculpture that responds to their own comfort needs. 

In Partnership with: Massachusetts College of Art and Design's Saturday Studios' Parent Group (Boston, MA), Buckingham Browne & Nichols (Cambridge, MA), The Jeremiah Burke High School (Boston, MA)

WAKING DREAM CIRCLE: Thoughts as Creative Actions (all ages)

Participants are invited to experience a short guided meditation. The group is invited to dream about the world we truly wish to be in. It is suggested to imagine each detail; how it feels, tastes, smells, looks, and sounds like. Other forms of this activity involve finding three wishes; one for yourself, one for your community, and one for the earth. The meditation is guided by the sound of a singing bowl and is completed by the choice to share your dreams with the group. 

In Partnership with: Time, Body, Space, Object (Spectacle Island, MA), Leslie University (Cambridge, MA), Oklahoma University (Norman, OK)

OFFERINGS: Practicing the Art of Kindness (all ages)

In this collaborative art making workshop kindness as an action is used as a non-traditional material much the way performance artists use actions as an art medium. Participants are invited to create collaborative flower wreaths and when finished offer them to strangers or in the case of younger participants offer them as a gift to family members or friends. The experience is a key part to this process based art making and the sparkling feeling participants get when they give something away is part of the creative interactive experience that they enjoy. 

In partnership with: Grace Exhibition Space (Brooklyn, NY)