Items

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  2020-08-30

  The Together While Apart Art Project

  I want to share a beautiful story about hope, healing and creativity during the pandemic that originated here in Charleston, South Carolina. It is about how 20 artists from 8 different states got together from afar while physically separated to spread joy and happiness through a large art collaboration. There was no other goal than simply wanting to heal our world.   The Together While Apart Art Project grew from a desire to combat the sadness and isolation that was prevalent during the pandemic. Twenty artists from over 8 states got together from afar to use their creative gifts to collaborate on one large work of art. What is significant about this group project is that each artist channeled the emotions they were experiencing during the height of the global pandemic in hopes of healing themselves as well as providing comfort to a broader audience.   The 20 artists were from many diverse backgrounds and from 8 different states. I was able to locate them through an open call on social media, as well as using contacts generated by a wide range of friends and family. At the onset of this project, the only art supplies I had to send each participant were an abundant supply of recycled shipping boxes. Because much of my art is built from repurposed items, keeping this theme of repurposing for the Together While Apart Art Project was very fitting.  I sent each artist several 6” x 6” square pieces of cut cardboard from these recycled boxes with one simple instruction: think outside of the box! My goal was that through the creative process, each artist would find an outlet for his or her feelings and eventually these emotions would transform into joy. Ultimately, our collective joys would be multiplied and shared with many others through our artwork.  I knew the world needed this dynamic group’s creative gifts. I also knew these amazing participants needed to share their gifts in order to process the current situation the world was in. I can say with certainty, that I am amazed at the outcome. This collaborative piece tells an inspirational story of resiliency, connections and hope during a pandemic that none of us could have imagined a few years ago.  And now, it is time to find this amazing piece a home. If you have a suggestion for an appropriate place that we might donate and/or exhibit this piece, please let me know. I would consider doing a rotation cycle so that several organizations may each enjoy this amazing artwork. Wherever this piece is displayed, I hope it inspires love, warmth, optimism, strength and happiness-the emotions we all felt while creating our individual squares. When people view this beautiful collaboration, they will be reassured that our collective strength grows when we come together by showing love and support for one another. When we connect with one another, we can use our strengths to work towards a greater good. Together, even while apart, we can do great things. And despite the utter chaos and sadness in the world, there are always kind hearted people working to find ways to bring hope and healing to others. Here is a very short video celebrating this project. https://youtu.be/9eGsOCIqESY Fondly,  Deane Bowers  Charleston, SC  804-874-2929
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  2020-09-08

  Waiting for an Elevator

  This video is a representation of how hard COVID has made life for college students, but more importantly, it is a representation of the students' willingness to cooperate and work with each other to make situations flow as smoothly as possible. As first-year college students, we were all incredibly overwhelmed and stressed out by entering a new chapter of our lives, in an entirely new setting that we weren’t used to. In essence, we were thrown into a mess that we didn’t know the outcome of. In fact, we still don’t know the outcome of it. In fact, before the pandemic happened, we all thought we were going to Greece, Hungary, or New Zealand for our study abroad Nuin program. Instead, our options slowly changed to Canada, Ireland, and London, and then eventually dwindled down to Boston or Dublin. This resulted in not only disappointment but a sense of unease for our first semester as college students. We ended up being housed at a local hotel about a mile away from campus. And although none of us liked the rules Northeastern University set for us, regarding guests, partying, and common spaces, we all understood that this was not only to keep us safe but to keep the city of Boston safe as well. I think it’s easy for college students, particularly Northeastern Students, to forget that we are living in a pandemic with serious consequences to the community. Us students are fortunate enough to be getting tested every three days, giving us a blanket of security that ensures we don’t have the virus. But it’s easy to forget that we live in a metropolitan area where others aren’t getting tested. Therefore, if we end up spreading it to other members of the community, we know within three days, but other people within the community don’t. Hence the importance of continuing to maintain social distancing and mask-wearing. This video is one of the hallmark moments of Nuin students maintaining these ideas and bringing a sense of awareness to the community. Because we live in a hotel, there are other guests that are usually spending the weekend in the hotel, and therefore we do interact with visitors frequently. In one such instance, the elevators were backed up in the building, as it was peak “rush hour” and two of the elevators were broken, and there were only 4 people per elevator. This video shows that even without tape on the floor to guide people to stand six feet apart, they did. Even though students could have easily broken rules and gotten into large groups into the elevators, they didn’t. Nuin Boston came together as a community, not only through painting social distancing but upholding the mentality that we should all look out for each other and put others’ needs before our own. I think many people have a lot of negative things to say about the COVID pandemic, which is understandable for many reasons. Even the first thing someone will find when they look up Nuin Boston is a story of how 11 students got kicked out even before classes started. But there will always be outliers. There will always be those that don’t care about others, that will continue to break rules regardless of their consequences. But it is the students and members of the community that care about the well-being of others that will continue to make a positive impact.
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  2020-07-29

  Paint The Void: Health Care Workers & Art

  Health Care workers partnered with the Paint the Void project to bring community, life, hope, art and culture to the San Francisco Bay Area. The goal of this partnership was to create a project to say "thank you for sheltering in place" and "thank you for supporting us" to the community on behalf of San Francisco's essential workers. Paint the Void has created over 91 murals across San Francisco, Berkeley and Oakland. This specific mural tells the story of how interconnected people are and how an act of kindness has the ability to improve life conditions for the entire community. The title of the mural is "How we care shapes who we are." The spirit of community is represented through this specific mural and the Paint the Void initiative.