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I
used to be a firefighter for our local volunteer department.
There is a part of me that wants to be helpful to my neighbors,
to the larger community, to causes outside my small sphere.
But I am afraid of fire and after 10 years, decided I would try
to find ways of making a contribution as an artist.
The
Local Heroes Project
invited 12 non-profits to nominate someone for a “good deed” award.
I wanted to help my town, Catskill in its revitalization efforts
by recognizing its greatest resource, its people.
My portraits and essays on each award winner were published over
12 weeks in the local paper. The
recipients were honored in a ceremony at the Catskill Community Center
and the work was exhibited in vacant storefront windows on Catskill’s
Main Street. I
advertised the festivities with a billboard leading into town as well as
postal cancellation stamp commemorating the events.
School
Project:
When my writer husband
and I heard that our local elementary schools were to be closed in favor
of a new building, we decided to spend the last year documenting these
19th century edifices which have supported the education generations
of children. We visited before the children arrived in September and
throughout the year in classrooms, playgrounds, lunchrooms and
teacher’s offices. We were there for the final good-bye ceremonies and
even poked around the buildings months after they had been empty. The
stories and pictures filled the lobby of the new elementary building,
greeting parents, teachers and students on their first day of school.
Besides celebrating our community’s history, this project was meant to
bring attention to education in general and our area’s architectural
resources.
Who
We
Are/Where-We
Live:
This was an
after school and summer project for kids at the Catskill Community
Center.
We started with photograms, laying objects we found in our
pockets on light sensitive paper to represent a self-portrait.
They learned to develop black and white prints, played with hand
coloring and made a mosaic mural out of their first project.
Other assignments asked the participants to photograph an object
or a toy, which represents them. They photographed places that hold some secret importance.
For their final project, they photographed who they would like to
become in 20 years. Imagine
loading film in complete darkness with 8 little kids, screaming just to
hear themselves. They
learned to develop film and make excellent prints.
The final works were exhibited at our county’s arts council
gallery. We plan to make
post-cards
from the kids’ work to be sold in Catskill’s Main Street stores.
The proceeds will keep the Community Center’s darkroom stocked
with film and paper.
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