Arts in Society grantee HopeWest launched the Art for the Grieving Heart program as a new approach towards helping teens and young adults explore grief through creative means. Joni Beckner, HopeWest’s Kids Director, discusses how art therapy helps adolescents communicate their feelings after the loss of someone close to them.
Our July Make/Shift Monday program involved making unique weavings inspired by drag queen style and glamour. This evening’s program was hosted by local artist Steven Frost. RedLine volunteer and Along the Line blog writer Beth Hoyes was one of the participants and shares this first-person perspective on this program.
I find Clay Hawkley, originally from Idaho, in his studio at the RedLine Contemporary Art Center. He sits opposite me on a foldable metal chair. At one point he takes the chair from under him, activates a kickstand he’s attached to the side of it and props it up at an angle creating a spontaneous sculpture. I am delighted at how quickly he sets it up, like he’s done it a thousand times. This was in response to me asking whether there is a pivotal artwork he’d made that stood out for him.
Heidi Latsky, who was recently featured on Articulate episode called “Dance-able,”began her professional dance career at an old age: 19. Though this number seems strange, to bar someone so young in the eyes of many, in dance it marks a degree where a divide exists between the mind and body. Dancers are unique in their practice, as they consistently work to transcend the separation we perceive between our mind/body- working tirelessly to assume a unity between the two. Her age did not deter her from crossing this divide; working with rigor and intention, Latsky progressed to become a principal dancer with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company (1987-1993). Eventually in 2001, Latsky began her own company Heidi Latsky Dance (HLD).
Reach invites the interloper into a shared space woven by a pioneering social project. If they weren’t so damn positive about sticking it to the man it would be tempting to call it class warfare. But this group holds a light to those who need art most.
Image credit: Leeandra Lujan, A Simple Human Being, 2018
