Grace Slips In

Several years ago when I was writing the application for my first Leeway Foundation Art & Change Grant I took advantage of one of the information sessions that they offer for each cycle.
This gives you an opportunity to have your proposal reviewed before you send it out. If available, this is highly recommended for any grant you may be applying for. I thought working with this underserved group of new mothers was aligned Leeway's mission to "promote artistic expression that amplifies the voices of those on the margins, promotes sustainable and healthy communities, and works in the service of movements for economic and social justice."  

Turns out it was, but I had to rethink, and repurpose how I approached my proposal. A shift to truly seeing the power of Art for Social Change. 
When I wrote my first draft in 2010 for the printmaking workshops with YoungMoms, I initially set out to teach these young mom new skills and offer a place for community and self expression.
Sounds good, right? Not quite. What Makes a Leeway Artist? The difference I learned is that it is not so much about teaching with its implications of status and power, but more about sharing and building community. And once that shift happens, that is where grace slips in and the real social change occurs.

Justine and Bridge with their sculpture- The Power of Love

We see each other as equals, empowered and uplifted by each other's stories, insights and experiences.

Putting on the finishing touches

And that is exactly what happened with our YoungMoms Women of Courage and Influence project that wrapped up this week. To read more about the project in Chester County Press click here.

Volunteer Barb Proto packing it up and heading out...

The projects completed during these workshops will be on exhibit at the YoungMoms 3rd Annual Community Brunch Hope Blooms on Saturday, April 26. 

Works in Progress with YoungMoms

Brooke and Brooke(?)

This week wraps up the art workshops with YoungMoms of Kennett Square, PA funded by a Leeway Foundation ACG 2013. 

YoungMoms and mentors get down and work together on the mixed media
figurative sculptures

 The goal of the project is to work together collaboratively with a variety of materials and media while we learn about women who have overcome challenges and adversity to make a positive impact on the world.

We always start with a great home made meal prepare by wonderful volunteers from the community and then the kids go off to play in another room with the two sitters while we get down to work.

YM Executive Director Linda Mercner, left,
with volunteer extraordinaire
Barbara Proto on right

Our first two sessions together had us creating collage portraits of different women followed by a session making exquisite corpses.  We are now well into creating mixed media sculptures of our own super women.

Using inkjet prints of the YoungMoms faces we used Liquitex gel medium to create image transfers onto Crayola Model Magic- reminding us that we create our own future, and anything is possible.

The Power of Love
by Justine

The images transferred onto the surface with varying degrees in tact, and everyone had a great time working back into the faces with collage and paint.

Bridget... has worked with me before and it is so awesome to see
her come into her own as a woman and a mother

The girls also began to create the armatures for their figures out of boxes, tubes and other recycled materials.

Bethany and Stephanie

The sculptures are a work in progress... just like us! They are going to be on exhibit at the 3rd Annual YoungMoms Brunch on April 26 at the Garage in Kennett Square, PA.

YoungMoms Make Exquisite Corpses

Art workshop #2 of my Leeway ACG '2013 with YoungMoms of Kennett Square, PA found us lying around, mixing it up, and creating personal symbols of beauty, strength, hope and faith.

We traced...

Building upon our first week together where we learned about women who have had positive impact on the world and made collages, this week we collaborated to create exquisite corpses, based on the Surrealist parlor game where people would take turns adding words or images to a single piece of work resulting in surprising hybrids.

After one girl in each group was traced, we cut up the outlined figure, with each girl working on a section.

 Then put them back together.

And here we are... our own awesome super heroes!

Feeling the Love

collage of teen activist
Malala Yousafzi
Want to learn more about the women we
learned about click here?

February is the perfect time to start this new project with YoungMoms of Kennett Square made possible by a Leeway Foundation Art & Change Grant.

YoungMoms is a great group of young women and volunteers
supported Lisa Macmain, founder and creater of this group
and director, Linda Mercner.

We first worked together with a Leeway Foundation ACG '2010 collograph prints using recycled baby and toddler clothing as our print matrix to tell the stories of motherhood. We stiffened these articles of clothing with gel medium, rolled up with ink and ran through an etching press. Then, inn 2011 we created Altered Books and journals through a grant by an anonymous generous donor.

We discussed characteristics of a hero... and then learned about these
8 women and created collages with words and images.

The intention of this new residency is to learn about women who have faced challenges and adversity to create positive change in the world. Based on what we learn about them- and ourselves, we are working collaboratively to create collages, drawings and for our main project, mixed media sculptures.

Somaly Mam & Sonya Sotomayor

Oprah Winfrey

Taking risks, being brave, putting others first, helpful, inspiring... feeling the love, and so happy to have the privilege of working with this young women and YoungMoms once again.