Young artists from Utah and Africa star in a new exhibit at the Sorenson Unity Center, which has struck up a partnership with a young nonprofit agency founded to empower community leaders through art, among other avenues.

Art for Kids Sake features community arts projects sponsored by Great West Institute, including murals created by students at Dilworth Elementary School and displays about a program in which youngsters created nature art for Tracy Aviary.

The exhibit also offers information about a project in which children from Kaberamaido, Uganda, created a mural on a local building with the help of Chris Peterson, a Sugar House artist who founded the Great West Institute.

Peterson said he visited Uganda as a part of his “day job” with the Trivani Foundation in Springville, a humanitarian organization that helps people in impoverished nations.

Peterson described the Ugandan project as “really inspiring” and is an example of how the imagination of children can fuel community activism.

“I’m impressed with the universal interest in children, recognizing that art is a really powerful tool for empowering kids to communicate what is in their imagination,” he said.

Community art, he added is “grass-roots driven so it doesn’t require a lot of top down resources and it’s more in tune with what the community is all about. By focusing on the children it bridges a lot of the divide in every community.”

Nichol Bourdeaux, director of the Sorenson Unity Center, said the partnership with Great West will launch a community garden at the center.

“Our plan is to start a community garden and outdoors space and one of the things we talked about was the youth getting involved with an art garden or sculpture to bring kids into nature,” she said. “This spring we will offer classes on setting up a mural about what outdoors or nature mean to them.”

Plans call for the mural to be unveiled for the center’s anniversary in May.

During the past few years I have been involved in a handful of community arts projects with the support of Great West Institute that are now on display at the Sorenson Unity Center(1383 South 900 West, SLC). Here’s the scoop and a postcard announcement for the reception (December 8, 6pm) attached:

Art for Kids Sake: Children and Imagination from around the world

Community Arts Projects by Chris Peterson    Photographs by Rebekah Sosa

The art on display at the Sorenson Unity Center is about the imagination and potential of kids from around the world. By nurturing wonder and creativity in children, the community art projects of Great West Institute seek to empower and collaborate with grassroots leaders for a better future.

The Ugandan Mural Project, with 160 orphans from war-torn Northern Uganda introduced to paint for the first time and covering every square inch of a building with the pictures from their heads. The ArtPark Experiment at Tracy Aviary is highlighted in pictures: the parkspace designed BY KIDS FOR KIDS in a collaborative process designed to nurture children’s innate affinity with nature with the help of Salt Lake City children and elementary schools. Large murals created by students from Dilworth Elementary as part of the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program highlight lessons about seasons, community, and wild animals. Large portraits of children from impoverished rural villages in Guatemala and Kenya that are partners with Choice Humanitarian: now providing the simple opportunities of education and health. And finally, the State Street Mural Project, with “Radioactive Duk” and a call for artists to join a local movement of collaboration with children’s groups in Salt Lake’s original neighborhoods.  For more information, visit www.gr8west.org.

Dear Friends,
We’re delighted to invite you to join the Great West Institute and the Environmental Humanities Graduate Program for a reception to welcome visiting scholar Jack Turner, noted explorer, environmental author and activist, and celebrate the “Wild Mind.”

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Carolyn Tanner Irish Humanities Building
215 South Central Campus Drive
The University of Utah
Salt Lake City Utah

7pm – 9pm

This evening is free and open to the public, and includes the opening of “The Wild Mind”, an exhibit of creative works by Chris Peterson, one of the Environmental Humanities program’s first graduates, as well as informal dialogue that explores how contact with wilderness in the physical realm influences and stimulates our “inner wildness,” and can result in heightened creativity, innovation, and activism.Refreshments will be served.

About Jack Turner: In addition to more than forty years living near and climbing in Grand Teton National Park, Jack Turner has also led treks in India, Pakistan, Nepal, China, Tibet, Bhutan, and Peru. His first book, The Abstract Wild, is a collection of environmental essays; it was followed by a more personal memoir, Tweeinot: A Year in the Teton Range, and Travels in the Greater Yellowstone.

About Chris Peterson: Chris grew up exploring the wild corners of the Wasatch Mountains, Colorado Plateau and Great Basin country. In response to his experiences, he’s spent the past decade painting expressive landscapes and directing community arts projects while working for various non-profit environmental and humanitarian organizations.

We hope to see you there!
Heidi Camp
–
Assistant Dean, Advancement & Research
College of Humanities, The University of Utah
(801) 581.6214
Heidi.camp@utah.edu

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We stayed at Asayo’s Wish Orphanage, where 160 children are provided for. Through some funds from Trivani ad Great West Institute, Megan McMillan (my colleague ) and I facilitated an incredible creative opportunity for the children that began with imagination based drawing and resulted in every child participating in the painting of a huge mural encircling a building on the property.

We also had the opportunity to meet with widows groups in the district that have been receiving a small (but deeply appreciated) amount of funding to help them begin to get back on their feet. These women are incredibly driven and, for the most part, don’t ascribe to the government aid mentality that is pervasive in the region after decades of opression.

The time has been packed with a whole variety of novel experiences for me including  driving 9 hours on law-less, crowded, crater-filled roads, goat slaughtering, flying insects resembling scorpions, dozens of songs from children, clouds of diesel exhaust in Kampala, exciting meetings with local government officials and headmasters, spectacular scenery and some of the sweetest people I’ve ever met. We’re off to Mombasa Kenya today to check on the schools we’re working with there.

In the coming weeks, we will be sharing stories of people from Kaberamaido on a Trivani blog site we are about to launch. Stay tuned for more info soon.

For now, please check out more pics that I’ve posted for a taste of this incredible place.

Bloggie Style

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This morning, when I turned on my computer, there was a note from the family of George, our ex-pet/family member who we raised until he was four and then placed with this family of dogs and people up in Driggs, Idaho.

From Phyl:

We love him, he is doing good and minds well, except for comming when he is called.  George with his brother and sister at hidden lake. George and his girl friend who lives next door. Phyl

The first afternoon was spent moving slowly down the river, aiming our fly rods at eddies and pockets full of big healthy trout. Mostly German Brown, with a few Rainbows were what we saw. Caddis and big hoppers were the best bet. On day one we hooked up maybe 6, including a very healthy 20 inch Brown that we kept for dinner that night. We found a splendid camping spot under an ancient Ponderosa and across a giant deep pool from an Osprey Nest. Moose, Merganzers, lots of Ospreys, Kingfishers, Vultures, and families of Otters half-playing and fighting over a big trout are some of the local fauna we observed in this tailwater ecosystem.

Trout Quesadillas for dinner.

On day two, we got a slow start. I spent a few hours fishing the rocky shore below our camp and brought two fish in for breakfast. When we finally got going (with something like 15 river miles ahead of us), it was mid morning and the river was pretty quiet. We saw three other people…. period: A drift boat guide with a few paying customers passed us. I followed them through Red Creek Rapids (a class III), passed them and then we were alone.

Except for the cloud. A storm developed over the Uintahs and despite winds aloft, it hung over us the whole day.We were drenched on the river to the point where it was somewhat miserable for a bit; slow water, heavy rowing into the wind and soaked to the bone shivering.  After adding some layers, we powered through the Browns Park section without fishing or even stopping. Our original plan of another night on the river got sacked when we realized that cloud wasn’t going anywhere. We just headed for the truck. We hit the take out just as the cloud dropped another bunch of water on us and we derigged in the rain. On the drive out, we saw a bunch of pronghorn and got a great glimpse of the river from above. It was certainly a five star wilderness experience for us. We capped the whole experience off with a burger in Vernal observing the local culture.

Aug 19, 2009

Update: here’s the call for entries: statestreetproject

For more than a year, I have been working with local business owner Bob Evans to initiate a community development process via a community arts project at the location of Baxter’s Cafe (approx 16th. S. and State St.) in SLC. The ultimate objective is to strengthen and enhance the local communities all the way down State Street, beginning with the neighborhoods between downtown and South Salt Lake. The aesthetic improvements that public art ultimately brings to urban areas is more of a side-effect, with the process of building community to create the project as the real focus.

The space is unique in its location; directly on State Street with large swaths of grass (owned by SLCC) in either side, offering prime visible space for passerby’s two blocks away. The hulking figure of SLCC stands behind and to the North of it. The State Street Project begins here with the radioactive duck, but by 2011, both sides of the building will be completed. Not only by me, but with the involvement of many local community members.

Hence the call to artists. A dozen local artists will be selected to collaborate with local community groups (primarily local kids) to design and create each section of the approx. 180 linear feet of wall space.  The duck is the first of twelver. The design must be able to stand alone when complete (so the rest of the unfinished wall doesn’t draw vandals).  The designs will be judged primarily on the objective of engaging local children and improve the quality of their lives.

GreatWest is looking for artists interested in participating in this mural project. RFP available- see

Great West Institute to find out more….

Battle of Great Salt Lake

Last week, August 3-7 from 1-3 pm I taught 19 children art in my backyard studio. This is the second year I have taught the course. The first year included perspective, charcoal, color wheel, watercolor lessons that were all excluded in year two. A number of drawings and 3-d activities led the students to push a painting farther than they normally are inclined to go. Clay sculptures, painting sticks, building minisculptures out of recyclable and random items, team drawings and some homework were all part of the curriculum.Although in reality, I have finally realized that the prospect of dipping brushes into the messy paint is really what the kids were there for….so I gave it to them.

Painting began on day two and by the final day, they had the opportunity and challenge to really develop their sensibilities about space, layers, foreground and background. See for yourselves; I have included them below, along some shots of the kids in action.

art camp