MURAL ARTS PROJECT
Program allows youngsters to create large work on the side of a building
SAUGERTIES, N.Y. » Kelli Bickman is on a mission to change the life of youngsters by letting them create a large mural on the side of the Odd Temple Fellows Art and Theatre building at 220 Main St.
The program, known as Mural Arts, began on July 8 where four students showed up for a session that featured a wellknown New York City street artist.
“We’re really hoping for a bigger turnout, we want people to enroll in this program,” Bickman said.
Bickman, who’s lived in the building for the last couple years, was granted permission to paint the mural, which will be painted on wood then installed on the side of building.
She added the only rule she was given was, “no naked people.”
Bickman said when she has walked through the village she has thought about places that served as nice canvases for large installations.
“I really want to see large installations that are created by members of the community,” Bickman said. “It’s free flowing, but also very controlled by the constructors.”
The students work with professional artists Erin Fritts and Andrew Kaminski, who also live in the village and have a gallery space above the Inquiring Minds Bookstore at the corner of Main and Partition streets.
“It’s a very organized program working with professional artists.” Bickman said. “It’s not going to be a mishmash of things.
Mural Arts arrives as area students are receiving just one hour of art instruction each week, Bickman said.
“We want to open their minds to creative activities,” Bickman said.
Bickman said murals offer the chance to turn a drab space into a public art gallery.
“It energizes public spaces, creates a conversation piece, beautifies communities,” Bickman said. “We’re working with the students to build a team, and learn different techniques for practical application.”
Bickman said her program is based on the Philadelphia Mural Project, which has attracted worldwide attention.
Philadelphia was in incredible
demise when a large program of mural painting started, Bickman said.
“It’s such a thriving program, the city funds it now, and people come from all over the world to see these incredible installations,” Bickman said.
Bickman is no stranger to working with young artists in Saugerties as she just put the finishing touches on a second mural at Cahill Elementary School in the village.
“The Cahill courtyard felt like a prison courtyard,” Bickman said. “We worked with sixth graders, they didn’t want it (the project) to end, they wanted it to go on.”
Twenty seven of Bickman’s smaller paintings can also be found at the Mother Earth Storehouse location on Main Street.
“It was another space with all these empty walls,” Bickman said. “I dug stuff out.
“I want to share, 50 percent is creating, and another 50 percent is sharing.”
Bickman bills Mural Arts, which she started when she lived in Peekskill in 2010, as “grassroots community engaged art.”
She added that she felt a need for art that was more accessible to the public.
“There were a lot of incentives for artists to move to
town, but lots of blank canvases,” Bickman said.
Then she won some grants to work with students at the Youth Bureau in Peekskill.
“We worked with them for a year,” Bickman said. “The end result is an 8-by-36-foot mural that was installed on the side of the youth bureau downtown.”
That mural was painted by students who were previously tagging buildings and vandalizing places downtown, Bickman said.
“I was able to give them materials for free and work space and a flat form for creating history in a positive way instead of damaging public property,” Bickman said. “Kids that once tagged up buildings have gone onto to universities.”
That program ended up attracting between 30 and 40 students between 2 and 25 years old, she said.
“The older students mentored the younger students,” Bickman said.
She then teamed up with the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art on a project where 10 artists and 400 students covered a parking garage in Peekskill.
Later she moved to Woodstock. She said people were contacting her with grant money by this time.
“Healthy Kids put me in
three different schools with an afterschool program,” Bickman said.
She also put on an afterschool program in Phoenicia Elementary School.
But unlike the previous programs, this time lacking grants, Bickman was forced to charge students $220 for the eight workshops, which covers a small fee for instructors and cost of buying materials, which she added don’t come cheap.
“The wood we use is the special kind of wood, it’s $75 a sheet at cost, and the exterior latex paint,” Bickman said.
But the parents didn’t seem to mind with one commenting how that’s “a deal,” she added.
“This is the first time I offered a series of workshops students had to pay, In the past I’ve written grants, it’s time-consuming,” Bickman said. “In Peekskill, I raised $20,000 to do the mural, here we’re doing it in eight sessions.”
Bickman said they may end up doing more grant outreach in the future.
“It’s a work in progress,” Bickman said. “I don’t ever want to turn anyone away who has the desire and fire to be artists.
“Show up and we’ll work with you if you want to make
art and make Saugerties more beautiful.”
Right now Bickman is seeking help from people who’d like to sponsor scholarships, and she’s prorating tuition for students who join in midstream.
Bickman, the daughter of a photojournalist, grew up on a farm in a one-stoplight town in Minnesota where her nearest neighbor lived a mile away.
And she said she always had a drive to create.
“It’s so ingrained in my being, I can’t imagine not creating and making things,” Bickman said. “It’s in the fabric of who I am.”
After college, she moved to New York City, and ended up living there for 14 years before she traveled the world with her exhibitions.
Bickman said the arts have helped her navigate the ups and downs in her life by giving her a platform to work on something that’s constructive instead of destructive.
“The process of making art brings you to the present moment,” Bickman said. “I want to show young artists it can change their lives in dynamic ways.
“It saved my life more than once,”
Bickman said she’s fallen in love with the Hudson Valley and Saugerties.
“Being in a small town, I have an 8-year-old daughter, it’s a very safe place,” Bickman said. “I love Saugerties, I love walking down the street, people know her, know me, and everyone has each other’s back.”
But she admitted, having painted hundreds of large paintings, she’s starting to run out of space in the Odd Temple Fellows Building, which is open to the public by appointment.
Looking ahead to the future, Bickman said she hopes to settle down in Saugerties and develop the program and a new clothing line she’s working on.
“I’m happy here,” Bickman said, adding she hopes to keep working with students in after-school programs.
Over the years, Bickman discovered a love of teaching.
“I think it’s a natural extension of my personality,” Bickman said. “I get so much from working with other people, so much that comes back to me.”
She added when a student has an idea, she always tries to find a way to make it work.
“Let’s figure out how to make it work,” Bickman said. “I say ‘yes’ a lot.”
For information about Mural Arts visit http://www.kellibickman.net/our-crew/