Gallery asks public to add to art exhibit
Since 2008, pARTiculars Art Gallery & Teaching Studio has kept art fans engaged with onsite classes and a vast selection of unique work from area creatives. The co-operative center has now installed “Tree of Hope” — an evolving community-sourced art project and corresponding fundraising campaign for Sister Carmen Community Center.
“We are hoping this current project will reach even more than our last two community art shows,” said Jeanne Hougen, one of the Lafayette gallery’s six owners. “Designed to use donated materials, we created the backdrop of sky and trees, which is an art installation in and of itself. We envision people visually being drawn into the art installation, becoming inspired to add to it with their own artistic voice — add to it their words of hope for a new year.”
Folks can visit the gallery to create an animal that should bear one word that expresses their hope for the new year. They are also encouraged to create a feather from a stencil and write a one-sentence pledge that reflects how they are going to help their vision for the new year come to fruition. Stencils and all needed supplies for participants interested in adding to the feel-good project will be provided by pARTiculars. Those who participate and add to the tree are encouraged to donate $10. The combined funds will be donated to Sister Carmen Community Center at the end of February when the installation closes.
“Because we have been blessed this past year by our loyal, local community who have come in, bought art and taken classes both in person and on Zoom, despite the difficult circumstances, we wanted to pay it forward,” Hougen said. “Giving of ourselves to others and getting involved in the creative process are both incredibly uplifting and life-giving activities. Our intent is to bring hope — hope to our community through Sister Carmen, hope to each one who participates, hope to all who view the beautiful results.”
At its core, the collective effort is reminiscent of the Japanese tradition of “wish trees” where people jot their deepest wishes on bright slips of paper and tie them to branches.
“We have always been a community-based organization,” said Molly Hargarten, a watercolorist, glass artist and member of pARTiculars “That’s one of the things that I like best about the gallery — people are kind, creative and generous.”
Including Suzanne ConnollyHowes, pARTiculars co-president, who made a piece of garden art in October to honor Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Connolly-Howes set up a fundraiser around the piece and raised more than $600 to help support an Indigenous female law student with expenses.
At a time when so many art centers are struggling, pARTiculars has managed to keep its doors open and provide a platform for artists to display and sell their wares.
“When the virus first hit, our landlady, Nancy West, gave us a break on rent for several months and bought much art, and several customers made donations and also purchased a lot of art,” Hargarten said. “It warms my heart.”
For the staff at pARTiculars, creating this recent campaign to benefit Sister Carmen — a center that has provided food, clothing, emergency financial assistance, access to support groups and other services since the late 1970s — was an obvious choice.
“Since the pandemic started, we have given out over $1.2 million in financial assistance to community members,” said Suzanne Crawford, chief executive officer at Sister Carmen. “That is about five times more financial assistance than we gave out in 2019.”