Social PRACTICE

My interest in compound environments recognizes the juxtapositions and power inherent between public and private work.  I see all cultures as syncretic. My studio practice has an indivisible relation to a complementary public presence. 

Rooted in making art with repurposed materials in diverse community settings, I align people with a collective creative purpose. Creative assembly is a zone of resilience. The social practice studio is an incubator and refuge that fosters and normalizes inclusive philosophies and applications—examining collaborative space and the shared waste stream as the indicator of a common identity.

Interdisciplinary, intergenerational, expressive environments invite people to grow new creative relationships with one another. Environments of reciprocity and dialogue yield connections between materials, places, and people and culminate outside the studio with performances, parades, festivals, and public exhibitions.

Over the course of the past twenty-five years, I have created over forty community art studios in rural and urban environments, mainly for individuals experiencing bedrock poverty. I work predominantly in communities that are neurologically diverse, often embedded in the social sector. My practices have led not-for-profit organizations to expand their core mission to include the arts, social enterprise opportunities, and therapeutic and expressive programming as foundational elements of their platforms. I am one of the founding members of the Chicago Creative Reuse Exchange and the Creative Reuse Warehouse in Englewood, Chicago, in partnership with Envision Unlimited in Chicago. 

My social practice is rooted in global citizenship and the intention of creating an inclusive culture. A meditation on collective labor and resources, my social practice prioritizes creating and participating as ways to build social currency. My interdisciplinary Social Fiber Projects have created community art spaces in the United States, Turkey, Ethiopia, Germany, and Guatemala by combining oral traditions, text, and woven forms.