Art from the Streets Gallery!
Burnett, Knox
Greetings Friends,
I wanted to thank each and every one of you for being such a vital part of the Art from the Streets gallery yesterday. Many of you have given your time, money, prayers, and talents to make this a special event every quarter for our guys. It is such a blessing for me to know that a community of people support this shelter community and are willing to give of themselves to see it flourish. Outside of saying thank you, I wanted to write to all of you about the gallery last night and give some highlights! I also know that many of you can add to this and invite you to reply all with any other cool stories from the evening that you would like to share.
We tried a couple of new things last night including having a live DJ (DJ Skeeth!), and live poetry. DJ Skeeth really set an amazing mood and I know many people who usually would be too scared to walk across to our block came because of the inviting atmosphere. In accord with the music we had several program men, who had recently completed a course in poetry writing, share their poems throughout the evening. It went absolutely amazing and the poems were thoughtful and beautiful to hear. This was also the second time we were able to matt and wrap the pieces of art because of the generosity of our friends at Gallery Frames. This simple touch really communicated to the guys how much we believe in them and added to the professionalism of the gallery tremendously.
Some of my favorite moments last night all revolved around the theme of surprise. Most of the men and women who visit our gallery stumble upon it on their way to somewhere else. They usually seem apprehensive to enter or unsure whether our block is safe. Many times people have to be invited into the space by our smiles and waves. There are, I’m sure, many different reasons why people seem hesitant to enter our gallery, but regardless of those reasons I have come to notice that the people who brave our little gallery leave blessed to have entered. I had one lady mutter to me, with tears in her eyes, how beautiful and heartbreaking many of the pieces were. She came into the gallery not expecting much and left emotionally challenged and touched. There were many who seemed surprised that our artists were as good, if not better, than many of the “professional” artists from around the block. Others visibly were trying to reconcile the reality that men who were stinky and difficult to understand could create something so near to their own heart. The beauty of art…and this gallery in particular, is that it overcomes barriers and introduces this neighborhood to the men and women that they so often dismiss. I believe that the healing of both parties (rich and poor alike) will come as they engage each other in relationship. I think we saw a glimpse of that last night.
Thanks again,
knox
Kacie Grice
Sent from my iPhone
dana...@gmail.com
Kacie Grice
Sent from my iPhone