A relaxing workshop with tenants of Clinton Housing at 46th Street in New York. Time spent looking through images, selecting ones that resonate, carefully arranging them to express hopes and dreams, tell stories and inspire more self-love. Grateful for everyone opening up their creativity and sharing about why they made what they made. Collaging for the soul! Thanks to Cultivate HK for inviting Arts & Dreams to share empowering art workshops.
Self portraits are a wonderful way to reflect on how we see ourselves, how we can celebrate ourselves. This is Christine, who had never drawn her own face before. We worked with pencil, marker and paint sticks to create a meaningful self portrait to express Christine’s style and beauty. Then we looked in the mirror and spoke loving words. Thank you to Clinton Housing and Cultivate HK for making this workshop series with tenants possible!
An afternoon spent painting inspiring images and words with residents of Clinton Housing in New York City. The artists let their imagination flow through the pencils and brushes to create acrylic on canvas paintings meant to empower more self-love and peaceful feelings.
Workshop series In partnership with Clinton Housing Development Company and Cultivate HK, thank you to everyone involved! Everyone is worthy of access to the healing power of the arts and art-making.
It was a pleasure being at the Purpose Power Town Hall in NYC on March 16, 2019. Gathered at Civic Hall, community activists and organizers shared their ideas for a more equitable and healthy future, led by Alicia Bonner Ness. As part of the visioning, the Arts & Dreams station was set up for participants to create vision boards - collaged hopes and desires. Participants also shared their fears, and discussed the obstacles in the way of change. It was powerful to be a part of creating an accepting, vulnerable space for compassion and action. To get involved in a Purpose Power Town Hall click here for more info.
“ROSES ARE RED
VIOLETS ARE BLUE
LOVE AND SELF-CARE ARE RADICAL TOO”
- Olatiwa Karade, Splendid Rain Co
Truly #blessed to celebrate the holiday of LOVE by creating vision boards at Galentine’s Weekend 2019, an event by xixi x We Are Women Owned. Arts & Dreams encourages us to ask: how do we build more hopeful lives? What must we do to feel worthy of achieving our big dreams? What exactly do we want, and how can we feel more inspired? Vision boarding gives clarity. Getting crystal clear about our intentions, goals, feelings, desires, hopes and dreams by collaging images and words to support us — that’s love and self-care. Happy Valentine’s day to you!
xixi, We Are Women Owned, Splendid Rain Co, photos by Alberto @albertobarreto
January 26, 2019 at xixi: a workshop about indulging in fun, community and creativity. Getting clear about what we want, how we want to feel, and what inspires us. Everyone created meaningful vision boards to highlight their dreams and desires in all areas of life. Sipping on vino and talking about how it feels to make something personal with our own hands made for an impactful evening. Thanks Julia Sokol of sassclass and xixi for hosting!
A Tuesday night in a beautiful women-led space, xixi [she-she]. Everyone gathered to create a painting that expressed what they want. After a discussion about the power of self-love, self-kindness, and how much art can play into new habits of loving who we are, it was time to paint. Acrylic paints on stretched canvas, with inspiring words, phrases — these are called affirmations. More of what we want. More of how we want to feel about ourselves. Painters shared why they chose their colors, images and words, and what it felt like to create hopeful art together. We passed around a heart-shaped mirror and spoke loving words to ourselves. Powerful!
Artists freely expressed their hopes and dreams during this workshop with Clinton Housing 35th Street in New York. Without parameters, using acrylic paints and glitter glue on canvas boards, each artist took inspiration in creating personal works of art. Building on the themes of self-love and hope over the previous 3 workshops, everyone exhibited confidence in their painting techniques and their expression. Each discussed what their painting meant to them, as well as how they felt making it.
In this workshop with residents of Clinton Housing 35th Street in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan, artists worked with watercolor paints on paper. Taking inspiration from what moves their hearts -- the ocean, a happy home -- artists painted dreamy scenes to empower them to feel self-love and hope.
Artists at 35th Street Clinton Housing created hopeful, loving statements on stretched canvas with acrylics. Inspired by affirmation cards and their own creativity, each participant customized their affirmation paintings with colorful, personal details. Kind words plus relaxing art-making really made for a peaceful workshop. Thanks to Cultivate HKNY for hosting this series of workshops with Hell's Kitchen residents.
Artists created uplifting work about their dream life using watercolor paints. Feeling the flow of the watery paint, they imagined scenarios involving nature, gardening, and mantras for every day life. After making dreamy art, everyone looked into their own eyes and said loving words, building on a new habit of self-love and self-compassion. This was the final workshop in a series of 4 at Clinton Housing 46th Street, with many thanks to Cultivate HKNY!
Everyone was given a new blank journal. We talked about the significance of gratitude -- how it feels to be thankful, and what appreciation does to our souls, minds and bodies. Everyone turned to the first page in their journal and listed at least 10 things for which they felt grateful. Then we decorated our gratitude journals with pastels, markers and crayons, personalizing and beautifying them. Thank you Cultivate HKNY for making this series of workshops happen with residents and staff at Clinton Housing buildings in New York.
On February 16, 2018, tenants and staff created collages to express their dreams and desires at Clinton Housing 46th Street in New York City. Using clipped images and text, they arranged compositions on stretched canvas showing heartfelt inspiration and aspirations for travel, love, family, success, and connection. Each artist spoke about the work they created and what it felt like to spend time composing their collage. Most agreed it was relaxing and that they felt uplifted. Everyone looked at their self in selfie mode on a phone and spoke kind words into their own eyes. Thank you Cultivate HKNY for sponsoring this workshop series!
In this Arts & Dreams workshop, everyone painted something hopeful and uplifting to inspire more kindness to self. We talked about how it feels to use kinder words when we think and talk about ourselves. Affirmations are positive declarations that can help soothe the unconscious stream of unkind chatter. We used acrylic paints and sharpies on stretched canvas, and each artist expressed how it felt to take time out to sit and paint. We also practiced saying loving words while looking into our eyes.
Thank you Cultivate HKNY for hosting this series of empowering art workshops with residents of Hell's Kitchen in New York.
Thank you 4th graders at Enfield Elementary for having a Skype to talk about Rose's Summer of Arts & Dreams. The level of participation was inspiring! So many thoughtful questions about the process of writing and illustrating a book, and so much opening up about our dreams, ideas, what we like about ourselves, and how we use our creativity to lift us up. Thank you Maureen Gilroy for setting up this special virtual visit, and thanks to the PTA for buying a copy of the Arts & Dreams book for each 4th grade student. High fives!
During this September 29, 2017 Arts & Dreams workshop at Clinton Housing 53rd Street, painter Alvaro Amejeiras created a dreamscape painting. Drawing his inspiration from Native Americans, Alvaro began his work on canvas using acrylic paints, pencil and permanent marker. With plans to complete his dreamscape during our next workshop, check out the pics to see Alvaro transport himself into a new land and bring a dreamy vision to life. Thank you Cultivate HKNY for making this workshop series possible!
Watch artist Alvaro Amejeiras create an intricate scenic painting using acrylics on canvas during an Arts & Dreams affirmation painting workshop on September 15, 2017. Alvaro described his work as a dreamy river town in Switzerland during the nineteenth century.
Thank you, Cultivate HKNY, for making this workshop series possible at CHDC/Clinton Housing 53rd Street in New York City.
