– An Art Event Celebrating the Streets, Solidarity, Community, and Culture –
WHAT: The community of Welling Court in Queens, New York first asked Ad Hoc Art to help them spruce up their neighborhood in 2009. Ad Hoc Art was honored to do so and rose to the occasion in May 2010 organizing a project fitting for the diverse, enthusiastic, and energetic inhabitants. Now, a year later, Ad Hoc has assembled another spectacular crew of legendary and groundbreaking artists spanning more than 50 years of activity for the 2nd Annual Welling Court Mural Project. The project has received remarkable global acclaim since its launch and continues to garner support as more walls, artists, and enthusiasts augment that success.
This second round is not to be missed as we bring ever-more art and eyes to this Queens gem. To celebrate, the community’s annual block party coincides with the project’s opening, featuring cuisine and music from the ethnically diverse and multi-talented hosts. Whereas this tiny neighborhood is providing some major hospitality, it cannot provide for all the thousands of attendees, so please:
The project transforms several city blocks into a 24/7 street-level gallery, bringing art from around the world directly to the heart of this community. Renowned artists with deep roots in the street movement have created site-specific works for this project and many will showcase various creative sundries for your perusal. This new array of visual experiences provides fresh contexts for how people working, visiting, and living in this diverse cultural gem of Queens think about and interact with their environment.
Artists include: Alice Mizrachi, Ashley Jane Laird, Alison Buxton, Beau Stanton, Bunnie Reiss, Caleb Neelon, Chris Mendoza, Chris Stain, Celso, Cern, Cey Adams, Chor Boogie, Cicelia Ross-Gotta, CR, Cycle, Dan Witz, Darkclouds, Dave Loewenstein, Don Leicht, Ellis Gallagher, Ezra Li Eismont, Free5, Garrison Buxton, Greg Lamarche, Ise, Jesse Jones, JMR, Joe Iurato, John Ahearn, John Fekner, Jordan Seiler, Katie Yamasaki, Lady Pink, Leon Reid, Matt Siren, Michael De Feo, Michael Fumero, MIMEO, Mr. Kiji, Neko, Nuria, OverUnder, Pablo Power, R. Nicholas Kuszyk, ROA, Ron English, Royce Bannon, Sinned, Sofia Maldonado, TooFly, Tristan Eaton, Veng RWK, Zam, and more.
WHEN: Saturday, June 25th, 2011 from noon until 9pm.
WHERE: 11-98 Welling Court {@ 30th Ave & 12th Street}, Astoria, Queens 11102
Artists include: Alison Buxton, Beau Stanton, Bill Fick, Broken Crow, Bunnie Reiss, Chor Boogie, Chris Stain, CRASH, Dabs & Myla, Daryll Peirce, Dave Loewenstein, Don Leicht, Ezra Li Eismont, Garrison Buxton, Hellbent, Joe Iurato, John Breiner, John Carr, John Fekner, Jordan Seiler, Know Hope, Lady Pink, Michael De Feo, Mikal Hameed, Paul Booth, Peat Wollaeger, Ray Cross, Rex Dingler, ROA, Robert Steel, Sean Starwars, TheDirtyFabulous, & Thundercut.
April 29, 2011
Dave Loewenstein and the murals he paints have a great deal in common: They are colorful, tell fascinating stories and have far-reaching impact.
Loewenstein, 44, is an artist, muralist, printmaker, teacher, author, community activist, documentarian and social catalyst, who has lived in Lawrence doing all of these things since 1990. He is also a founding member and current chair of the Percolator, a non-profit that brings new art and cultural events to Lawrence and Douglas County.
He came to Lawrence to attend graduate school for his master’s degree of fine arts from Kansas University. During his studies, he realized that he wanted his art to serve a greater purpose.
“I wanted what I was doing somehow to reach audiences outside the established art audience, to people I meet every day,” Loewenstein says. “I also felt like there was a social purpose for visual art that wasn’t being used enough — to engage in important issues of the day.”
Loewenstein has created murals throughout Kansas and the Midwest. Locally, his murals can be found at Cordley School, the Lawrence Farmers’ Market and Quinton’s Bar & Deli, home to his first mural.
He travels about half of the year to communities to talk about the most important issues in their community and create murals to be shared with generations to come. While planning his murals, he enjoys the opportunity to meet people and expose them to the visual arts.
“One of the many discussions that needs to be re-framed in our culture is the one about art,” he says. “Artists have always had the incredible power to highlight when things are wrong and the power to influence. Murals involve re-engaging with the visual environment and creating something that is a reflection of people and places.”
Saralyn Reece Hardy, director of KU’s Spencer Museum of Art, knows Loewenstein and his approach to art and culture.
“He doesn’t think of art as a rarefied commodity; he thinks of it as part of community life,” she says. “He is not a one-man form. He involves many collaborators, which is a good model for community art.”
Loewenstein has designed and printed posters for many anti-war protests, starting with the Gulf War in 1991-92, influenced by historical wartime posters.
“Printmaking is a way for me to respond to the issues of the day. There are not enough voices of dissent — I don’t care what side you’re on,” he says. “There are maybe more online and less face-to-face, and that concerns me.”
Loewenstein and other members and visitors to the Percolator studio space, which is just east of the Lawrence Arts Center, regularly have the chance to have those face-to-face discussions about issues and art. Besides showcasing artists’ work, Percolator members also generate their own artwork, invite artists to speak and host workshops.
Christina Hoxie, Percolator board member, says the open-endedness of the Percolator is what makes it special.
“Its prime mission is to stimulate the community to make arts and do cultural projects important to them,” Hoxie says. “It’s tapping into the imagination of the community and seeing what they want to do.”
She says that Loewenstein is the ideal facilitator for the Percolator.
“He is a great mentor, not just as an artist. The community is transformed by his artwork every day, and making sure everyone has a part to play is a big part of who he is,” Hoxie says. “Even his smaller works show what an insightful person that he is and carry his spirit of always encouraging others to participate.”
Reece Hardy says that Loewenstein’s energy and community involvement come through in his art.
“He has an unusual ability to bring economy to a complex set of ideas,” Reece Hardy says. “Sometimes that takes the vehicle of a poster, sometimes it takes the vehicle of a mural. He likes to communicate directly and strips any protective barrier between people and art.”
Loewenstein is creating art for a downtown show called “Them,” which will discuss NIMBYs — “not in my backyard” scenarios. He teaches a class about community art at Washburn University, he is co-producing his second documentary about his art, and he is waiting to hear if he will go abroad next fall as part of an art program with the State Department.
Loewenstein is happy he came to Lawrence.
“This is a place I care about and I feel some responsibility to,” he says. “I’m super-grateful to have all the work I do on all fronts.”
Watch a short video of Dave talking about making a living as an artist here.
Art advocates from across the state have done an excellent job warning us about the potential loss in tourism dollars and arts-related jobs that Kansas would suffer if the Governor’s proposal to eliminate the Kansas Arts Commission were approved. I agree with their dire assessment and believe that these arguments alone should be enough to convince our legislators to put the breaks on this misguided proposal.
But there is another case to be made if we really want to understand why art is integral to our communities, state, and nation. We need to support art (at least at the current yearly rate of .29 cents per person) because art is the discipline engaged in exploring the language of stories - stories of where we have been, who we are, and how we want to be remembered. This work, this research and experimentation into those qualities that make us human and humane, is essential to the growth and maintenance of a healthy democratic society. And like science, art needs public support precisely because its benefits accrue slowly, cannot be easily quantified, and are absolutely necessary.
Theater, music, film, dance, poetry, painting. Artists young and old working in these media are at the forefront of shaping our shared identity as Kansans. Support for the Kansas Arts Commission, which gives all of us access to this creative world, is essential because, as Topeka born poet Gwendolyn Brooks wrote in a poem from 1970, “ We are each other’s harvest; we are each other’s business; we are each other’s magnitude and bond.”
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