{"id":251959,"date":"2017-07-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-07-28T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/artist-activates-north-park-community\/"},"modified":"2017-07-28T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-07-28T07:00:00","slug":"artist-activates-north-park-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/artist-activates-north-park-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Artist activates North Park community"},"content":{"rendered":"

Por Kit-Bacon Gressitt<\/p>\n

Ask someone to draw something and chances are the person will break into a cold sweat and declare an inability to draw even a straight line. \u201cI\u2019m no artist\u201d is the common refrain. This denial is one of the impulses underlying a new artist residency project at Art Produce in North Park.<\/p>\n

Funded by a California Arts Council grant, resident artist Bhavna Mehta is conducting a series of free workshops and open studio sessions at Art Produce, intended to engage community members in the arts.<\/p>\n

\"Artist
Bhavna Mehta at work (Photo by Amy Caillouette)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cTo involve people who don\u2019t think of themselves as artists, to involve them in art, is something that I feel very strongly about,\u201d Mehta said in an interview with San Diego Uptown News. \u201cI was born and raised in India, and because of the overwhelming amount of color, patterns, and stories that we were surrounded by in our everyday lives, I have realized that I was surrounded by people who did not call themselves artists, but they were. We need to access that in our communities. I really want to bridge that gap.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Mehta, the project is also about drawing people into the creative process by exploring their stories.<\/p>\n

\"Artist
Mehta conducting a recent workshop at Art Produce (Photo by Laurie Bane)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cStorytelling is a huge part of my personal practice,\u201d Mehta said, \u201cso I always like to start from that point and then give people a trigger. The workshops are a way for people to come in, talk to me, talk with each other, and work together so they start the process of discovering their own stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

Workshop participants are encouraged to bring a personal item that has some meaning. Mehta guides expression of that meaning through various media, but particularly paper, as she explained: \u201cPaper is a very accessible medium. People can pick up paper and scissor and they don\u2019t feel intimidated. People just enjoy cutting paper. It\u2019s not like drawing and it\u2019s not like painting. I feel like the medium itself is really interesting and it\u2019s helping me realize that there\u2019s a lot that can be done in terms of reaching people and hearing their stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Artist
Children\u2019s class (Courtesy of Art Produce)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Paper is also the focus of the works Mehta plans to create as part of the project. She will interpret the stories participants share as the basis for wearable paper artwork, visible connections between participants and the artist.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m interested in connection in stories,\u201d Mehta said. \u201cAs an immigrant, I\u2019ve been interested in connection for a long time, figuring out how you are going to use your art practice to connect with other people. It\u2019s about connection and about community, which ties into the use of paper. If you take a single piece of paper and you fold it and cut it \u2014 everything is connected. Like a paper snowflake.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an artist I\u2019ve been able to reach across differences and have a conversation that has nothing to do with all the minority categories I belong to \u2014 woman, immigrant from a poor country, I have brown skin. If you can see somebody who is different from you, doing something that you love, that\u2019s huge. It\u2019s a bridge. It\u2019s not why I became an artist \u2014 I became an artist because I love what I do \u2014 but the bigger picture is the connections that come with art.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Artist
Lynn Susholtz (Courtesy of Art Produce)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lynn Susholtz has embraced the concept of connection since she founded Art Produce 17 years ago with community engagement in mind: \u201cThere are a lot of people in the community who can\u2019t afford art classes or don\u2019t have it in the school or can afford to go to museums.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe provide opportunities for low-income families and seniors, immigrants and refugees. We have activities for 7 to 90 years olds.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ArtistThe eclectic nonprofit includes a restaurant and beer garden, studio spaces and a gallery that faces the street, inviting the community to come in.<\/p>\n

\u201cTypically the work we show in the gallery has some sort of community engagement component,\u201d Susholtz said. \u201cIt\u2019s designed to be as much for the community as for the artists to challenges themselves, to experiment in ways that stretch their practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost artists are used to being alone in their studios. This is an opportunity to engage the public. Art is a universal human experience. It\u2019s what makes us human.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Nov. 18, the gallery will host an exhibit of works created during Mehta\u2019s residency.<\/p>\n

\u2014Kit-Bacon Gressitt writes narrative nonfiction and commentary, published at ExcuseMeImWriting.com<\/a> and is a founding editor of WritersResist.com<\/a>. She formerly wrote for the North County Times. She also hosts Fallbrook\u2019s monthly Writers Read authors series and open mic, and she can be reached at kbgressitt@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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