OUTREACH PROJECTS
Below are just a handful of the projects that we have done with the Peekskill and Hudson Valley community. We are invested in providing world-class arts education with hands-on learning, access to professional artists, and providing a space that encourages dialog.
The “I’m Tired Project” - 2016
by Paula Akpan and Harriet Evans, Photograph by Robert Olsson
I’m Tired Project by British artists Paula Akpan and Harriet Evans was displayed as part of the WORD exhibit, highlighting the lasting impact of everyday micro-aggressions, assumptions & stereotypes. Performance is fused with written word as each of the participants formulate statements completing the phrase ‘I’m tired of…” The statement can address absolutely any kind of discrimination that the individual has personally experienced or feels passionate about. The artist duo then transcribe the individual’s text onto his/her bare back, excising the tension through this very physical act. Photography documents the final product, serving as a personal and communal diary of purification and absolution.
“By writing the phrases on people’s backs, the project offers both anonymity and the possibility for empathy” - Alison Lynch for metro.co.uk
In 2016 the artists came to HVMOCA to lead sessions where the public talked and interacted with the artists, ultimately having a phrase written on their back and photographed for an exhibition during the WORD exhibition in the main gallery.
HVMOCA partnered with the public school system to teach students how art can be a powerful tool for communication. The project was altered to write phrases on over 50 students’ hands and photographed them covering their faces with their words. Below are just a few samples of what transpired.
The Tile Project - 2009
An initiative of the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art (HVCCA) in Commemoration of the Quadricentennial of the settlement of the Dutch in the Hudson Valley. This project was generously supported by the Cultural Council of the Netherlands, under the wise leadership and support of Robert Kloos, lead organizer of Quadricentennial events for the Consulate General of the Netherlands and the PEF (Peekskill Education Foundation). This project was tied closely with the exhibition Double Dutch.
Please visit our Sculpture Trail Map to see all 16 locations in Peekskill.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
From its inception, the educational vision of HVMOCA was to design a curriculum that would challenge students to draw on acquired knowledge and insights beyond the written word, historic imagery, video, and knowledge that reverberates on us personally. Such was the tile project: a simple idea for each participant to create a Delft style tile based on the Dutch settlement experience along the Hudson River. Participants and supporters of the project understood both the visual impact that the project would have on the city, the opportunity to feature the history of Peekskill in the greater geographic area and the sense of joint communal pride that it could foster. This was a joint venture with the greater education community: PEF (Peekskill Education Foundation), Peekskill students, art and history educators from 55 school districts along the Hudson River, and scout troops from the greater Hudson Valley region, some 2,200 students in all. Our lead and very hardworking co-dreamers Jo-Ann Brody and Sara Haviland, scout leaders, teachers and students, using their imagination and commitment, all working together, made this project possible. Sixteen benches can be located as you walk through the city, beginning at the train station. The metal plates on the inner legs of the benches identify which scout troop and which school produced the works that are found throughout the city.
Artists In Residence
An ongoing project with artists in the classroom
Artist in Residence Leslie Pelino works with 6 different classes at Oakside Elementary to create a collaborative sculptural installation consisting of painted branches and recycled fabric. The result of the residency results in two 6 foot tree sculptures that will be installed alongside the school greenhouse.
Conceptual artist Magali Duzant teaches Peekskill High School’s Advanced Art students how to create professional quality studio photographs using affordable means. Students are provided with lighting gels, clamp lights, and digital cameras to create dynamic images using each other’s hands as models to create full alphabet in American Sign Language. The class collaboratively decides on an inspirational phrase to be spelled out with their hands and installed as a large scale billboard installed in their hallway for their fellow students to translate and interpret.
Local artist Lance Johnson teaches students the importance of collaboration, communication, and maintaining a sense of play in your work. Students create a series of personalized collages making heavy use of text and found imagery to create art objects that function somewhere between a painting and a poem. The artworks are then installed as a large scale installation in the school as a way to create a wall sized mural while giving space for each students individual voice.
Young Docents Program
An Ongoing Project
The Young Docents Program started in 2005, which grew out of our LEAP after-school program that still continues today.
In this program, students are introduced to the themes and artists of HVMOCA’s yearly themed exhibitions such as Between I & Thou and How We Live. Students choose works that they would like to investigate and given a Young Docent Manual, which outlines the basic tools to execute good dialogue around artworks with different audiences in order to guide them to success. In an effort to promote a community event, all of the students create potential flyers and choose one as a group to promote their event. The young docents present to middle schools students, their parents, and their school community at different times, demonstrating their ability to discuss artwork in front of a variety of audiences.