About
For art to be a tool to make changes in society, it must be applied.
The Crow and The Wolf is a conceptual community arts initiative that will begin in San Francisco and, from there, travel around the United States entering communities for the maximum of one month at a time before traveling to the next. The initiative incorporates a house-like structure constructed out of all green materials, with the help from San Diego green contractor & founder of Green Vision, Buck Minitch. As the foundation of the exhibition, the house will integrate traditional and interactive works of our own, as well as act as an exhibition space and the home base for community projects that will be specifically designed for each location based on their history and current art community or lack there of. The environment within the house will be created to stimulate all of the senses. Inspired by the concept of Bilateral Stimulation, every element of the structure will immerse the senses to stimulate both hemispheres of the brain in order to activate and integrate information.
In a time when our society is weakened by disconnect, our initiative will enter communities with the intention of reestablishing a peaceful conversation and inspire the act of educating one another. We will use creative expression & collaboration to expose people to new situations and ideas within their own environments. To serve the communities, we will offer them the experience of witnessing an alternative notion of what art is by inviting them to contribute and make it their own. By breaking down the barriers between the art world and community art, we plan to remind people that art is a natural form of expression, as well as a positive and progressive way to communicate and unite.
Goals
- Develop a dialog between community partners and artists.- Break away from the formalities of a gallery setting and exhibit in
alternative spaces and within nature.
- Engage in making art as a community.
- Promote a positive outlet for the individuals we encounter to
communicate through art.
- Unite communities with one another who may or may not ever
meet whether it is due to geographical location or choice.
- Expose and embrace our differences in order to open and
strengthen the communication between us all.
- Promote the idea that making changes in the way we interact and
pursuing an alternative way of thinking is exactly what we need
right now in the art world and in society.
- Encourage the natural relationship that is formed between
humanity and creative expression, through community art
making.
Our plan is to unite a variety of communities throughout the country. We will choose our destinations based on established networks and invitations we have already received and will develop with individuals, organizations, and communities who wish to collaborate. In order to integrate diverse participants, we choose to visit cities and towns of all sizes, not limited to those with established art communities.
The Artists’ Mission This project will push us from simply being image-makers to visual communicators for the public. Our interactive journey will offer us the experience and knowledge of the diversity amongst people to teach ourselves how to successfully communicate and educate the public.
By conducting our own personal research and artistic experimentation within each community, we will be documenting human behavior in response to art and community interaction. The results will provide us with an analysis of how art can be a successful aid in unification. As aspiring educators and leaders who use art as a tool for change, the greater the understanding of our fellow citizens, the stronger influence we can have through our art.
The knowledge and growth we will gain as a result of this project will be vital for us to follow through with our goal to maintain the unification we establish amongst communities, and have The Crow and The Wolf evolve into a national community arts non-profit organization.
“An artist has a responsibility, as an image maker, to concerns wider than herself or her art.” - Ann Newmarch
