African American Art and Culture Complex (AAACC)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 31, 2009

Project Contact : Wendy Testu//wendytestu@mac.com//415.710.9588

Gallery Contact: Samara Rivers//samara@aaacc.org //415.922.2049

 

The African American Art and Culture Complex

Sargent Johnson Gallery

Presents

The Welcome to the NeighborHOOD Project

October 21, 2009 – January 10, 2010

 

http://www.welcometotheneighborhood.us/

 

THE WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD, COMMUNITY ARTS PROJECT; Youth And Artists Create An Interactive Installation In The Sargent Johnson Gallery, Exploring Environmental And Social Justice Issues Facing The Community Of Bayview Hunters Point In San Francisco.

Who ……………16 youth from Literacy For environmental Justice and community artists Wendy Testu, Robert Larson, Keba Armand Konte, Taylor Neaman-Goudey, Sam Slater and Eve S. Mosher. www.welcometotheneighborhood.us

 

What.................... Exhibition: The Welcome To The NeighborHOOD Project

 

When................... October 21, 2009 – January 10, 2010

Visitor Participation ……October 22, 2009 - November 7, 2009

Prior to the opening event the gallery will be used as a working artist studio. Visitors are invited to take part in the installation process, working collaboratively with the youth and artists in the gallery.

School age youth are encouraged to come and participate.

Thursday 4-6 pm

Saturdays 1-3 pm

 

The Reception will follow on: ............ November 12, 2009. 6-8pm

Enjoy food, music, 'live' screen printing, youth lead docent tours and pre-order your copy of the documentary book and DVD.

 

Where.................. Sargent Johnson Gallery at the African American Art and Culture Complex,

762 Fulton Street, San Francisco, CA 94102

 

 

San Francisco, CA:

The African American Art & Culture Complex (AAACC) Sargent Johnson Gallery announces an upcoming exhibition, The Welcome to the NeighborHOOD Community Arts Project, featuring the collaborative work of 16 youths from Literacy for Environmental Justice and artists Wendy Testu, Robert Larson, Keba Armand Konte, Taylor Neaman-Goudey and Eve S. Mosher. The exhibition dates are October 21, 2009 – January 10, 2010.

 

Two weeks prior to the opening reception (October 21^st - November 11^th), the gallery will host days when visitors are invited to take part in the installation process and collaboratively work with the youth and artists in the gallery. During the Opening Reception on November 12, 2009 (6-8pm), artists and youth will work on ‘live screen printing’ and give docent tours of the installation. A documentary book and DVD about the project will be available for sale to the general public.

 

The Project:

The Welcome to the NeighborHOOD Project is a community arts project collaboration of five artists with 16 youth interns, aged 10-18 years, from the non-profit Literacy for Environmental Justice (LEJ).  Before any work began, all of the artists and the youth went on walking “Toxic Tours” of the Bayview/ Hunters Point area to learn more about the environmental history of the neighborhood. These walking investigations, along with in-depth discussions, and journal writings led the participants to create work about their personal experiences, gentrification and displacement, the opposing forces of man vs. nature, art as activism, and the positive people and influences in their community.

 

Various mediums were used, including: video, sculpture, photography, painting, graphic arts, screen-printing & assemblage. Each artist is spending a minimum of 25 hours with the youth conceptualizing and creating their art pieces and as paid interns, the youth are partners and the driving creative force for the entire project from conception and creation to installation and maintenance of the artwork. The title: Welcome to the NeighborHOOD speaks to the future of this rapidly changing neighborhood and references the newcomers who will be moving into the neighborhood, with 10,000 new housing units currently in construction over the redeveloped Shipyard / SuperFund site.

 

The Fort Installation in the Sargent Johnson Gallery:

The youth and artists will construct a Fort in The Sargent Johnson Gallery. Visually it will have a Puryear meets Rauchenberg appearance. The art pieces will become the shelters and pods inside The Fort. Throughout the Fort there will be areas where a documentary about the Welcome To The NeighborHOOD Project will be shown. There will also be a wall dedicated to the public to display and write their comments about the project and a space for local organizations that work in the Bayview/ Hunters Point and Fillmore neighborhoods to post informationabout their organizations.

 

The Fort structure references the history of Hunters Point as a former military site, and how children everywhere build forts as a collaborative effort and a vision to create a safe haven. The use of reclaimed materials from Bayview Hunters Point in the art and creation of the Fort structure references the environmental and social history that is naturally embedded in the materials. Through this gallery exhibit the youth and artists hope to bring these issues to a greater audience and encourage involvement in the communities and the EcoCenter.

 

Project History:

Welcome To The NeighborHOOD began as a research project in 2005 about the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard by the artist Wendy Testu. The Shipyard is a Superfund site (Superfund sites are designated by the Environmental Protection Agency as the worst toxic waste sites in the country).  Wendy researched the environmental history of Bayview Hunters Point for over a year, attended community gatherings, met with neighborhood activists, a doctor from the community and youth interns, and staff from Literacy for Environmental Justice (LEJ). After getting to know LEJ, she was inspired to create The Welcome To The NeighborHOOD Project. Wendy invited artists who are creating strong and important work around social and environmental issues and were ready for the challenges of this project. The collaborative meetings began in May 2008 after having received a grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission. Two more grants from the LEF Foundation and the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation have enabled them to create the Fort installation in the Sargent Johnson Gallery. Another Grant from the San Francisco Foundations-Koshland Program will allow them to install and maintain the work at the EcoCenter in Herons Head Park in San Francisco.

 

The Community:

Bayview Hunters Point is a predominantly low-income community of color that has historically served as the dumping ground for San Francisco’s most toxic industries. More than 50% of area households are considered low income or very low income.  One third of the residential population is under 21 years of age and has the highest rate of Juvenile Probation Department referrals in the city.  Twenty percent of children have asthma, and the prevalence of chronic illness is four times the state average. Bayview /Hunters Point is the largest African American neighborhood in San Francisco, over 45% of the population, and is an important African American historical site. Thousands of families moved from the Southern United States to work in the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in the 40’s and many of these families still live in the neighborhood today, but could be displaced by the redevelopment of their neighborhood. Several community action groups are working to keep the African American Community in the neighborhood, many of these organizations are focused on teaching youth to mobilize and inform their community.

Literacy For Environmental Justice:

Literacy For Environmental Justice (LEJ) and the Welcome artists are partners for The Welcome To The NeighborHOOD Project. Founded in 1998, Literacy for Environmental Justice addresses the ecological and health concerns of Bayview Hunters Point and the surrounding communities of southeast San Francisco.  The organization’s mission is to foster an understanding of the principles of environmental justice and urban sustainability in young people in order to promote the long-term health of their communities.  They define environmental justice as the right of all people to have equal access to their basic needs. This includes safe energy, healthy food, clean air and water, open space, non-toxic communities, and equitable educational and employment opportunities.

 

LEJ offers free environmental education programs for K-12 students and paid internship programs in natural ecology, community development, and food security. Their programs combine education sessions with action-based projects, drawing concrete linkages between human health, the environment, and urban quality of life.

 

The varied artistic forms of Welcome To The NeighborHOOD Project highlight the diversity and intensely personal quality of these topics, allowing youth interns a range of ways to consider their experiences and communicate them to the Bayview Hunters Point communities and beyond. The youth have provided focused geographical and activist contexts, and have allowed relevance, change, and urgency to guide the creative process. They are creating public artwork that speaks about local issues and goes beyond stating the facts, to engage, give back to and empower the community; this corresponds with LEJ’s mission to create local stewardship toward social change. The Welcome To The NeighborHOOD Project represents the first time LEJ has sponsored an innovative and in-depth collaborative arts program for the youth to explore the environmental issues facing their community and they are working with the artists to translate their concerns into powerful new forms of expression.

 

Literacy For Environmental Justice’s - EcoCenter:

The EcoCenter is currently under construction with an anticipated completion date of winter 2009, LEJ’s EcoCenter at Heron’s Head Park is a landmark environmental education community center and San Francisco’s first 100% “off-grid” building, with all power and wastewater functions contained on site.  Nearly every feature of this 1,500-square-foot facility is innovative and will be used to educate the public about renewable energy, pollution, greenhouse gas reduction, wastewater treatment, “green” building materials, and the green economy.  As a facility intended to educate, inspire and mobilize current and future generations, it will be a perfect showcase for the youth’s artwork after the gallery installation.

 

The African American Art and Culture Complex (AAACC):

AAACC is a community based 501c3 nonprofit arts and cultural organization. Their mission is to nurture and facilitate the empowerment of their community through Afro-centric artistic and cultural expression, mediums, education and programming. The AAACC is dedicated to inspiring children and youth to serve as agents of change, cultivating their leadership skills and fostering a commitment to community service and activism. In addition, the AAACC is dedicated to encouraging, supporting, and promoting the work of young aspiring Bay Area artists. We also strive to develop partnerships with organizations that are similarly committed to our mission driven objectives.

 

 

This project has been made possible with the generous support of:

The San Francisco Arts Commission

The LEF Foundation

The Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation

The San Francisco Foundations-Koshland Program

Literacy For Environmental Justice

The African American Arts And Culture Complex; Sargent Johnson Gallery

The EcoCenter

T-Mobile

Motorola

 

 

These events are both free and open to the public.

 

Gallery hours: Monday - Saturday//12 – 5pm

For more information, please visit:

The Project: www.welcometotheneighborhood.us

The Gallery: www.aaacc.org

The Community Partner: www.lejyouth.org