The Peter Bullough Foundation kicked off the year by welcoming three new artists-in-residence, John Felix Arnold, Rochelle Voyles, and Maria T. Allocco. Each artist’s practice is quite different from another, but each draw from multiple disciplines. Arnold’s work utilizes sculptural installations as well as drawing and mixed media; his practice frequently draws from the world of dance, but always seeks to find bonds of interconnectedness. Voyles’s work draws from the world of textiles, as she creates abstracted landscapes and figures using collage and paint. Finally, Allocco’s genre-fluid work in poetry and nonfiction is infused with her studies in meditation and her social justice education work.
Kicking off our workshops for the beginning of the year, Voyles facilitated the aptly named “Drawing with a Blade,” where she shared her collage skills with attendees the evening of Thursday, February 16. As Voyles shared her process with them, attendees used X-Acto blades to cut apart magazine spreads and paper ephemera, finally joining disparate images together to create cohesive art pieces.
On February 22nd, Arnold hosted a Storytelling Session, inviting attendees to share a story. Stories could be from attendees’ imaginations or personal experiences, a story heard or read, a piece of folklore, or anything attendees felt moved to share. Those who came to the event did not disappoint, retelling Korean folklore and sharing stories from travels and out-of-body experiences; others brought deeply moving personal stories about family, death, and dogs. All in all, the session was extremely moving and we left with a greater sense of connection to one another.
Finally, the PBF is grateful to Allocco for sharing her skills in both writing, meditation, and yoga with the staff of ARE (AIDS Response Effort) who serve a critical role in our community. Allocco welcomed staff to an afternoon yin yoga and reflective writing workshop as part of their internal wellbeing day. Having just completed their major fundraising event for the year on February 18 and coupled with their tireless efforts to maintain services for a population at-risk during the pandemic and beyond, ARE staff were a well deserving group that we appreciate taking part in the workshop
We are so grateful to these three artists for sharing their talents and gifts during their stay at the Peter Bullough Foundation. We are also very grateful for the Marion Park Lewis Foundation for the Arts and for First Bank for sponsoring our public events this season. Stay tuned for more upcoming workshops and events in the next few months.
Photos above include: workshop participants with their finished collage pieces, workshop participants with their works in progress, and artist Rochelle Voyles
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