Risë Wilson is founder of the Laundromat Project, a non-profit organization that brings art-making programs to laundromats in low-income neighborhoods throughout New York City. The Project promotes community engagement through art-making, and creates opportunities for artists to develop projects inspired by the uniqueness of space. The organization also has a professional development fellowship for artists whose work is socially engaged. Wilson has made a career around creating positions for artists to teach, make work, and expand their professional networks. She approaches her project from the position of a grass-roots artist whose primary goal is to promote creativity in a very useful setting. The fleeting nature of her work is built into the name: by calling it a “project” she acknowledges it as collaborative, experimental and temporary. The organization is built to sustain the life of the idea, which has a powerful but transient character. Wilson is concerned with process over procedure, access rather than outreach, and quality over quantity. This is the description of her generosity and the seat of her practice as an artist.
Click here to see the un-edited footage of Risë
Images of Laundromat Project: