By Brooklyn Hi-Art! Machine
Follow the journey! #globalfenceweaving on Instagram
May 6 and May 13, 2021; 6:00 – 7:30PM (EDT), on Zoom
To register, email info@abladeofgrass.org.
At this time when we are both more local and more global than ever before, Brooklyn Hi-Art! Machine (comprised of artists Mildred Beltré and Oasa DuVerney) invites the public to collaborate on a “Global Fence Weaving”. The project concept is inspired by a line in the poem Leftovers — What is Left? by Assata Shakur and explores how communities can join their voices together in an echo that is heard globally. This action both celebrates survival and serves as a communal act of grieving—an echo of liberation resounding through many disparate communities. The “Global Fence Weaving” will also build on Brooklyn Hi-Art! Machines prior works, including sidewalk art workshops and large-scale public fence weavings that have become a regular feature in their home neighborhood of Crown Heights, Brooklyn and that serve as a site for contemplation, discussion, and action.
Through the two upcoming workshop sessions, participants will work with Brooklyn Hi-Art! Machine to define the vision for and approach to the “Global Fence Weaving.” Following, A Blade of Grass will work with the artists and public participants to physically enact the project in neighborhoods across the country and the world. The wide-ranging public collaboration will culminate in Brooklyn Hi-Art! Machine then producing an artwork that captures the scope of the project and that will be distributed among participants.
More details about how the project will be actualized will be released following the May workshop sessions.
About the Artists
Mildred Beltré is a multi-disciplinary artist invested in grassroots activism, social justice, and political movements. Her work spans photography, print-making, drawing, text-based formats, and fiber arts. Across these diverse mediums, Beltré carries forth the legacies of revolutionary protests and civil rights movements, while bringing in elements of desire and humor. She is the co-founder of the Brooklyn Hi-Art! Machine (BHAM), an arts initiative in Crown Heights, Brooklyn that addresses gentrification and community building.
Oasa DuVerney, a New York native; is an artist and mother.
Selected exhibitions, residencies and media include: (2020)2020 Women To Watch, National Museum of Women in the Arts; (2020) Twenty Twenty, Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT; BLACK POWER WAVE, BRIC, Brooklyn, NY (2019); Something To Say, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn NY (2018); The Window and the Breaking of the Window, Studio Museum in Harlem, NYC (2016); The Brooklyn Biennial II, BRIC, Brooklyn, NY (2016); Through A Glass Darkly, Postmasters Gallery, NYC (2012); Rush Philanthropic Foundation Artist Residency (2016), Smack Mellon Studio Artist Residency (2014-2015); LMCC Workspace Residency (2012-2013); The Guardian UK, UK (2019), The Independent, UK (2016), Hyperallergic (2015, 2016), The Guardian UK,UK (2015), Palestine News Network (2013), and The New York Times (2012, 2011). She received her B.F.A. from SUNY Fashion Institute of Technology, and her M.F.A. from CUNYHunter College
About the Curator
Yvonne Mpwo is a Brooklyn-based artist and independent curator working at the intersection of arts education and social justice. She is also a Co-Founder of the nonprofit Flatbush Commons, a community library and arts incubator. Yvonne graduated from St.Edward’s University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Arts.
A Blade of Grass’ public programs are made available for free thanks to the generous funding of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; David Rockefeller Fund; SPArt; New York State Council on the Arts; New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; the National Endowment for the Arts; and our beloved community of individual supporters.