"The ArtOhio Project"

The ArtOhio Project

Jun 15, 2011   //   by Sankofa Staff   //   The ArtOhio Project  //  No Comments

The ArtOhio Project is a professional development training program designed to provide visual artists with the relevant and necessary entrepreneurial skills to achieve their personal career goals.

The ArtOhio Project will provide visual artists with a comprehensive survey of professional practices through a hands-on, interactive curriculum that includes instruction by professionals in the field as well as specialized presentations, panel discussions, site visits, and assignments.

The ArtOhio Project is designed to provide artists with best practices specifically designed for visual artists.

Sankofa Fine Art Plus Awarded $50,000 Mural Project Grant From JP Morgan Chase Foundation!

Jun 14, 2011   //   by Sankofa Staff   //   News Archives, The ArtOhio Project  //  No Comments

 

Karamu House alum, actress Ruby Dee to be immortalized in portrait by

famed muralist Kent Twitchell.

 

June 14, 2011 (Cleveland, OH) – Cleveland ethnic arts nonprofit Sankofa Fine Art Plus was recently awarded a $50,000 grant from the JP Morgan Chase Foundation to support its ArtOhio Project – Muralist Training Program.

For the project, famed mural artist Kent Twitchell will work with up to a dozen local artists to complete a life-size portrait of Ruby Dee, an actress with Cleveland roots whose early days were shaped by Cleveland’s historic Karamu House theatre.

Twitchell, of Los Angeles, has earned a following of art enthusiasts, celebrities and community arts advocates for his signature mural painting style.  He pioneered a process which uses silk or polyester parachute fabric as an interface material.  He then uses a conventional grid system and parachute cloth method.  His mural installations across the country have depicted notable celebrities and national heroes including basketball star Julius Irving, opera great Marian Anderson and late pop star Michael Jackson.

The project will begin this month and will include a series of workshops led by Twitchell offering step-by-step instruction on mural making techniques including wall preparation, design enlargement, paint application, the cloth method and sealing the completed piece.  The mural portrait of Ruby Dee is expected to be completed and installed at Karamu House next spring.

Twitchell’s visit and workshops are part of Sankofa’s long-standing mission to support ethnic art education programming.  This project combines the curriculum and hands on experience of the

ArtOhio Project and Sankofa’s Community Art program.

Karamu House officials agree that the collaboration between Sankofa, Karamu House and Fairfax Renaissance Development Corporation seemed to be the perfect matching of the three organizations’ missions to promote artistic expression – both visual and performance.

“We are delighted to have the opportunity to partner with Sankofa Fine Art Plus and JP Morgan Chase Foundation to bring Kent Twitchell’s cutting edge work to Cleveland,” said Karamu House Executive Director Gregory J. Ashe. “The proposed larger-than-life mural of Ruby Dee will at once celebrate her considerable legacy and raise awareness for Sankofa’s and Karamu House’s community based programs as we come upon our centennial Anniversary.”

The JP Morgan Chase Foundation supports highest-need neighborhoods and communities across the globe. In 2010, the foundation gave more than $150 million through grants and sponsorships to thousands of not-for-profit organizations in the U.S. and worldwide.

For more information about participating in Twitchell’s workshops or the mural project, call (216) 541-ARTS (2787) or visit www.sankofafineartplus.org.

Founded in 1999, Sankofa Fine Art Plus is a nonprofit community arts organization that develops and advocates for ethnic artists and presents ethnic art as a credible and meaningful art form through community education and collaboration.