From February through June 2019, I was a Brooklyn Arts Council SU-CASA artist in residence at the Hugh Gilroy Neighborhood Senior Center in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. Every week, members of the senior center community and I met to explore the creative potential of weaving. Many of the participants were beginner weavers when we started. Throughout our time together, we cultivated and maintained a spirit of experimentation in the room, trying as we could to put aside our expectations and ideas about what our weavings should look like, or should do, and let the work emerge as we trusted our intuitions. And, as it can happen in an art studio, one thing led to another to another to another, as the inspiration and innovation flowed. I was, and remain, floored by their work; it is beautiful, and so abundant! Cumulatively, they made over 60 weavings, which we honored in an exhibition at the center on June 12, 2019.
studio table - so many works in progress!
Below is a gallery of the works completed by the weavers of the Hugh Gilroy Neighborhood Senior Center. Honoring the wishes of the artists, the individual works are not publicly displayed with their names alongside. If you are interested in learning more about a specific weaving, please feel free to contact me.
The weavings below were created by: Cynthia R. Alexander, Erma Brunson, Irene Cummings, Dorothy Eubanks, Sylvia Forrest, Annie Gilbert, Viola Holloway, Olga Keane, Amanda Mairena, Carmen Marshall, Annie McDuffie, Doreen Riddick, Eden White, Eunice White, Barbara Williams, Betty Young
SU-CASA is a collaboration among the New York City Council, the Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA), the Department for the Aging (DFTA) and Brooklyn Arts Council. The program is funded in FY19 by New York City Council and we would like to thank Councilmember Alicka Ampry-Samuel for her support. Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC) is proud to administer this program on behalf of the borough of Brooklyn.
