From HERE to NOW mural series
From HERE to NOW is a rotating mural series led by Sarah Conarro and a team of teaching artists. The series engages and invigorates the community through youth participation in the creation of the public artwork.
Benefits for youth:
Community - In addition to the inherent benefits of collaborating through art, young artists learn about technique, art vocabulary, and the tenets of dialogue.
Beautification - There is nothing more empowering than pointing at something beautiful and saying “I made that!” Young people deserve this feeling of accomplishment now more than ever!
Benefits for participating businesses:
Connection - By participating in the series, businesses connect more deeply with their community.
Engagement - The murals on the facade send a message that you care about young people and are committed to your community.
Be a part of this amazing series!
Donor member levels
Gold Member
Space - Gold Members provide a space for our team of teaching artists and young artists to meet 3 times a week to create a mural. Due to constraints around COVID 19 precautions, the space must be outdoor or have large windows/garage doors for ventilation. The space must also have a bathroom for use during the mural’s creation.
Walls - Gold Members have public-facing wall space where the mural can be displayed following its completion.
Silver Member
Walls - Silver Members have public-facing wall space where the mural can be displayed following its completion.
Bronze Member
Space - Bronze Members provide a space for our team of teaching artists and young artists to meet 3 times a week to create a mural. Due to constraints around COVID 19 precautions, the space must be outdoor or have large windows/garage doors for ventilation. The space must also have a bathroom for use during the mural’s creation.
Angel Member
Funding - Angel Members donate $100 or more to sponsor a young persons scholarship. This allows young artists who otherwise can’t afford to participate access to join in the fun!
Sarah’s credentials
Sarah has spearheaded over 20 community-collaboration public art projects over the last 15 years. Her public art works have ranged from collaborations with public radio, Brooklyn Bridge Park, the New York Public Health Initiative, City & Borough of Juneau (AK capital), as well as communities in rural Alaska. Sarah brings an innate ability to create cohesion and community within her group that reflects the overall objective of the public art work.
Since 2017, Sarah has served as the director of The Painted Cloud studio, practicing community-minded experimentation in the arts. Sarah developed and trained teaching artists, built curriculum, and worked actively in the studio. The Painted Cloud offered workshops and events for adults, after school sessions for elementary and middle school aged-children, and morning sessions for artists as young as 2.5 years old. Every offering of The Painted Cloud focused on learning and experimenting with a variety of mediums, engaging with the community (Art Trek field trips, visiting artists, EVENTS+WORKSHOPS, DIY public art), and using art as a vessel for observing the relationship of the individual to their immediate community and the community at large.
About the project:
The From HERE to NOW mural series is directed by artist/teaching artist Sarah Conarro. Each mural is produced on wood panels by a group of young community members. The panels are created weekly in an outdoor space (i.e. public park, private patio, donated outdoor space), before being installed at the final location. Each week, the newly created mural is swapped out for the past week’s mural, creating a rotating and fresh new mural!
Execution:
Part 1 - Background / Shape Painting
Sarah & the teaching artist team meets young artists in an outdoor space to direct the creation of an abstract, colorful mural background, while teaching young artists about form, color, art history, and technique.
Part 2 - “Dialogue Prompt” / Text On Paintings
With the young artists, Sarah develops the week’s Dialogue Prompt (examples). These phrases will be added to the mural in overlaid text.
Part 3 - Installation
Sarah & the teaching artist team deliver the panels to the mural location for installation. The past week’s mural are deinstalled, and the new mural takes its place.
Part 4 - Repeat!
What is needed:
Wall space for installation ***NEEDED
Installation ability/crew ***NEEDED - permits/installation of cleats for receiving mural panels. // ***SECURED - crew, drills + 8’ ladder for swapping out murals.
Teaching Artists - ****SECURED! Team of 3-4 experienced teaching artists at-the-ready for this project.
Connection to young artists in the community ****SECURED! Sarah, director of The Painted Cloud has an email reach of 1,500 people in Brooklyn and has served 562 young artists in the past 3 years.
Outdoor space for creation of panels - Tentative plan to use public parks for painting on panels prior to installation. ***SEEKING donated private spaces for panel painting.
Brass Tacks
Dimensions - variable
Panels
Size - variable (limited to 2’ x 3’ max panels that can be transported in a small utility van)
Materials - 1/2” - 3/4” thickness Medium Density Overlay (MDO). Cleating system for easy installation / deinstallation.
Paint
Golden exterior acrylic paints (link to info page)
Transportation
Panels will be transported to and from installation site by Sarah and her team.
Cost - variable
Families will sign up through The Painted Cloud website, and will pay by week to participate.
Additional funding - to be secured through donations and/or participating businesses and/or fiscal sponsorship.
Documentation / Exposure
Each aspect of the mural creation will be documented from its creation to its installation.
Photos will be shared on social media through instagram accounts of @SarahConarro, @ThePaintedCloud.
Photos will be made available to any donors and/or fiscal sponsors for their use.
Donors/sponsors are encouraged to employ independent documentation of the project for their own internal purposes.
Every project that Sarah creates has community and dialogue at its core. Uninterested in polarizing audiences, Sarah’s work provides a setting for participants to find common ground through creative and conversational exchange.