Monday, August 10, 2009

Help Fund a Community Mosaic Mural Project in Nairobi, Kenya this Fall!




http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/LaurelTrue/community-mosaic-mural-project-with-youth-in-narobi-0




Hello All!

I will be doing an artist's residency this fall at a glass workshop in Nairobi, Kenya during which I will be facilitating a community mosaic mural project with school children. I am very excited about this project!



I am funding this project in part through a really cool website called Kickstarter, which helps to facilitate funding for creative/ alternative projects.

Please consider supporting my project by following this link for more info:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/LaurelTrue/community-mosaic-mural-project-with-youth-in-narobi-0

If you know anyone who might be interested in making a micro-investment and supporting this project, please forward this e-mail to them!
My goal is to raise $3200 by September.

There are kickbacks for funders ;)

Thanks so much!

Laurel

More complete info:

Project:
Facilitation and creation of a community mosaic mural with Kenyan youth at a Rudolph Steiner school outside of Nairobi as part of an artist residency.



My name is Laurel True. I am a mosaic artist and educator seeking funding to support a community mosaic mural project in Nairobi, Kenya as part of a youth project series called "Woven Stories".


I have been creating site-specific public and community based artworks for almost 20 years. Since 2006, I have been creating mosaic projects that highlight collaboration between youth in Africa and the US. I focus specifically in under-served areas of Oakland, CA and New Orleans, where I divide my residency. I have been facilitating community mosaic mural projects in Ghana, West Africa for the past 8 years.


This September, I have been invited to Nairobi, Kenya to do an artist's residency at a renowned glass studio called Kitengela Glass that also operates an alternative school primarily for Masai children. I will be working with the school children to design and create a large glass mosaic mural for the facade of the school.


The school where the mural with be sited serves as a model for similar schools across East Africa.
The philosophy at Kitengela is "recycling everything, paying fair wages, protecting our environment." In this vein, we will be using all recycled glass materials from the studio for the mosaic mural project.


In the community projects I facilitate, I value fostering creative expression while including viable job training. I believe everyone has endless resources of "creative capital" — an enthusiasm to learn coupled with new skills can often transfer into economic opportunity. One example is a pair of my young students in Ghana, who have gone on to start their own small business as mosaic artists to help contribute to their own school fees and their families’ economies.


I will use your generous pledges towards this project for travel expenses, art materials and supplies for a mural both at the school in Nairobi and a partner project in the US. Your contributions will also assist with transportation, local support, a small stipend for myself and and local assistants, and project documentation.


As part of the Woven Stories Project, I will bring back design feedback from youth as well as glass elements from Kitengela Glass in Nairobi that will inspire and be used the creation of a future community mosaic mural with youth at a school in Oakland or New Orleans.

I am excited about this and other projects in Africa and in the US.
Thank you for your support!

For more information, please visit my website:
www.Truemosaics.com
http://www.truemosaics.com/ghana.html

Kitengela Glass website:
www.Kitengela-glass.com

For information on my next project in Ghana please visit:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/LaurelTrue/design-for-mosaic-sculpture-playground-and-training

MORE PICTURES TO COME!