Greenhill Announces Learning ART Together Exhibition, a Partnership with Guilford Child Development

"(GREENSBORO, NC) Greenhill will host Learning ART Together:  Bridging Cultures Through Art, an exhibition on view from April 12 – April 17, 2015. The exhibition will include photographs, program activities and women’s journals, artworks, culture cards and a cookbook entitled, From My Table to North Carolina.  

Starting in Spring 2014, Greenhill and Guilford Child Development implemented Learning ART Together, a program designed to help low income immigrant and refugee women create an art or craft they can sell, exhibit and/or share while their children, under the care of Guildford Child Development caregivers, participated in hands-on art activities in ArtQuest Studios. An outgrowth of Guilford Child Development’s Learning Together, a family literacy program that serves immigrant and refugee families with preschool age children, Learning ART Together aimed to build community, strengthen literacy practices and channel the creative spirit of women and children through visual arts.  

Administered by Liz Busch, the Director of the Art Alliance, facilitated by Jaymie Meyer, Greenhill’s Director of Adult and Youth Programs, and overseen by Molly Betton, Guilford Child Development’s Learning Together Program Coordinator, this program was made possible by a grant awarded by Women to Women, a permanent grant making endowment of the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro.  Upon reflection, Meyer remarked, “I have personally gotten just as much or more from facilitating this program as the women who have participated. My curiosity about what is happening in the world has grown exponentially. Every time I met someone new I learned something about a place that I have never been. It also has made me appreciate just how culturally diverse our community is.”

The women of Learning ART Together brought a unique history and creative drive and were encouraged to make links between their native cultures and American culture. They searched the Internet for arts and crafts that appealed to their own aesthetic, kept a journal, visited  The Gallery and learned new techniques shared by visiting artists Senora Lynch, Kathryn Gauldin, Suzie Cooke, and Betsy Renfrew who provided instruction in printmaking, watercolor painting, embroidery, collage, jewelry making, and paper making.

An essential component of the program, women learned to value art processes, ideation and collaboration. Exposure to entrepreneurial practices and opportunities was yet another important aim of the program. Throughout the year, Learning ART Together participants went on field trips to learn about avenues by which artists sell their art. The social interaction alongside art making proved to be equally as valuable as the art making. The women from vastly different cultures discussed everything from their children and food to how black made them look thinner--all over coffee and munchies. The intertwining of cultures revealed commonalities that led to From My Table to North Carolina – a recipe book and “culture cards” featuring collages, recipes and stories created by the women as a means for learning how to develop a  product to sell. The culture cards are currently being sold at Scuppernong Books and The Shop at Greenhill. The book will be available in April 2015. An opening reception will be held at Greenhill on April 12^th from 2:00-5:00 pm featuring a tasting of a selection of recipes from the cookbook."

- A Press Release