Jesse White

A-Space

Jesse White’s paintings, mixed-media work and words reflect her raw, human experiences and the spirituality that guides her through. She finds faith in creating; the act of writing or painting, a prayer. “As I collaborate with the Creator, I know I will be carried through to the completion of the piece.” Jesse finds creating to be both cathartic and restorative. Spiritually, Jesse feels called to speak from her experiences and it is through lifting her creative voice that she hopes others will hear something of the Spirit as well.

A creative risk-taker, Jesse’s newest series explores the use of found objects in a narration about pain, prayer, health and healing. Other pieces in the exhibition render a girl dancing under a street lamp in the rain at night, an artist at the point of clarity in her creative process and an abstract expression of anger at the power of misconception.

Jesse hosts a drop-in open art studio Sunday evenings at the A-Space through her organization, Pigeon Arts. This pay-what-you-can program strives to strengthen creative community while guiding artists and writers to create with integrity and self-awareness.

We are thrilled to partner with the A-Space again this Spring.  The A-Space was Pigeon Arts’ change partner for the Trans Altered Books Project, a Leeway Foundation Art & Change funded project in the summer of 2009.  The A-Space is located at 4722 Baltimore Ave. and is easily assessable by the #34 trolley.  There is also a free parking lot next door.  To learn more about the A-Space, please visit http://www.the-aspace.org

NEW CLASS OFFERINGS THIS SPRING

PAINT & POETRY

Saturdays, April 24th – June 5th (No class May 8th)
3:30-5:30pm
Class size: 3-8
$210, includes cost of most materials

Explore visual and written art forms. Open to participants of all levels of experience, this course will culminate with a work of art that integrates both words and painting.

ALTERED ART

Saturdays, April 24th – June 12th

5:30-7:30pm
Class size: 3-8
$250, includes cost of most materials

Artists will have the opportunity to explore various 2 & 3-D pieces of work in the realm of altered art/mixed media. Found objects and their narratives will be a main theme of the course. Create an altered book, a “textural” painting or collage, or construct an assemblage.

OPEN STUDIO

Sundays, beginning April 26th

5:30-7:30pmSuggestion donation:

$10 an hour, or $20 per session (includes materials fee and donation to the A-Space)

Create in COMMUNITY! Draw, Paint, Write, and Sculpt together in this drop-in art class. Ages 10-110 welcome!

Please consider joining the celebration!

Arts on Arch
Thursday - Saturday,
November 5 - 7, 2009

Juried Art Show and Sale:
Opens with Preview Party on Thursday evening, Nov. 5.
Show runs Friday morning thru Saturday afternoon, Nov. 6 - 7.
Works by up to 40 artists.

Concert Friday Evening, Nov. 6:
Livingston Taylor and Liz Longley
Tickets: $30

At the Arch Street Meeting House, Philadelphia, PA

Mark your calendar for November 5-7, 2009 when all manner of arts will combine for one cool weekend of fun at Arch Street Meetinghouse. Arts On Arch, a benefit for the PYM Annual Fund, will include a Fellowship of Quakers in the Arts Juried Art Show and Sale from Thursday, November 5th through Saturday, the 7th, and a Friday evening concert featuring Livingston Taylor and Liz Longley.

For more information, call Jan Hatchard at 215-241-7115 or you can find more information here.

Here are the pieces to be exhibited by Jesse White…

When I Mend (From the "Health and Healing" Series)

streetlampdancer

I am a person who rarely rests: always on the go and trying to make ends meet, I have found my very few moments of peace in worship, in following my creative passions and in guiding others in how to follow theirs.  Access to the creative parts of us gets lost in what feels more urgent… in crisis.  Yet it is here that we need creative expression the most.  It is vital that we fight for what we need, and our belief in “hope” demands that we attend to our passions.

Whether or not you would call yourself an artist, each of us has the capacity to be creative.  My partner makes delectable meals from generic foods, opening our almost empty cupboards and balancing the palette of tastes to define a rich and vibrant supper.  This is a creative process.  Life is a creative process.  Always changing and reshaping, we creatively cope and pray for the day when our lives feel more secure.

I invite you to see how creative you really are!

Pigeon Arts’ team guides a wide variety of audiences in discerning what creative pursuits will help us to achieve that sense of thriving.  As the Director of Pigeon Arts, I am proud to say that since our inception in January 2008, our 230+ participants of creative programs have expressed that we are making an impact.  We are in the business of restoring “hope” through the arts.

We are not alone in this work. Transformative artists and arts organizations are collaborating to bring art-making to those who need it most.  Pigeon Arts has worked in collaboration with BuildaBridge, bringing the arts to families living in the shelter system and seniors living in nursing facilities.  We have collaborated with the Anti-Violence Partnership of Philadelphia, to create programs for children who have either been victims or witnesses to domestic violence or have lost family members to homicide.  Pigeon Arts has worked with the Temple Writing Academy, and with a group of transgender artists (through funding by the Leeway Foundation Art & Change Grant) in recreating and altering books to make their stories of identity tangible.  Loretta Graham, writer and artist, who we met through the BuildaBridge Institute, came to Pigeon Arts to learn how expand upon her work with teens, with seniors, and with men living in the shelter system. Her programs have made a real difference in the lives of her participants.

We are hungry to continue these collaborations and to expand others’ knowledge of how to guide their communities to their creative dreams.  Art-making, in whatever form, is something that each of us can do, if we push past our fears and dive into our hearts.  These days, we need it more than ever.

In Peace,

Jesse White

Pigeon Arts

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Unfolding Identities: Chapters of Self

Saturday, August 29, 2009

3:30-5:30pm, A-Space (Potluck)   4722 Baltimore Ave.

8:00-10:00om, Yoga Sutra (Desserts and Drinks)   1401 Walnut St., 2nd Fl

Through Pigeon Arts, with funding by the Leeway Foundation Art and Change Grant, we have spent the summer making tangible our stories of identity.  Our books manifest our journeys of creativity, spirituality, gender, sexuality, passions, insights and aspirations.

Please Join Our Celebration!

Open Studio

Sundays, September 13th - December 13th
2-5pm
Minimum donation: $5.00 per hour, if you bring your own supplies; $10 per hour, for use of Pigeon Arts’ Studio supplies

Create in community with other Pigeon Arts’ students! Jesse will be present if you need some advice as well. Call for entry to use the space.

Altered Books (& Some Creative Writing)

Mondays, October 19th - December 7th
6:00pm-8:00pm
Class size: 2-5
$275, includes cost of most materials

Artists will transform an existing book into a new work of art through multiple techniques: painting, drawing, gluing, cutting, folding, layering, collaging, adorning and more! Creative writing is the second layer of instruction in this class. Artists will be encouraged to include their own writing as they recycle one book for an incredibly distinctive, functional piece of art.

Creative Writing, Journaling and Poetry

Thursdays, October 1st - October 22nd
6:00pm - 7:30pm
Class size: 4-7
$100, please bring a journal and a favorite pen!

Have fun with the written word!  Writers (beginners through experts) will explore new techniques of creative written expression.  This class will explore writing techniques including:

* Writing Practice — stream of consciousness writing activities.
* A wide variety of journaling exercises such as unsent letters, listing, trigger word/phrase activities, portrait writing, and more.
* Poetry activities such as free verse, unconventional haikus, fraglits and found poetry.

There will be an opportunity to share your writing with friends and family at an open mic at the Pigeon Arts Studios at the close of the final session.

Oil Painting I and II

Sundays, October 18th - December 6th
5:30-7:30pm
Class size: 2-5
$275, includes most supplies

A mixed class of introductory and intermediate oil painting students, this course will cover/reiterate the basics of color mixing and theory, brush techniques, texture and surface preparation, designing compositions, how to “be in dialogue” with a painting, and stretching and priming canvas/other surfaces. The session culminates with a final piece in the distinctive style of each artist.

Private Instruction

Rolling schedule

Please visit our CLASSES page for more information and our REGISTER page to reserve your space!  If you have any questions, please feel free to email Jesse White, Director, at Info@pigeon-arts.com, call 267-357-7657 between 10am and 8pm or use our comment form.

We hope to work with you soon!

Below is a gallery of images from the Altered Books Methods Lab at Caring Heart Manor.  (Please click on a thumbnail to see the full image.)  Learn more about BuildaBridge at http://www.buildabridge.org.

Our stories are like our shadows; they travel with us wherever we go.  They are the less corporeal pieces of our person.  In this workshop, we will make our stories tangible, creatively capturing pieces of our historical selves.  Through spontaneous exploration of our stories through creative writing exercises, we will find our voices in the written word.  We will then illustrate our words through the use of collage and/or paint in a structurally altered book.  As we re-create a book, we may find a re-connection to the intuitive and spiritual places with us.

BuildaBridge is a non-profit 501(c)3 arts education and intervention organization that engages the transformative power of the arts to bring hope and healing to children, families, and communities in the tough places of the world. BuildaBridge motivates, enlists, trains, and connects those with artistic gifts with those in greatest need.

BuildaBridge Institute is a research and training institute designed to prepare artists, social service  professionals, community and congregational leaders, youth workers and non profit organization personnel to integrate the arts effectively in education and community development.  BuildaBridge Institute embraces the power of the arts in community outreach by teaching arts based tools for healing and empowerment, and efficient ways to implement them, to better serve those in need.

BuildaBridge Institute 2009
“Transforming Lives Through the Creative Arts”
Bryn Mawr College - Bryn Mawr, PA
June 3-7 (Open Institute)
June 3-10 (MA in Urban Studies Graduate Residency)

For more information about BuildaBridge and the BuildaBridge Institute, please visit: http://www.buildabridge.org.

]]> http://www.pigeon-arts.com/2009/05/19/buildabridge-institute/feed http://www.pigeon-arts.com/2009/04/29/trans-altered-books-project http://www.pigeon-arts.com/2009/04/29/trans-altered-books-project#comments Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:32:01 +0000 jesse http://www.pigeon-arts.com/?p=1116 The “Trans Altered Books Project,” funded by the Leeway Foundation Art and Change Grant, offers those who identify as Trans to participate in a nine-week Altered Books Course by Pigeon Arts’ Director, Jesse White.

This project, designed for the Trans community of Greater Philadelphia, will offer participants the opportunity to explore self-identity and combat self-stigmatizing labels. The project includes creative writing exercises, focused on positive self-identifying roles. From what is written, participants will construct their stories through the creation of altered books. Each artist will transform an existing book into a new work of art through multiple techniques: painting, drawing, gluing, cutting, folding, layering, collaging, adorning and more! Having doors and drawers that open, inserting mini-books and pockets, and other techniques will help artists to create incredibly distinctive, functional pieces of art.

Healthy and nurturing communities are born from healthy, self-aware and enthusiastic individuals. This project offers trans people the opportunity to safely explore their own self identities and how that relates to the larger communities of trans people, LGBT people and the general community of people living in the Greater Philadelphia area. The goals of this project are to provide a cathartic and healing creative experience that will foster self-esteem, enhance each artist’s creative experience in a positive and lasting way, and to strengthen the group’s sense of community and supports for trans people.

Check out the Trans Altered Books Project page for more information.  We hope to see you this summer!

Edward Mage ~ JinnFire Design
(Custom Graphic Design for Print and Web)

The Pigeon Arts Community participated in a much anticipated event at the Rotunda yesterday, in support of artists and writers seeking recognition and advocacy.

Many volunteers and students of Pigeon Arts displayed their artwork, feeling those first butterflies as someone viewed their piece, and explosions of giddiness at the surplus of compliments on their amazing work!

We are so proud of those who showed their work and read their poetry and prose, and those Pigeon Arts students who came out to meet each other and the larger community of artists and writers in the West Philly area.

Congratulations on making the event such a fabulous success!

Rebecca offered this testimonial:

“Jesse from Pigeon Arts was wonderful to work with!  I had a concept for our Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service but was not sure how to implement it. Jesse made my vision a reality. She had great ideas about what art materials to use as well as how to interact with children and adults who have experienced trauma. For our activity, she guided the children to create their own personal images of peace, some of which they took home and some they donated to a mobile which now hangs in our office. The children responded positively to her and enjoyed the day. I will definitely hire her for our next event.”

Rebecca Selvin, LSW
Therapist
Anti-Violence Partnership of Philadelphia

For more information about the Anti-Violence Partnership of Philadelphia, please visit http://www.avpphila.org. 

Stephanie Soondar will host an Art Making Party

at the Pigeon Arts’ Studio on Sunday, December 28th, from 4-6pm.

Explore Photo Alteration, Painting and Collaging!
See the Pigeon Arts’ Studio!
Eat, Drink and be Merry!

$30 covers the cost of food, drinks, and art supplies.
You are invited to bring 35mm photos to alter and images for collaging.

Registration is limited,
so please contact Jesse at info@pigeon-arts.com if you would like to attend.