Brett-Cook
Sifu Kate Hobbs in process, Life Is Living, DeFremery Park
Kate Hobbs in process at Life Is Living, DeFremery Oakland
Dimension Variable
paint pen, oil pastel, on Non Woven Media.
October 2010
The innovative use of an array of materials in Reflections of Healing process by participants of all abilities reflects a complex conceptual architecture. The selection of diverse models redirects portraiture’s conventional habits of highlighting pedigreed subjects. The fact that the artworks were made by thousands of participants enhances the objects into something gem-like, illuminating, and brimming with narrative possibilities.
Sifu Kate Hobbs holds the rank of fifth degree Black Belt in the Gaylord Method of Kajukenbo Kung Fu. She currently studies Chi Gung, Tai Chi, and Northern Shaolin Kung Fu under Sifu Michelle Dwyer. She has spent much of her time as a Black Belt focusing on how martial arts can help young people face the violence and injustice they encounter with power and intelligence. She has worked on curriculum for community-based and school-based programs that teach specific tools for conflict resolution, violence prevention and community building for youth aged three to eighteen. She was cofounder of Oakland’s famous Destiny Arts Center, and the national youth play organization Sports for Kids (now known as Playworks). www.oaklandkajukenbo.com/
Reflections of Healing is a multi-faceted process of community building that
includes the collaborative development of 24 large-scale public works featuring Bay Area residents – who through practice or legacy demonstrate healing. The project culminates with temporary and permanent installation of the works across the city of Oakland, CA in 2010-2013
Reflections comes from my evolving conception of collaboration and art making as a framework for transformation that includes social relevance and localized solutions. To this end, it celebrates community healers who reflect the immediate location of the work’s installation while providing a public, non-commercial venue showcasing participatory projects. As an artist who has worked extensively in educational settings, the selection of prominent Oakland models pictured at 15 years of age emphasizes the collective potential of youth in the creation of loving community.
The public installations, both temporary and permanent, will celebrate and document significant Oakland residents and their practice or legacy of healing. Located in neighborhoods of Oakland, the installations will include a variety of media and materials documenting the ethnographic, pedagogical, and creative processes of building loving community and healing through the social collaboration that is Reflections of Healing.
In addition, the works will be used in the set for Marc Bamuthi Joseph’s full-evening performance work “red, black and GREEN: a blues”, which will premier at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (SF) in October 2011, and will be presented at the Walker Arts Center (Minneapolis), The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts (Houston), and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Reflections of Healing is anchored in LIFE is LIVING (LiL), a national initiative that establishes a new model for partnerships between diverse and under-resourced communities, green action agencies, and the contemporary arts world. LIL has carried out audience development through the lens that combines a focus on community development, and a celebratory promotion of life in urban communities.
Sifu Kate Hobbs in process, Life Is Living, DeFremery Park
Kate Hobbs in process at Life Is Living, DeFremery Oakland
Dimension Variable
paint pen, oil pastel, on Non Woven Media.
October 2010
The innovative use of an array of materials in Reflections of Healing process by participants of all abilities reflects a complex conceptual architecture. The selection of diverse models redirects portraiture’s conventional habits of highlighting pedigreed subjects. The fact that the artworks were made by thousands of participants enhances the objects into something gem-like, illuminating, and brimming with narrative possibilities.
Sifu Kate Hobbs holds the rank of fifth degree Black Belt in the Gaylord Method of Kajukenbo Kung Fu. She currently studies Chi Gung, Tai Chi, and Northern Shaolin Kung Fu under Sifu Michelle Dwyer. She has spent much of her time as a Black Belt focusing on how martial arts can help young people face the violence and injustice they encounter with power and intelligence. She has worked on curriculum for community-based and school-based programs that teach specific tools for conflict resolution, violence prevention and community building for youth aged three to eighteen. She was cofounder of Oakland’s famous Destiny Arts Center, and the national youth play organization Sports for Kids (now known as Playworks). www.oaklandkajukenbo.com/
Reflections of Healing is a multi-faceted process of community building that
includes the collaborative development of 24 large-scale public works featuring Bay Area residents – who through practice or legacy demonstrate healing. The project culminates with temporary and permanent installation of the works across the city of Oakland, CA in 2010-2013
Reflections comes from my evolving conception of collaboration and art making as a framework for transformation that includes social relevance and localized solutions. To this end, it celebrates community healers who reflect the immediate location of the work’s installation while providing a public, non-commercial venue showcasing participatory projects. As an artist who has worked extensively in educational settings, the selection of prominent Oakland models pictured at 15 years of age emphasizes the collective potential of youth in the creation of loving community.
The public installations, both temporary and permanent, will celebrate and document significant Oakland residents and their practice or legacy of healing. Located in neighborhoods of Oakland, the installations will include a variety of media and materials documenting the ethnographic, pedagogical, and creative processes of building loving community and healing through the social collaboration that is Reflections of Healing.
In addition, the works will be used in the set for Marc Bamuthi Joseph’s full-evening performance work “red, black and GREEN: a blues”, which will premier at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (SF) in October 2011, and will be presented at the Walker Arts Center (Minneapolis), The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts (Houston), and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Reflections of Healing is anchored in LIFE is LIVING (LiL), a national initiative that establishes a new model for partnerships between diverse and under-resourced communities, green action agencies, and the contemporary arts world. LIL has carried out audience development through the lens that combines a focus on community development, and a celebratory promotion of life in urban communities.