Grants Help Fund Art Installations To Revitalize Denver Neighborhoods
DENVER (CBS4)- Denver Arts & Venues will once again fund projects bringing together artists and community members to create art installations around the city to help revitalize their neighborhoods.
"We always love doing community installations, and having a piece people can walk by and enjoy," Jessica Eaton said.
Eaton, along with Tymla Welch and Lauren Seip, are members of Ladies Fancywork Society. A team of artists focused on working with fiber for their pieces, mostly made up of yarn. They were recipients of one of the P.S. You Are Here grants from Denver Arts & Venues in 2018. They started working on their installation at Sloan's Lake in January and completed it in May with the help of students from nearby elementary and middle schools. The Sloan's Lake Citizens Group supported them with the application process and completing this project.
"It's so fun to see how creative they got with such a basic starting point," said Seip about working with children.
The concept plays off the body of water next to the fencing they helped to cover with their art. Yarn and canvases with patterns made by the women were complimented by the sea creatures the students added to the project. It was one way to take the eyesore of the maintenance and construction equipment in that part of the park and give it a more appealing look.
"We work with the community and we give kids the opportunity to learn about art," Eaton said. "Make art, and have it on display."
"It's just a fun way to brighten up the park," Welch added.
The women started working on art projects together 12 years ago. They took a shared passion and made it into a collaborative profession. They are glad to see their work, especially the project at Sloan's Lake helping to connect neighbors with the place they call home.
"It gives a lot of these communities' ownership of their surroundings," Seip said.
The P.S. You Are Here grant started in 2014 and in the past year, the city awarded $67,500 in funding for projects. Each submission that is selected for the program can receive up to $10,000. The deadline for the 2019 round of grants is Friday, Oct. 11. The city will announce the awardees of the grant in November. The women from the Ladies Fancywork Society say artists can help each other out not only in the application process but also in executing their installation when ready to create their artwork.
"We all were obsessively crocheting and needed an outlet for it," Eaton said. "We were all best friends and we all crocheted, let's do something with this, and then we did."