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Art From the Streets Celebrates Their 25th Anniversary

Art From the Streets Celebrates Their 25th Anniversary

Art From the Streets, a non-profit that provides a free art studio for Austin’s homeless citizens, will host their 25th Annual Homeless Art Show and Sell on Dec. 2-3rd at the Austin Convention Center from 11am - 5pm.

 

For the past 25 years, Art From the Streets has offered a safe space for homeless people to express their creativity and grow through painting and drawing within a supportive community.

 

“We’re very excited to have this 25th anniversary show. We have 2,000 pieces of new artwork, thousands of pieces of artwork that we stored for the artists over a period of time, and we have about 35 artists that will have booths that are participating. But over 150 artists have worked in our program over this year,” executive director of Art From the Streets, Kelley Worden, said.

 

(Executive Director, Kelley Worden)

 

This non-profit has grown immensely over the past 25 years from 70 pieces of artwork to the now thousands that are expected at this upcoming show. The program started off with a few founders hosting in a small room at The Austin Resource Center for the Homeless or ARCH for short.

 

“One of our founders got together with some friends and decided that they wanted to go to The ARCH and maybe create a sandwich, some lunch maybe - just find something interactive to do with people that are living on the streets. One day they brought in pencils and paper and just wanted to do some interactions versus just sitting around and doing nothing all day and they came up with these amazing pieces of artwork,” Worden said.

 

(Open studio time)

 

The art studio is now hosted within the Trinity Center, a resource for the homeless population provided by St. David’s Episcopal Church in downtown Austin. Up until five years ago the Annual Show and Sell art show was also held within St. David’s but has since moved to the Austin Convention Center to allow room for growth.

 

“So about five years ago we became a 501 (c)(3). So twenty years of just friends of friends of friends making it happen and completely volunteer run. Ten years ago we started receiving funds from the city through the Cultural Arts Division which we still do. A lot of our funding comes from them,” Worden said.

 

While the building Art From the Streets is hosted in, the size of the program and the location of the art shows have changed, the overall goal has not.

 

“Success in our world is way different than success with a homeless person or someone who is at risk. Their successes are completely different than what our world perceives as success. You know, are you the CEO of something? Are you the executive director of something? Are you making millions of dollars? Are you donating millions of dollars? Success could be a day to day kind of thing. I successfully made it to art class this week,” Worden said.

 

(Donations to Art From the Streets)

 

Art From the Streets isn’t slowing down any time soon. Future goals include moving into their own space so that they can further serve the homeless population in Austin. They also hope to offer art classes and other mediums including sculpting and 3-D design.

*Eye See You Now is a proud supporter of Art From the Streets and the author of this article.

 

Art From the Streets rely on generous donations of people like YOU! 
Purchasing artwork supports the artists directly. 
Donating to our program helps us to offer a free Open Studio 
for the homeless and at risk. THANK YOU!
 

What is the East Austin Studio Tour?

What is the East Austin Studio Tour?

Have you seen signs all over East Austin that say EAST and have a little number on them? Well, you’ve stumbled upon something special. There is a huge art festival happening all over East Austin. This annual, and more importantly, free(!) art festival kicks off soon on the east side of I-35. Over 150 studios, exhibition spaces, and galleries will be opening their doors to the public. Walk or bike around East Austin and check out the magic. This is a great way to build your leg muscles, and your art appreciation muscles!

This will be happening November 11 and 12 from 11AM-6PM. The official boundaries are as follows: East of I-35, West of HHW 183, South of HWY 290, and North of Riverside.

You can see temporary exhibitions and pop-up shows made specifically for EAST in warehouse spaces, homes libraries and unconventional venues. There will also be all kinds of programming, performances, and art themed parties. If you find yourself in an artist studio, you can get a special glimpse into the process these artists go through to make what we all love- beautiful art!

The 2017 theme is flowers. These show an example of peace and regional support in our tumultuous cultural climate. Ten chosen artists for this festival have illustrated one of Texas’ best seasonal flowering plants. This is also in partnership with the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower center.

Though we’re wildly excited about this festival, we’re most excited about our own contribution to it! We will be partnering with CambiaArt for this show, and hope to see you there from 11-6 at 2832 E Martin Luther King Jr Blvd. Our show will be promoting art painted in our studio, Art From The Streets, by our homeless and formerly homeless artists. You can support homeless Austin artists and help them gain economic independence through their own creativity. We hope to see you there!

Art From the Streets rely on generous donations of people like YOU! 
Purchasing artwork supports the artists directly. 
Donating to our program helps us to offer a free Open Studio 
for the homeless and at risk. THANK YOU!
 

 

Event for the Homeless Outreach Street Team

Event for the Homeless Outreach Street Team

 

The Art from the Streets organization was thrilled to be invited to participate in an event that was hosted by the Office of Innovation on Monday morning. The city of Austin was recently given a grant in order to help tackle the problem of homelessness. With that grant in mind, the purpose of this event was for the Homeless Outreach Street Team (HOST) to survey the homeless and see how effective the programs in place are and what they can do to improve them. The goal of HOST is to be able to help the homeless population get back on their feet and avoid a situation that is detrimental to their health or where the law has to be involved.

Our part in this event was to create a pop up interactive art piece where the homeless were able to take a break from the surveying and paint using pastels. The amount of people who joined in was amazing and at one point we even had some of the workers jump in and paint! This interactive piece was a fun and soothing experience for all of those who joined in and even to those who just stood and stared as the artists painted.

  

It was very satisfying to watch the canvas go from black and white to a sea of colors. This event was a wonderful way to not only get the word out about our program but to also help those who attended to explore their creative side.

 

Art From the Streets rely on generous donations of people like YOU! 
Purchasing artwork supports the artists directly. 
Donating to our program helps us to offer a free Open Studio 
for the homeless and at risk. THANK YOU!
 

Gallery 701 - Living For The City

Gallery 701 - Living For The City

Mark your calendar for the opening o four exciting summer show June 14th, 6-9pm. Inspired by Stevie Wonder's lyrics and changes in our urban landscape, we invited Austin artists to share their views on Living for the City.

New works by artists representing Art From The Streets and Mobile Loaves & Fishes, Arthouse at Community First Village

Additional featured Austin artists include Ethan Azarian, Valerie Chaussonnet, Sam Hurt, Noel Kalmus, David Lykes Keenan, George Krause, Heidi Pitre, SLOKE ONE and Rachel Wolfson Smith.

OPENING NIGHT ONLY
Performances by:
Interdisciplinary theatre artist Zell Miller III
Vocal performance by Timeca Seretti

Exhibition will continue through September 1st. 
Open: Wednesday 10-3 and by appointment: gallerylong701@gmail.com. 
Many thanks to the ABE Charitable Foundation, Art For The People, and the Long Center staff.


art from the streets austin arists events

 

Art From the Streets rely on generous donations of people like YOU! 
Purchasing artwork supports the artists directly. 
Donating to our program helps us to offer a free Open Studio 
for the homeless and at risk. THANK YOU!