Collaborating with Mayo Street Arts in Portland, ME. Mayo Street Arts is a neighborhood and community based visual, performing and literary arts center. Over a dozen Mayo Street neighborhood children and parents decorated Little Free Libraries; free-standing doll-house sized book repositories. The Little Free Library project promotes literacy and love of reading by building free book exchanges worldwide.
Children were inspired by their immediate surroundings and chose from a variety of paint colors. Reminiscent of the frosting-like textures of a Wayne Thiebaud’s paintings, children worked collaboratively to apply vibrant colors expressing thick brushstrokes. The children immersed themselves in the expressive and physical qualities of applying colorful paints, much like the great abstract expressionists Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline and Willem de Kooning are known for.
This community-oriented art and literacy project provided the space and time for a multicultural community to collaborate, and create unique projects which promote both art and literacy. As a result of the commitment and participation of parents, children and Mayo Street Arts, Portland’s Bayside neighborhood was strengthened.
Children were inspired by their immediate surroundings and chose from a variety of paint colors. Reminiscent of the frosting-like textures of a Wayne Thiebaud’s paintings, children worked collaboratively to apply vibrant colors expressing thick brushstrokes. The children immersed themselves in the expressive and physical qualities of applying colorful paints, much like the great abstract expressionists Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline and Willem de Kooning are known for.
This community-oriented art and literacy project provided the space and time for a multicultural community to collaborate, and create unique projects which promote both art and literacy. As a result of the commitment and participation of parents, children and Mayo Street Arts, Portland’s Bayside neighborhood was strengthened.