Baldwin Library
Knowledge Takes Flight
Acrylic on canvas
18” x 45”
2021
"Knowledge Takes Flight" expresses the dissemination of information. This is depicted by the glowing spheres radiating from the books. "Knowledge Takes Flight" also represents the abundance of disinformation floating around the internet in the form of tiny yellow dots. I view the books as the experts on their given subjects with their information/knowledge/message having to push through everyone else's opinion. The sunset colors represent my hope that someday soon this age of post-truth will finally end.
Zip US Up!™ is a challenging and experimental diversity-based project.
40 artists from around the country will be collaborating on a 40-panel (one for each artist) canvas mural to be exhibited in the windows of the newly opened Youth Wing of the Baldwin Public Library in Birmingham, Michigan, a city located in Metro Detroit. The windows are in a very prominent and visible location overlooking Shain Park, Birmingham’s centrally located downtown park. The project is initiated and organized by private individuals for public benefit and to benefit the artists selected to participate as the art will be for sale.
40 artists will create their own canvas panel provided by the Project Team. Artists are required to collaborate with the adjacent artist to the right and left of them to make a cohesive piece that uniquely represents their own artistic style while using the predetermined connecting points provided on the canvas. The collaboration can be virtual or in person depending on their location. Upon completion, the canvases will be zipped together (using multicolored Riri metal zippers) to create a 175-foot mural to be exhibited between October 2021-May 2022.
US Up! is an artistic statement that affirms when we all come together, we can create something more meaningful than each of us individually. One of the things that makes our country special is that is it a giant melting pot of people, cultures, beliefs, and ideas. This past year has shown that we all need to reach out and respectfully collaborate with each other if our society is going to collectively improve itself and prosper for everyone’s benefit.
