Join us every Wednesday at the downtown public Library from 4-6PM and Saturday at the CAC from 1-3PM for our Artist-in-Residence program where artist Bear Vogt will practice their art alongside the general public, educating and inspiring along the way!
The theme for Bear's residency is Reimagining: Community Visions of Environmental Justice. As our species continues to exacerbate environmental issues, it becomes clear that we must reimagine our lives, communities, and societies if we are going to continue to survive and thrive. The arts are particularly poised to help engage in this imaginative work because the arts raise awareness and spark dialogues which help form the beliefs that will guide us to take the necessary action to save our species. Reimagination occurs internally before it becomes externalized and Bear will guide people to simultaneously engage in the internal and external work of reimagination. A major focus of the imaginative work is discrediting exploitative ideological frameworks of disposability and waste. Instead of a reductive binary of valuable vs. useless, Bear hopes to show that nothing can be intrinsically classified as waste; instead, waste is simply a word that is used when an individual or society cannot or refuses to imagine any potential for any person, place, or thing.
Bear Vogt is a contemporary artist from Ohio known for their eco-conscious work, including the "Bear Vogt is Trash: Eco-conscious Art from the Discarded" exhibit held at the Strauss gallery in Hamilton, Ohio. Vogt also serves as a Rachel Carson Campus Fellow, indicating a commitment to environmental themes in their artistic practice.
This program is financially assisted by The Patricia Kisker Foundation, Fifth Third Bank, Trustee, The Wodecroft Foundation, and The Robert & Adele Schiff Family Foundation