Shapes of Connection is a group exhibition featuring five ProjectArt teaching artists from Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, and Cincinnati. Interpreting their experience teaching art to youth in public libraries, each artist let their experiences take shape through the lens of their art practice. This exhibition is an opportunity to contemplate the varied identities and diverse conceptual approaches of each of the exhibiting artists, some of which include: emotion, Black culture, accessibility, reciprocity, and daily action as art. It serves to remind us of the ways we each approach our own ideas of identity and the identities of people and places around us. Teres Audet, Dutana Dago, Liseth Amaya, Nikki Kurt, and Lindsey Whittle utilize sculpture, photography, painting, storytelling, and wearable art to communicate the wonder of their complex experiences in this program.

ProjectArt is a platform for their resident artists to share unique lines of art inquiry through free art classes for youth and for those lines to expand and take shape in the minds of their students. Just as Jim Rohn said: "Ideas are information taking shape." We may never be fully aware of all the shapes produced in the minds of students from the impact of and on the teaching artists in this project.

ProjectArt empowers youth, emerging artists, and communities through partnerships with public libraries in eight cities from coast to coast. ProjectArt's Resident Teaching Artists teach free, after-school art classes to children in underserved areas while developing new artwork informed by their experience working within the community and utilizing library resources. This exhibition serves as a testament to their commitment to bridging the opportunity gap in art education and promoting creativity and cultural understanding among the younger generation.

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Opening reception, April 26th 5:30-7:00