Rx 4 HEALth : a public art apothecary and artist book

Rx 4 HEALth is a public art apothecary and artist book about health, healing, and well-being from the hilltowns of western MA. The project explores how creativity affects our health and how the creative process can deepen our community’s dialogue about social, political, and environmental health concerns. I am seeking a micro grant to fund some of the design time and the cost of printing the artist book. I am working on the project with Jane Beatrice Wegscheider. (We are seeking funding for other parts of the project through Mass Humanities, the Art Angels, and local doctors.)

Stories will be gathered at a series of community conversations at The Art Garden in Shelburne Falls this spring. The conversations will be co-facilitated by local artists, writers, and scholars on topics like: Hurry Sickness and Its Remedies; Facing loss with an open heart; The Hoarder’s Daughter; Creativity, Meaning, and Hope; and Engaging Creativity for Community Healing. At each event participants will share their stories which will be captured on labels and adhered to medicine bottles, pill vials, cough syrup bottles, etc. We will create a portable apothecary-a public art installation that displays the collection of stories. Photographs of the medicine bottles and the written reflections of participants will be compiled into an artist book. Since our stories are our medicine, free copies of the books will be distributed to local libraries, health care facilities, and wellness centers.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

This is the third year that I will be working with Jane. We are interdisciplinary art workers who create art in service to our community. We began in 2011 with Question: What’s Left? Answer: Abundance, a series of intergenerational community conversations (that attracted 16-70 year olds) about money and alternative economies against the backdrop of an interactive installation. In 2012 we co-created Drink water. Ponder source, a story-gathering public art project about the Deerfield River and the impact of flooding as a result of Tropical Storm Irene. We transferred people’s stories onto bottles of river water and installed them at sunrise around the village of Shelburne Falls on the one-year anniversary of the flood. Ours was the only public marking of the anniversary for a community still in grief and was featured on Channel 22 News as a result. I am an Artist Activist and work as a group facilitator, graphic messenger, and author/designer/publisher of artist books. Jane is the Artist Director of The Art Garden.

ABOUT THE ART GARDEN

The Art Garden has a history of offering the community a place to gather, where personal, local, and global issues are explored and innovative responses are created. It is a not-for-profit, community art-making space founded on the premise that ‘engaging in creative activities is essential for a sustainable life.’ The Art Garden is dedicated to creating bridges between contemporary art thinking and community art making. Events at The Art Garden are free and draw an intergenerational audience from the West County hilltowns and sometimes from the valley. http://theartgarden.wordpress.com/