Flushing Town Hall Offers Art Kits For New Yorkers To Express Their Feelings for Outdoor Community Art Exhibition

For the last month, Flushing Town Hall has allowed professional and novice artists to express their thoughts and feelings through art - and showcasing their work in an outdoor exhibition, Call and Response: Grief, Resiliency and Hope.

Next week, the venue will make a limited number of art kits available on a first-come, first-served basis to the general public, families, professional artists, and amateurs who wish to create artistic expressions and to share them in an exhibition, on the outdoor fence bordering the venue's Garden on Northern Boulevard.

"Flushing Town Hall invites you to artistically express your feelings, to process grief, anger or gratitude while connecting with the Queens community through this outdoor exhibition," says Flushing Town Hall Executive and Artistic Director Ellen Kodadek. "We are at a pivotal time in our nation's history, faced with a COVID-19 pandemic and with the epidemic of institutional racism and abuse that has eroded the fabric of our society. We want to provide a platform for the public to express our range of emotions as a path toward a more inclusive and equitable world."

You can learn about the initiative at http://www.flushingtownhall.org/call-and-response.

Artwork can honor those we have lost during the pandemic to the disease, or honor those we have lost as a result of racial or social injustice. Artists can choose to thank healthcare providers for their efforts to heal, or explore racial injustice, express anxiety or fears, illustrate hope for a brighter future, or anything else they are feeling. As art helps us process our feelings, we will be building our community's mental resiliency.

Says Flushing Town Hall's Director of Education and Public Programs Gabrielle M. Hamilton, "We need to acknowledge the trauma of this moment which is profoundly tied our nation's history and attempt to address our collective pain through artistic expression. This exhibition will be an ongoing artistic testament to our community's mental resiliency in times of crises."

Flushing Town Hall will make available a limited number of simple, non-returnable "art kits" for students and families to be picked at Flushing Town Hall, 137-35 Northern Blvd., on Tuesday, August 11, Wednesday August 12, and Thursday, August 13 from 10 AM to 3 PM. People are asked to wear face masks when picking up art kits.

Participants also can go to Flushing Town Hall and hang their artwork directly on the Flushing Town Hall fence. Artwork of all mediums, from all ages and abilities is welcomed. Please consider the following:

• Work can be up to 27"x 39" inches on paper, fabric or ribbon.

• After you complete your work, write your name on your piece (if you like), punch a hole in the artwork at the top, and tie a string through it.

• If your artwork is very big, you can tape it to the fence with masking tape

• Artwork will be exposed to the elements and will not be protected from the weather.

• Artwork will not be returned.

• Artwork may be photographed and shared online through a virtual exhibition, unless specifically note by the artists on the back of the artwork.

• Flushing Town Hall reserves the right to remove any artwork that use hate speech, profanity or obscenity, depicts violence, sexual acts or unlawful or illegal behavior.

If participants cannot travel to Flushing Town Hall to hang artwork, they are invited to take a photo or scan of artwork and message, and email scans to education@flushingtownhall.org. Flushing Town Hall staff will print a copy of the work and hang it on our fence.

Flushing Town Hall will post ongoing updates-and showcase individual pieces of the artwork-starting on July 6 on Flushing Town Hall's Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter platforms, and on Flushing Town Hall's Cultural Crossroads blog.