The sounds of bells variously signify a call to service, a warning, a memorial, or the marking of a historical time. In Bells for York, the voices of York, of Sumter County, of the Black Belt give expression to these associations through recorded speech and song. The sound work functions as a kind of exalted […]
On July 3, 2021, the City of York celebrated York Day from sun up to sun down and well after. Artist Zarouhie Abdalian, collaborating artist Joseph Rosenweig, Coleman Center staff, family and friends used the occasion to recognize student artists from our two Making Art in Public workshops. We help a soft, COVID-safe opening for […]
In early June 2021, the Coleman Center welcomed Brandi Shah, M.D., MPH, an artist and family medicine physician who specializes in adolescent and young adult health. Shah is a lifelong creative writer and poet; she is developing tools to help medical practitioners recognize their patients as storytellers, center patients as experts about their own lives, […]
In July and August of 2020, seven students participated in two workshops – Making Art in Public II and History-Making & Storytelling – with visiting artists Zarouhie Abdalian and Ashley Hunt respectively. The former was the second iteration of Abdalian’s Making Art in Public workshop series. This Spring Abdalian completed a public exhibition of six […]
On Friday, May 7, 2021, the Coleman Center for the Arts hosted our first in-person event in 15 months – a free outdoor screening of Gadsden-based filmmaker Bo McGuire’s Socks on Fire. The documentary/narrative film puts McGuire in between a rich cast of characters as they wage war over their mother’s estate in Hokes Bluff, […]
Degrees of Visibility is a nine-year survey of more than 260 carceral spaces throughout the United States, examining the landscapes in which prisons, jails, and detention centers sit within all 50 states and territories by Los Angeles-based artists Ashley Hunt. Each photograph is shot from a publicly available point of view. One may or may […]
From October 2, 2020, to October 30, 2020, the Coleman Center hosted portraits from the ongoing exhibition series Art On The Inside from the Alabama Prison Art and Education Program. The program has offered arts and educational classes in Alabama prisons since 2003. The exhibition included drawings that express the students’ distinct experiences “in an […]
Last fall, Tuscaloosa-based artist Jamey Grimes installed their work Strata VII & VIII, (2015) in our “Pop Start A,” storefront space. The objects and environments that Grimes creates are fueled by encounters with real and imagined natural forces. The artist generates unique forms through the manipulation of synthetic materials, in this case, common corrugated plastic. […]
In July 2019, New Orleans-based artist Zarouhie Abdalian led a four-day workshop for young adults curious about making art in public space. Six participants were guided through the process of designing temporary site-specific artworks for various locations in downtown York. Today we’re following up with a conversation between Abdalian and student artist Brunell Smith. […]
On August 17, 2019, Laurel-based artist Michael Ross lead a one-day drawing demonstration and workshop. Participants learned drawing techniques, ways of looking, composition, and process. The Drawing Workshop is part of the Coleman Center’s Community Arts Workshops series focusing on creative learning experiences designed for multiple generations. These all-ages workshops encourage friends and family […]