ArtPrize Nine: Let Go

Behind the Artwork

Let Go in the studio

ArtPrize Nine Let Go by artist and facilitator Pamela Alderman will be showcased at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel from September 20 through October 8, 2017. The 19 x 6 foot mixed media painting is made of acrylic, paper, and transparent fabric on five wood panels. One hundred twenty-six participants pre-submitted handwritten Let Go sentences and letters that are now collaged into the painting.

Like many of Pamela’s past ArtPrize installations, visitors can interact with the work by writing their own Let Go sentences. The artist statement below explains how individuals may respond at the Let Go installation. Here are a couple of examples of the Let Go statements from the ArtPrize audience:

I’m letting go of your need to let go.
Signed, your wife

I’m letting go of self-blame for my son’s autism diagnosis.
Signed, your mother

Several people have attested to the healing they experienced as they wrote their Let Go statements. One participant said, “While thinking about what to write, I realized that I hadn’t forgiven my dad.” The pent up anger had been festering inside of him—even though his dad had been dead for thirty years. So he wrote a Let Go letter and forgave him. In doing this, he experienced a new freedom and healing at an art exhibit.

Artist Statement

…it takes much more strength to know when to let go…
Ann Landers

Let Go in progressLife’s ebb and flow eventually may bring us to a healing place. At times, we feel like we’re drowning in the sea of despair, defeat, or disappointment. But transformation can occur if we are willing to accept change. Once we muster the courage to let go of whatever is dragging us under, a tiny lifeline of hope reaches back through the breakers to keep us afloat.

Invitation: Viewers Participate

Write a couple of words on the vellum paper to identify your struggle—the thing that is weighing you down—like control, fear, unforgiveness, etc. Just writing the words activates the healing process.

Next, crumple this paper. As you release the crumpled paper, it symbolically becomes one with the painting—mixing with the waves and being carried out to sea. Experience a new level of peace and soul healing as you begin to release the past or the present. So crumple the paper—and let go.

What are you letting go of?

Addictions
Anger
Anxiety
Bitterness
Control
Doubt
Expectations
Failure
Fear
Grudges
Guilt
Insecurity
Judgment
Lies
Memories
Misfortune
Mistakes
Pain
Perfection
Pride
Shame
Worry

 

A special thanks to PlexiCase Inc and Moonlight Graphics for their generous support!

The Scarlet Cord Collection: A New Interactive Healing Installation

Behind the Artwork

The Scarlet WebThe Scarlet Web, Pamela Alderman, Multi media, 78 x 78 x 85 inches, 2017

Many of us are familiar with the phrase “hidden in plain sight” to describe the children tethered as modern day sex slaves. Some of these children roam our malls or airports during the day and may be even be standing next to us, unknowingly, at the checkout counter. But as we tenderly tuck our children into bed, the young sex worker is just being forced into the night to perform bizarre acts for the insatiable—the buyers of sex, more correctly termed, pedophiles or the sexually broken—who seek to entangle innocent prey.

The Scarlet Web, a five-sided structure resembling a 3D abstract spider web, is made up of a collage of empty frames and six photographic images connected with zip-ties to portray bondage. The work is designed to raise awareness and to provide a safe space for the victims of sex crimes to heal. Alderman and her team create a new kind of artist/citizen work that invites audience collaboration through relational aesthetics. The work lets others speak and respond.

The Scarlet Web invites viewers to go beyond the passive art walk. The work challenges the audience to become co-creators—through spontaneous art making. By winding and weaving the scarlet cord around and within the empty frames, we collectively create a work that speaks for those silenced within a web of lies. Through awareness and positive action, we can be a catalyst for change to help free the young sex worker enslaved within the lucrative underworld of sex trafficking.

The Scarlet Cord: Healing for Sex-trafficked Children

The Scarlet Web showcases images by photographer Zoe Fortuna. Be sure to check out Zoe Fortuna’s creative work.

For more information on how to book The Scarlet Cord for your next event, contact ally@watercolorbypamela.com.

Healing in Arts at Calvin Noontime Series

Behind the Artwork2 Comments

Wall of Hope at Wing and a Prayer exhibit during ArtPrize 2013

Art has the unique potential to touch deep places within the human spirit. ArtPrize artist Pamela Alderman seeks just that: “to enter into the hearts of the wounded.” Her mission that focuses on the viewers and their needs through interactive art is unique and compelling. Dozens of stories have been captured within her healing spaces as people identify their struggles and release their hurts.

Alderman’s presentation will include highlights from her eight-year ArtPrize journey—where over 100,000 people have encountered art’s healing catalyst within her work—and a short video filmed in Phoenix during the 2015 Super Bowl at her sex trafficking art installation. By creating meaningful installations about challenging issues like cancer, autism, or sex trafficking, Alderman’s art invites transformation and hope.

Healing in Arts: A Pathway to Flourishing by ArtPrize artist Pamela Alderman

Noontime Series
Thursday, February 23, 2017 at 12-1 PM
Free one-hour program
Calvin College Chapel
3201 Burton SE • Grand Rapids, MI 49546

ArtPrize 2013: Healing Art Still Touches Lives

Behind the Artwork

Wing and a Prayer exhibit

“I Have Autism, But Autism Doesn’t Have Me.”

Walker Aurand said, “I think I’m ready. I think I’m ready to let kids my age know that I have autism, but autism doesn’t have me…”

Walker wrote the paper on living with autism—and soon he had an opportunity to share his story with an even larger audience. A family friend and local artist, Pamela Alderman, was preparing for an upcoming competition in Grand Rapids called ArtPrize. She wanted to paint Walker, and next to the painting she wanted to include an excerpt from his essay.

And this wasn’t just any art event. Held in downtown Grand Rapids every year, ArtPrize attracts hundreds of thousands of attendees. Walker considered the offer for about a week, and then he agreed to have his story included. And then on the day it opened…

Wings of LoveArtPrize 2013 visitors hanging messages on the Wall of HopeClose-up of Wall of Hope

“He came home from school,” Anna recalls, “and he said, ‘Mom, this freakish thing happened today.’ He said, ‘I’m sorta freaked out about it.’ He said, ‘All these kids saw my painting,’ and he said, ‘My phone is blowing up.’ He said, ‘I bet I have 150 texts: Is that you, Walker? Is that you, Walker?’ He said, ‘Mom, I didn’t know I had friends.’ I said, ‘Right.’ I said, ‘How do you feel about all this?’ He said, ‘I’ve decided it’s OK.’”

…The same guy who used to hide his disorder from other students and teammates recently published an essay about his experience on a Michigan hockey website.

These days Walker Aurand has nothing to hide—and he wants to make a difference.

“I hope that if there’s someone else out there like me, that it shows that there’s hope for everybody,” Walker says. “If your gut’s telling you to go and achieve something, then go do it. And don’t worry about what other people tell you that you can and can’t do.”

Check out the full story…

Healing in Arts Featured at Q Commons

General

Origami paper cranes

In 2006, while attending the Festival of Faith and Writing at Calvin College, I met—would you believe?—Makoto Fujimura. In his book signing line, I showed him my out-of-date Xerox portfolio. Mako kindly leafed through the poorly printed images and said something that changed my paradigm: “Your art speaks of healing.” Within five minutes, Mako named my calling, though, at the time, I didn’t fully understand what he meant.

Ten years, and eight years of ArtPrize later, since Fujimura first empowered my creativity, thousands of visitors have encountered art’s healing catalyst. By creating meaningful installations about challenging issues like autism or sex trafficking, my interactive installations have helped people process pain and experience healing.

Join us for Q Commons at the Calvin College Ladies Literary Club on Thursday, October 13. Hear how “Healing in Arts” is creating community with a new paradigm for art making. We can hardly wait to debut a new addition to ArtPrize 2014: The Scarlet Cord collection.

Healing in Arts: A Pathway to Flourishing
By Artist Pamela Alderman
Calvin Ladies Literary Club
61 Sheldon Blvd SE, Grand Rapids
Thursday, October, 13, 2016
7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Healing in Arts

Behind the Artwork

Mother and children hang Hope Cards on Healing TreeHealing in Arts successfully creates community with a new healing paradigm for art making in a world where rapid cultural fragmentation alienates us. A superficial world where people ricochet from one activity to the next. A cyber culture where we rack up 5,847 synthetic Facebook friends. A culture where we spend less and less real face time within meaningful relationships.

Well-known artist Makoto Fujimura explains how my art facilitates healing: “Art that focuses on the audience rather than the artist’s need for self-expression is unique. A paradigm shift.” By serving others and inviting soul care, the art helps unlock people and move them towards human flourishing.

For example in 2014 after viewing The Scarlet Cord, an anti-sex trafficking installation, a middle-aged woman leaned into me and released a heavy sigh, I felt it to the core. Then she walked away. Not a single word was spoken. But something transpired. Whether large or small, this woman experienced healing—at an art installation.

In the midst of our rapid growing cyber culture where increased isolation breeds loneliness, the viewers feel validated and cared for; their stories underscore the need for creating donor supported Healing in Arts. Time and again visitors experience what T.S. Eliot calls the still point: A significant place in time. A moment of release where change and transformation begin. Healing in Arts, through the art making, builds healthy communities where real people experience renewal and healing.

I know many of you will want to help make Healing in Arts happen.
Donate through New Horizons Foundation

Project name: Healing in Arts