Changing Perspectives: Changing Mindsets

Gwendolyn Garth, A Way Out: ReGeneration

Greetings from Kings & Queens of Art. Wow! 2020 forced us here at KQOA into “changing our perspective, thereby changing our mindset.”

So now we are into 2021 and much to our regret, due to circumstances beyond our control (a leaking roof), KQOA is moving from its Ashbury location in the Glenville neighborhood. But we are resilient, and we are determined to serve your art desires and needs—so know that we will still serve art even if it’s on the go!

Coming this year:

An Art Exhibition called: Changing Perspectives: Changing Mindsets

This will be an exhibition of work by Presently and Formerly Incarcerated Artists. This is to be an exhibition of work by real people trying to do great and good things in dark worlds behind razor wire and in the communities that they are returning home to. With this exhibit, it is our hope at Kings & Queens of Art to bring awareness to an often-forgotten sector of our community where the general thought is/has been “out of sight out of mind.” For the incarcerated, the arts are a lifeline. We here at KQOA also hope to raise awareness that for those of us who have had the experiences of incarceration and then the experiences of reentering our community, our art helps us to confront our darkness and orders our steps in defying the stereotypes that surround “incarceration.” This exhibition is about presently and formerly incarcerated artists in search of self-acceptance and community acceptance. KQOA is in search of an appropriate box truck, which will serve as a touring venue for this mobile exhibition.

The images on this page are of my work that I do on a consistent basis and come from my Creative Journals, and I call this series Off The Pages.

Look for KQOA’s work in the Central-Kinsman neighborhood as we grow our “Art Garden” located at 3535 Central Avenue. Our plans are to place a modified shipping container on that lot, if the City of Cleveland doesn’t slow us down with all of their paperwork.

I, Gwendolyn Garth, am engaged as an artist in Crossroads, an augmented reality event which is coming soon to several neighborhoods. This event is provided by The Sculpture Center (TSC) and the lead artists are Robin Robinson and Grace Chin. Crossroads will occur June through September 2021.

Last year was not without some wins: If you are ever in downtown Cleveland, please check out my three-piece installation Wake Up Everybody. It includes 1) a painting: Wake Up Everybody 2) a print: Changing Me and 3) a 3D depiction of The Elephant of Racism Overshadows America’s Living Room. My artwork is located on the northwest side of the 5th Street Arcade. You can’t miss it! I was commissioned by Cumberland Development, LLC, as a part of the Downtown Mural Project. The Downtown Mural Project was conceived by the Downtown Cleveland Alliance as a response to the May 26 international protest of the brutal police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. My artwork is the only artwork created during The Downtown Mural Project that still remains downtown. I have much love and respect for Cumberland Development, LLC. There is also a “Make Art Talk Race” video—a conversation using my artwork as the theme. The video was created as a vehicle to preserve my artwork and to continue to stimulate conversations about The Elephant of Racism (that) Overshadows America’s Living Room.

Finally, I was interviewed by Spectrum TV as part of their Black Artists in Ohio series; you can check it out here.

My Final Thought: As long as I am inhaling and exhaling, I will participate in life because there is no option…Not To!

 

Kings & Queens of Art

kingsqueensofart@gmail.com

gwendolyngarth@gmail.com

216.339.0571