Despite the holiday rush a Park City company put in a little creative effort to raise support for the arts in Utah. Waterbox, makers of personal stainless steel water bottles, made a custom contribution to the "Chairity Lift" project to benefit the Kimball Art Center. In a fashion as unique as the products they design the folks at Waterbox decorated a decommissioned ski chairlift along with 40 other artists to boost both the Center and a charity of their choice.
Shannon Glapin has been back from her most recent visit to Afghanistan for a weeks now. The founder of the non-governmental organization Mountain 2 Mountain makes frequent trips to Central Asia to advocate for the well being of women and children. When her most recent blog entry appeared on the Huffington Post I was pretty quick to chat her up on Facebook to ask if I could run it here on the JTP. Apart from pasting up more flatting photograph and a video I wanted to share her observations on the rise of street art in and around the war zone. These spontaneous displays of graffiti reveal much about the thoughts of young people in harms way as well as demonstrate the indomitable power of art to convey powerful emotions when words fail or are simply silenced through violence. -JEM
Something new is in the streets of Kabul.
Increased security? Check
Lakes of mud and sewage? Check
Street art? Check
Street art, stencil art specifically, has popped up on several walls across Kabul over the past year.
Under the cover of night they take to the streets of Kabul, armed with stencils, spray paint and cameras. The youth of Afghanistan are finding their voice.
Tanks, soldiers, dollar signs, poppies, refugees, students in school, helicopters, Talibs, and question marks are assembled into equations, giving Afghans and Westerners alike a reason to stop in curious wonder and think. The 'unknown' taggers created the question, "Chand Ast?". In stencil art. Translated from Dari to English it means "How Much?" -- an effort to challenge all of us about the Cost of War.
Adventure activist Richard Mooney is making plans to row across the Atlantic Ocean. On this World AIDS Day the 45-year-old man from Queens christened his 17-foot boat called “Never Give Up” at the Brooklyn Marina and hopes 5,000 supporters will Tweet their names in recognition of his next attempt to raise awareness for the continuing fight against the deadly disease. A journey of 5,000 miles, this will be Mooney’s third try to oar his way from Cape Verde Island off the coast of West Africa to New York City.
Architecture students at the University of Utah learn valuable lessons in the creation of homes for Navaho families in need south of Salt Lake City. In a semester-long project called Design Build Bluff aspiring architects gain practical experience while helping others.
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