Beyond Beige
I am an artist, educator, and curator, in Louisville, KY. In 2011, my life took a transformative turn when I crossed paths at Flame Run Glass Studio with Nick Brown, a dedicated youth worker at the YMCA Safe Place, which caters to homeless and at-risk youth. Every Tuesday night since, I have been teaching art classes at Safe Place to the shelter house youth, unaware of the impact it would have on my own life.
Safe Place is unlike any other shelter available for at-risk youth.
The youth will be the first ones to tell you that it feels different, and I hear often that most of the youth like it the best of any place they have ever been. The more I thought about it, the more I realized the youth deserve better. I have never been in a position where taupe or beige walls have made me feel better. I also realized that most of our clients are already institutionalized, spending most of their time moving from facility to facility, and it didn't help them. Safe Place is dedicated to safety, shelter, and support. The number one goal is family unification, and strengthening the family as a whole when possible.
My vision was to change the look of help. And so, my #safeplacewalls, #artistsagainsttaupe journey began.
This #SafePlaceWalls initiative has become a labor of love, as artists from various backgrounds, both professional and inexperienced, joined forces to contribute their unique artistic voices. Together, we are painting murals, creating installations, and crafting an experience, a campus that is as unique to the clients who pass through, and the incredible staff of humans who work there. This project began officially in September of 2022, and we have completely transformed the Shelter House, emergency shelter for homeless and at risk youth, and have banished the institutional walls with murals on every wall and in every room.
I also created and installed my most complicated artwork thus far, the "Mumplequarium". The old empty 50-gallon fish tank in the Shelter House has now been transformed into a moving LED foam and plastic zero-maintenance therapy tank. It is filled with Mumples, my imaginary friends, glowing butterflies, snails, and with fans to blow things around and animated LED lights that flicker and sparkle.
Credo
Witnessing the care of Safe Place Services, I was inspired to contribute with art, community, and color. I envisioned the kind of space that doesn't remind you that you need help. I wanted to change the look of help. I wanted to create a space that also allows your brain to rest, escape, decompress, and inspire.
Life is hard. The only thing we all have in common is that each of us used to be a baby, and babies love color, sound, and movement. It's impossible to feel joy when your most basic needs aren't met, so the opportunity that Safe Place offers for youth, the certainty that their needs are met and they are safe, also gives the opportunity for a bit of mental rest and decompression. I've never found peace in an institutional looking environment, so I wanted to change things.
