by Genia Daniels
ALL Review: Tell us about your creative background; where did creativity and artistic expression begin for you?
Borealis: Art took up so much of my life as a child that I sometimes took for granted how much it gave to me. Even after I finally decided that I would go to college for studio art, I wasn’t sure where that focus would take me. And that can be scary for a first-generation college student from a working class family! After some disciplinary-blurring experiences as an undergraduate, I eventually slid into my interests in education and went to graduate school for educational leadership with a focus on community-based learning. I reconnected to my creative practice after grad school and have been lucky to have my passions converge to support community arts in Madison. I think of curriculum design as a creative practice and art as a social one; I enjoy having my life, work, and art blur.
AR: Last year ArtWrite Collective joined ArtLitLab, how has this collaboration worked? What new growth has come out of it?
Bo: ArtWrite Collective was a group of artists and organizers interested in cultivating youth leadership, fostering professional development for artists, and diversifying the arts landscape through public art. Nearly any time that we needed a venue, ArtLitLab showed up with the resources to help us out. We hosted teen art events at ArtLitLab, artist workshops, meetings, and more. Eventually, it became clear that our mission overlap could allow us to merge organizationally--our common interests were clear even in our org names! At the beginning of 2018, we started a free arts program for area youth on early-release Mondays; this was the first concrete ArtWrite/ArtLitLab partnership, and it went well enough that we decided to continue developing youth programming together. In Summer 2018, ArtWrite brought our educational programming skills to ArtLitLab to host a nine-week program. This collaboration was a huge success; we had bustling weeks of art camps, gave out dozens of scholarships, hired artists to run programs, and had fun doing it. These collaborations showed us that we could combine ArtWrite’s justice-oriented educational models with ArtLitLab’s extensive network, contemporary arts venue, and grassroots mindset into a single, functional organization. We’ve now dropped the ArtWrite name and have completely merged programs to operate under ArtLitLab’s umbrella. I believe that this decision helps to reduce administrative overhead between multiple nonprofits, prevents programmatic redundancy, and promotes a healthier artist community overall. ArtLitLab now has a robust educational program and ArtWrite’s crew found a sustainable option to keep this work going in the community, even after we’ve dropped the name.
AR: This spring there is an impressive amount of classes offered in the Youth Arts Program - do you have any classes you'd like to highlight or talk about? Anything new in the programming that you're excited about?
Bo: We’re so fortunate to have the community’s support to run our program of low-cost early childhood, afterschool, and homeschool classes; we have weekly classes as well as special single-session options on some Sundays. Thanks to American Girl Fund for Children, Dane Arts, Madison Arts Commission, Evjue Foundation, Endres Manufacturing, and other donors, we’re also able to run Youth Arts Lab--our free outreach program at area schools and community centers--and a free open art studio option at ArtLitLab every week.
Dane Arts also recently supported our early childhood program through a capital grant, allowing us to purchase new chairs, tables, and other supplies for our youngest artists. Our arts-integrated early literacy program is certainly one to watch; children ages 3.5-5 years attend a weekly, 2-hour class independently and create art, play games, sing songs, read books, do puzzles, and more. The benefits of arts-integrated early childhood education extend well beyond its incredible value as an outlet for creative expression. Early arts programs promote literacy by building vocabulary, phonological awareness, and critical thinking. We’re thrilled to be in a position to support families in this way.
Accessibility and belonging are both very important to me as an educator, and so if I’m being honest, I have two pet projects that have got me very excited this year. Thanks to the motivation of a teen in our programs, we’ve started Queer Youth Book Club for middle and high school LGBTQ+ youth! As a trans and queer teacher, I’m happy to rally the support of my colleagues and stand behind this project. We’ll be reading, snacking, talking about life, and promoting the social-emotional well-being of youth through this free group.
My other major passion project is our summer scholarship drive; last year, we raised around $5,000 over the course of two Facebook fundraisers to connect youth to our programs who may not otherwise be able to afford it. This year, I’m aiming to raise $5,175 to fund 30 half-day or 15 full-day scholarships for our newly expanded art camps. Seeing the community come together to carve out opportunities for young artists is incredibly inspiring. I wouldn’t be doing this work if I believed that it was out of reach for any family, and I’m proud to see our community invested in building more equitable learning opportunities.
ALL Review: Tell us about your creative practice - what kind of art do you create outside of ArtLitLab’s educational programs?
Bo: I’m working on a project called Season of Shadows. About a year ago, I interviewed queer and trans people about their gender experiences in order to find metaphors for parts of us that can be difficult to witness or describe otherwise. We talked about nonbinary gender experiences, but we also discussed religion, dis/ability, class, race, sexuality, and other identities and experiences that blend together to make us who we are. Then, I collaborated with folks around town to develop installations, performances, traditional exhibitions, and even a dance party responding to the themes and metaphors of those interviews. Now, I’m knee-deep in the writing process to translate those interviews to fictionalized short stories. I’ve always considered myself a writer, but this is one of my first major creative writing projects that I intend to share. For having such social inclinations as an artist, my practice is fairly hermit-y as I work through the writing process. Folks can follow that project progress on Patreon: www.patreon.com/alauraborealis or find more of my work on my website: www.alauraborealisart.com
ALL Review: What sustains you as an artist and creative individual? Where do you find inspiration?
Bo: I need lots of time, space, and coffee to feel good about my creation and revision process. It helps if I can get lost in the woods along the way.