Painting instructor and Oxford resident Chrissy Collopy has earned the inaugural artist position at the Fitton Center in Hamilton. Her three-month residency began April 1 and will run through the end of June.
Resident artists will spend three months creating and working on a project to share with the community with support from the Fitton Center and SOS (Save Our Souls) ART.
“We created the residency program to support and amplify the voices of Greater Cincinnati Creators engaging with themes of Peace and Justice in their artistic practices,” Kate Rowekamp, director of education at the Fitton Center, said.
Rowekamp said artists are selected quarterly based on the proposals they submit. The first call for artists was for proposals on the theme of food insufficiency.
“I could relate to this theme,” Collopy said. “I have had experience with food insufficiency/ hunger as a child and into young adulthood. My family was accustomed to receiving food donations as well as receiving government subsidies.”
Collopy will paint 10 acrylic still lifes on linen, each 12”x 16” depicting foods that she grew up with and foods that underprivileged people eat, from over-ripened fruits and vegetables to convenient foods like processed and fast food.
“My goal is to connect to those who have experienced food insufficiency/hunger and to inspire the relief of shame that is often stigmatized by those who haven’t experienced it,” Collopy said. “I also would like those who haven’t experienced hunger more aware of the problem of food insufficiency/ hunger, and then to take action by donating to local food banks.”
“Over 1 million people in Ohio experience hunger, and over 380,000 are children,” she said.
The first ever artist in residence program at the Fitton Center was created in partnership with SOS ART to present free community outreach art programming. SOS ART is an art exhibit and art festival that has grown to include artworks from all different ages concerning issues of peace and justice.
Rowekamp said Collopy’s workshop is free and accepting registrations online at fittoncenter.org/sosart.
Paintings from the workshop will be featured at the SOS ART Hunger/Food Insufficiency Art Event commemorating World Hunger Day on May 28 at Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati. They will also be featured at the Fitton Center’s Community Gallery in June.
The program is open to visual artists, filmmakers, curators, writers and community activists. Artist collectives and groups can also apply.
Collopy said she is excited to teach the workshops.
“I love to be a part of people making art and expressing their ideas. I look forward to seeing what the participants create,” Collopy said.
