PASC FEBRUARY 2024 NEWSLETTER

January and February have been months for contemplation and planning. As we look towards spring, we are preparing for many events ahead and launching a new chapter for PASC.

As a staff we talk a lot about the role of trust and agency in the studio. How important it is for our artist’s growth to be given the space and time for trust to develop. Trust that the studio environment is safe and stable. Trust that the staff are there to support you, accept you as you are, and have the patience to enable comfortable. Trust that the other artists will accept you and be kind and respectful. And ultimately, trust in yourself, that you will be self-compassionate and allow yourself to make mistakes without beating yourself up (this is hard for many of us).

We find that many of our artists (also our staff and really all humans), come into new situations carrying some kind of armor, (to borrow Brenee Brown’s term). Armor protect us from harm, verbal, physical, and environmental. But armor is heavy, it hides, and restricts movement. People who have experienced stigma, discrimination and/or trauma have a lot of armor. Although all of us never let go of our armor completely, at PASC we try to create spaces where artists are comfortable enough to remove some small pieces of armor, one gauntlet at a time. The best way we have found to encourage some shedding of armor is to give each person space, support and most of all time to build up their comfort and trust.

For some PASC artists trust builds quickly, perhaps in as little as a month, and for others it takes much longer, one year, two, even three years or more. And trust is gradual, even for those who we thought were very comfortable, they may be masking that trust, and perhaps we didn’t fully communicate or establish our trust in them. But one day suddenly we see a change in their artwork and behavior. They loosen up, try something they were resistant to doing prior, they focus and engage in their artwork in way we'd not seen prior, or suddenly talk or engage with other participants and staff, and we realize we have established a new level of trust.

Interior of PASC Detroit's future art studio under construction February 2024 in the LANTERN building, with STEP staff Gretchen Still and Elly Makowski

PASC DETROIT LANTERN UPDATE

We are in the home stretch in our future studio and gallery build out at LANTERN. The space is looking incredible. Construction is almost done. We are predicting (fingers crossed) that we will be fully moved in by the end of March.

We are very excited to start this next chapter launching our first public studio and first permanent gallery dedicated to artists with disabilities in Detroit, in this mixed use warehouse building. We will share more pictures and maybe a video once we are fully moved in.

Mark your calendars, our first big public opening at LANTERN is scheduled for May 9, 2024, when we will open alongside our neighbor Signal Return and some of the other establishments in LANTERN. More details forthcoming.

Kelly Bonifas, PASC Southgate Gallery Assistant, learning how to paint the gallery in preparation for a new exhibition.

FUTURE PASC EXHIBITIONS

PASC has several exhibitions scheduled for the upcoming months. We've been doing some preparation to get our spaces ready. So mark your calendars for all the great events.

Dennis Cenzer, Nighttime Light Orbs, 2023, mixed media on paper, 18 x 24 in

COSMIC CONNECTIONS

PASC Southgate Gallery

13721 Eureka Road, Southgate, MI

Opening: February 29, 5-7pm

Exhibition Dates: February 29 – May 31

Hannah Lilly, PASC Lead Art Advisor, has curated Cosmic Connections our next show at our PASC Southgate gallery. This exhibition showcases several PASC Southgate and PASC Westland artists, who present artworks that reveal our universal 'cosmic' connections through figurative and abstract language, from depictions of planets, to our human and natural commonalities.

Featuring: Manual Bart, Autumn Bez, Jirard Bond, Stanley Brown, Therrin Burns, Alyce Carter, Dennis Cenzer, Jon Coleman, Ryan Cooke, Santina Dionisi, Robert Duncombe, Zainab Elhasan, Bethany Fater, Alex Ferguson, Derrick Hall, Montgomery Matthews, Billy Medley, Megan Mowers, Justin Pollard, Josef Rampp, Randy Rodriguez, Amanda Ross-Ferree, Marquise Rucker, Nicolas Tamsen, James Tischler, and Theodore Thornton

 PASC AT BASBLUE

Art of BasBlue

Location: BasBlue, 110 E. Ferry St, Detroit

Exhibition Dates: March 10 – June 30

Public Talk and Reception: April 18, 12-1:30pm

Curated by Alison Wong

Alison Wong, Curator and Director of Wasserman Projects, has curated a selection of artwork by thirty-four PASC artists as part of the Art of BasBlue program supported by Wasserman Projects Fund. BasBlue is a non-profit organization made possible by the BasBlue Foundation, dedicated to empowering economic mobility and leadership skills, and providing resources for personal and professional development for underrepresented and under-resourced women and non-binary individuals in Southeast Michigan.

The exhibition will be staged in the BasBlue building, a renovated midtown Detroit mansion, located at 110 E. Ferry St, Detroit, MI 48202. Artworks will be available for purchase online at the following address:

www.wassermanworks.com/collections/basblue

On April 18, at 12pm, We will have a public reception and talk with Alison Wong, Anthony Marcellini, PASC Program Manager and Brent Mikulski, CEO of STEP. Seating is limited, please RSVP for the talk here: https://forms.gle/xpVESvr1gRmJ5Kav5 

Featured artists Stanley Brown, Sherri Bryant, Alyce Carter, Sereal Crawford, Detroit Angel Tweety, Santina Dionisi, Julieann Dombrowski, Chantell Donwell, Robert Duncombe, Zaineb Elhasan, Derek Ellis, Lewis Foster, Ronald Griggs, Khristopher Harris, Rodney Hudson, Susan Hudson, Shawn Jackson, Joseph Lucas II, Tracy Mason, Ryan McDonaugh, Nathaniel McNeal Jr, Keisha Miller, Debbie Osteen, Alsendoe Owens, John Peterson, Angela Rhodes, Dale Roberts, Renee Rogan, Marquise Rucker, Gayle Sanford, Thomas Saunders, Aaron Taylor, Jeremy Taylor, and Lauren Williams.

OTHER UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS

Westland City Hall Exhibition

Location: Gallery at Westland City Hall, 36300 Warren Rd, Westland

Exhibition Dates: March 29 - April 26

Curated by: Chloé Hajjar, Kristi Ternes and Eleni Zaharapoulos

PASC Detroit LANTERN, OPENING AND EXHIBITION

Location: PASC Detroit Gallery, 9301 Kercheval St, Detroit

Exhibition Dates: May 9 -June 15

Curated by Scott Vincent Campbell

VOTE FOR PASC AND STEP, BEST OF DETROIT

PASC and STEP have been nominated for Hour Detroit's Best of Detroit. STEP in 2 categories, best organization for people with disabilities and best community organization. And PASC for Best Art Gallery. Please vote for us before voting ends on March 15.

Here is the link to vote: https://www.hourdetroit.com/best-of-detroit-2024-online-ballot/

SUPPORT PASC



You can make a financial donation to PASC at this link. Make sure to select PASC from the dropdown menu. Or you can send a check to Services to Enhance Potential (with PASC written in the notes on the check) to 2941 S. Gulley Road, Dearborn, MI 48124-3160.

Or contact us directly progressiveart@stepcentral.org to talk about how you would like to be involved.

We also accept material donations, everything from lightly used art supplies, art equipment and furniture, and art books. Please email a description and an image of what you would like to donate to progressiveart@stepcentral.org.

Or you can purchase something for our studio artists via our wish lists at at Blick or Amazon.

Thank you  

PASC and STEP 

www.progressiveartstudiocollective.org

www.stepcentral.org



Progressive Art Studio Collective is a program of Services to Enhance Potential (STEP) a non profit organization which provides support and services to over 1,400 persons with developmental disabilities and mental health differences in Wayne County.

@ProgressiveArtStudioCollective