{"id":598,"date":"2022-05-17T13:18:35","date_gmt":"2022-05-17T13:18:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/waterfrontsouthcamden.com\/?p=598"},"modified":"2022-05-17T13:18:42","modified_gmt":"2022-05-17T13:18:42","slug":"camdenlot-mural-plants-seed-for-art-communitys-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waterfrontsouthcamden.com\/?p=598","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Camdenlot\u2019 mural plants seed for art community’s future"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Bill Duhart | For NJ.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asiyah Kurtz believes the art inside and outside of her Camden gallery can be transformative and healing for people who live here, and the wider region as a whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recently-completed mural along an 80-foot wooden-plank fence outside the Camden Fireworks gallery<\/a> is evidence of that potential, said Kurtz, the executive director of the gallery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe mural is a wordplay on the story of Camelot,\u201d Kurtz said. \u201c\u2018Camdenlot\u2019 illustrates the possibilities of a Camden where people feel represented and are living in a place of creativity and wholeness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The barrier between the gallery \u2013 housed in a stone and brick former firehouse built in 1899 in the southeast corner of the city \u2013 and its neighbors has been transformed into a story. The mural features children playing, relaxing on park benches under rainbows, and ships sailing on a river.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hardscrabble neighborhood was once part of a key promenade. But now weathered facades of row houses and storefronts remain near the city\u2019s waterfront on the Delaware River across from Philadelphia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kurtz believes the art inside and outside of her gallery can be transformative and healing for people who live here, and the wider region as a whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople around here don\u2019t live long,\u201d Kurtz said. \u201cArts help talk about why. We\u2019re trying to sustain the community by planting a seed today to grow tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kurtz said a substantial part of a $10,000 grant from the Camden County Cultural Heritage Foundation helped pay for the mural and training for five local artists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kurtz said she believes art can create social change. She also believes people who expressed outrage over the murder of George Floyd in 2020 and racial injustice could support inner-city art exhibits like the ones created and displayed at Camden Fireworks to affect change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re at a really critical time,\u201d she said. \u201cSocial justice is either great or awful. It\u2019s either the beginning of the world or the end of the world. We speak about creating a better world by addressing social inequality in art in a residential neighborhood, touching a community in a relevant way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jon Cofsky \u2013- a local artist and president of the Markeim Arts Center<\/a> in Haddonfield, a quaint Colonial-era town 9 miles away \u2013 donates part of studio space he rents at Camden Fireworks to one of the five local artists who painted the mural.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Markeim also displays some exhibits that originated at Camden Fireworks in Haddonfield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kurtz said the mural \u2013 painted by the We Live Here Artists Collective of Camden locals Priscilla Rios, Donald Williams, Adriana Amador-Chacon, Larodge Johnson, and Breiner Garcia \u2013 will be maintained and preserved by the gallery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just about having art in the alley,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s about growing an art ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Bill Duhart | For NJ.com Asiyah Kurtz believes the art inside and outside of her Camden gallery can be transformative and healing for people who…<\/p>\n

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