Every day on Art&Seek, we’re talking to people who have tips for virtual art experiences.  Share yours with us on Facebook, Instagram, or @artandseek on Twitter. Click above to listen to Deedra Baker, program director for Art Room, share her tips with KERA’s Nilufer Arsala. 

Since its inception in 2016, Art Room has sought to educate, inspire and support underrepresented artists in Fort Worth. The non-profit has had some serious challenges recently, including financial issues caused by the pandemic, and had to move out of their studio on the South Side.  

So Art Room is a virtual art studio and gallery now, but it’s still committed to be a space that provides youth and young adults the opportunity to share their voices through the visual arts.

So online summer camps it is!

They will have  camps for 5 to 8 years-old, 9-12 years-old, and 13 to 17 years-old. Camps include classes in color, abstract, weaving and paper sculpture. They’ll meet three times a week using Google Meet Up. Campers will be given downloadable PDFs, and special supplies will be provided either by curb-side pick up or porch drop-off. Camps start June 22, and run through August 14.  The cost for the camps, which help support Art Room’s community outreach programs, is $125.

Jae-Eun Suh; Missing, Digital drawing, 20 x 20 inches, 2020.

Art Room’s exhibitions are going virtual as well.  In July, Art Room will host an exhibition called “Interchanging Lines, Constructing Home.” The multi-media works in the show challenge the idea of the nuclear family. The youth artists explore how sexual orientation and gender identities can conflict within family structures. There will be programming around the show, providing a space for the artists to have artist statements in their biographies.

As for their community outreach, Art Room has  had to hit the pause button.  Before the pandemic, they were providing arts education to some Fort Worth schools.

Art Room’s After School program, students from Westcliff Elementary School.

“We’re kind of just resetting there a little bit and meeting with teachers to kind of figure out what the new needs will be as they are also kind of determining what’s going to be happening for the fall,” said Deedra Baker, program director and acting interim executive director.

Baker says they saw a lot of  growth in the students that they were able to work with earlier in the year, so they hope they can continue.

The group’s tagline is make ROOM for ART because they understand the emotional, health, and scholastic benefits that visual arts provide. And Art Room is still making room for art – even if, for right now,  it’s a virtual room.

Got a tip? Email Gila Espinoza at gespinoza@kera.org. You can follow her on Twitter @espinoza_kera.

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