Civic Arts Fridays

At the end of 2020, Sweet Water Foundation unveiled its plan to transform an abandoned church in The Commonwealth into a community design center known as the Civic Arts Church. In January, the SWF team launched “Civic Arts Fridays” to activate the church and build momentum towards its transformation into a community design center in 2021. Read on to learn more about “Civic Arts Fridays”.

Civic Arts Fridays seeks to ritualize the practice of civic arts at The Commonwealth. Through a diverse range of mediums that include printmaking, carving, woodworking, and textile arts, members of the SWF community will engage in art making workshops and explorations each Friday in 2021. Core to Civic Arts Fridays, and the Civic Arts Church itself, will be a focus on regenerative artistic practices that utilize readily accessible materials and transform ‘wastes’ to resources. 

Thus far, SWF has welcomed Human-in-Residence, Michelle Nordemeyer and local artist, Ricardia Davis, to deliver Civic Arts Friday workshops on screenprinting, nature printing, and paper cutting. The workshops have been inspirational and speak to the programming that SWF intends to deliver in the Civic Arts Church; attracting and engaging artists, craftspeople, local residents, and youth in design and Regenerative Arts practice.  

For health and safety reasons, Civic Arts Fridays have been limited to individuals currently engaged in Sweet Water Academy programs. SWF looks forward to opening Civic Arts Fridays to the public in the coming months as COVID-19 restrictions ease and warmer weather allows for outdoor programming.