Resisting Erasure (Exhibit Opening)

Engage with the artwork of Shirley Parker-Benjamin and Onaje Benjamin and join them in exploring our own imaginations to envision and express resistance to erasure.

bell hooks: “To be truly visionary we have to root our imagination in our concrete reality while simultaneously imagining possibilities beyond that reality.”

Each of us has a story to tell, from our own unique view and experiences. But in our culture, some narratives are actively elevated while others are erased. Visual artists Shirley Parker-Benjamin and Onaje Benjamin have been resisting that erasure, liberating their imagination about whose stories matter and asking us to do the same. Their creative work and lived experiences have led both to be highly attuned to legacies of oppression, how they manifest in injustices today, and what a more just world would look like. 

Shirley Parker-Benjamin’s mixed media, sculpture, and textile works draw inspiration from the traditions of her African ancestry and bring our attention to lack of representation in both process (Black women’s creative expression) and outcome (images of Black beauty). 

Onaje  Benjamin’s photographs help us see how resources accumulate and are distributed, highlight visual clues of inequality, and celebrate urban communities in the Mahicantuck (Hudson) Valley. 

Their work will be on display at GWI’s Greenhouse (65 St. James St., Kingston, NY) from June 11th through October 8th. From 1-5 pm on the second Saturday of each month, there will be opportunities to view and actively engage with their work, to participate in hands-on “Respond + Create” art making, or to register for GWI-facilitated events. Registration is only required for the GWI-facilitated workshops and reception bulleted below.  

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Shirley Parker-Benjamin is an interdisciplinary artist creating across the genres of sculptural mixed media, assemblage and installation. Her work has been exhibited regionally and internationally. In her work, she explores the intersection between ancestral, spiritual, metaphysical, African/African diasporic traditions and the feminine. Her materials include found objects, natural materials, metal, minerals and beadwork to convey her ideas. Shirley Parker-Benjamin is a high priestess emeritus in the Ministry of Maat. Her studio, Ezili Arts is located in the Cunneen Hackett Arts Center in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Onaje Benjamin’s photography reflects a passion for social justice and activism. His images capture urban settings and the cultural and artistic tensions which evolve in these rapidly changing environments.  His work ranges from images of street taggers and murals, to portraits of street people and the structural and architectural evolution which symbolizes gentrification and the uprooting of disenfranchised communities.

Exhibit on view during weekday business hours and 1-5 pm these Saturdays:

June 11th: Opening with artists’ talk (4 pm)

July 9th: Artists lead “Respond + Create” workshop (4 pm) 

  • Just Transition Primer: details & registration here
  • GWI Network Reception: details & registration here

August 13th: Open invitation to “Respond + Create”

  • Reality / Possibility: Exploring Cognitive Dissonance and Collective Resonance: details & registration here

September 10th: Open invitation to “Respond + Create”

October 8th: Closing “Respond + Create” community exhibit and sound healing with Ben Brown (4 pm) 

This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by Arts Mid-Hudson. 

And we want to acknowledge and thank the following sponsors for their support! Upstate Films, Bailey Pottery, Blue-Byrd’s and the Hinds family.

COVID POLICY

  • We are monitoring COVID carefully to make sure our guidelines are keeping everyone safe.
  • We will not be checking vaccination status. 
  • While indoors, we ask that you wear a mask. We want to protect those in the community who might be at-risk or immune-compromised.

GWI Reception & “Respond + Create” Workshop

You are invited to a gathering of folks connected to GWI at the Greenhouse! Whether you are new to GWI, have participated in our online workshops, or have been a part of our community for a long while now, this is an opportunity to meet, greet, and catch up with new and old friends over beverages and noshes.

Many of us feel drawn to focus on the social and ecological well-being of our region, and we believe that informally learning about each other’s Good Work is a big part of moving in that direction! Finding ways of connecting and supporting one another strengthens and grows the impact of our efforts.

We’re delighted to be joined by Shirley Parker-Benjamin and Onaje Benjamin, whose artwork is currently on display at the GWI Greenhouse. At 4 pm, they will guide us through “Respond + Create” – an opportunity to explore our inner artist and express our creativity in a hands-on way! Working with 5 people at a time, Shirley will offer a prompt related to her work, a working surface and tangible materials, and invite us to assemble them into a temporary collage that we can photograph to create an ever expanding gallery of recombinations and interpretations. Onaje will share perspectives that inform his approach to photography and invite us to head outdoors to document one or more scenes from the neighborhood. 

Whether you end up photographing the neighborhood, your collage, or both, you can submit a digital image of what you create for viewing on a display screen if you wish, so we can experience the interplay of our creative expressions. 

Learn more about the Resisting Erasure exhibit that shines a light on Shirley and Onaje’s art.

College Behind Bars: A Screening & Discussion

Join GWI and the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) for a special screening and discussion of College Behind Bars. The highly acclaimed documentary directed by Lynn Novick, produced by Sarah Botstein, and executive produced by Ken Burns tells the story of a group of incarcerated men and women in New York State earning degrees through one of the most rigorous and effective college in prison programs in America.

The Good Work Institute is honored to collaborate with the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) in hosting this specially-curated, 25-minute screening of College Behind Bars. Through the lived experiences of the students and their families, this is a groundbreaking story of incarceration, injustice, race in America, and the transformative power of education. It raises questions we urgently need to address: What is prison for? Who has access to educational opportunity? Who among us is capable of academic excellence? How can we have justice without redemption?

Following this screening we will hold a discussion and Q+A with BPI Founder and Executive Director Max Kenner ’01 and program alumni. Together, let’s learn and consider ways that we, as a community, can work towards racial justice and social equity in the Hudson Valley.

Food and beverages will be served.

More about BPI:

The Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) works to redefine the availability, affordability, and expectations typically associated with higher education in America. Since 2001, BPI has created groundbreaking opportunities for college within America’s prison systems. These programs transform the negative impacts of criminal punishment and create radical inroads of access and opportunity to higher learning.

Today, BPI enrolls over 300 incarcerated students full-time in programs that culminate in degrees from Bard College; it offers extensive support for its nearly 1000 alumni in New York City and across New York State.

COVID Policy:

  • We will follow up-to-date NY State COVID-19 mandates and guidelines.   
  • CO recommends, but does not require, that all guests wear masks when not socially distanced.

Rooted Resources Festival

Rooted Resources is a weekend festival that shines a light on localizing economic power to nurture solidarity, awareness, and action. 

Democratizing wealth, communities, and work is one of the principles of Just Transition that we want to uplift in our places. Through this gathering we offer a platform to learn from each other, connect with ideas and initiatives, and facilitate the hard and powerful conversations that come with looking at how we might better share resources to shift from individual survival to collective thriving.

We will ask big questions to reimagine money and shared resources:

  • How might we understand money differently, democratize wealth, and see new ways to engage in exchanges that benefit our communities and all life?
  • What happens when we allow ourselves to explore the commons, land as wealth, cooperatives, community funds, local currencies, and exchange rooted in reciprocity and collective prosperity?

With activists, entrepreneurs, storytellers, community builders, and explorers as our guides, we will gather to learn from the projects underway to create stable, dynamic, just abundance in our communities. We also face the real fact that there is trauma around money, and we’ll bring forward ways to heal, to move away from the scarcity that global capitalism imbeds in us. Lastly, we will celebrate the creativity inherent in all of us and take the opportunity to be together in-person!

What’s Happening in Your Community?

Happy Spring!

How are you? Do you have any new projects in the works? Do you need support in your Good Work? What is happening in your community? We are inviting you to connect with old friends, meet some new ones and answer some of these questions on Wednesday, April 20th at 12pm. 

We have been learning about some of the initiatives happening across the Network of those doing Good Work towards Just Transition here in this valley of the Mahicantuck river. We also know that there are so many more things happening, big and small, that are adding up to making a difference in our region. Sharing these is a crucial part of the work. It’s how we inspire each other, how we increase what’s possible and collectively imagine and build.

Join us in a virtual space to share what’s happening in your community. At this session, we will hear from each other, ask each other questions, and share calls of action. Feel free to enjoy your lunch while we connect and share with each other so that we can support each other in carrying this momentum forward. We will host this event via Zoom. The link will be provided in the registration confirmation email. 

This is event is free, but registration is required. If you have any questions, please email us at [email protected].

Reconnection: A Nature Experience for BIPOC

Continuing a series begun in the winter of 2021, GWI is collaborating with Wild Earth, offering an opportunity for BIPOC to gather outdoors.

Together we will spend timeless space around the fire, cooking a locally sourced meal featuring venison stew*, acorn pancakes and root tea sweetened with maple sap, which we will boil down to syrup together! This day will be all about nourishment as we sit around the fire, learn about local food, explore cooking fire techniques, and make herbal tonics. In conversation and comfort food, we will build connections to each other, ourselves and the land that supports each and every one of us! 

*We will have vegetarian options available for lunch.

If you identify as part of a BIPOC community and are interested in participating in this event, please email [email protected].

See No Enemy ~ Hear What Matters: Community of Practice (online session)

These monthly online practice sessions are open to those who are already familiar with the fundamental ideas of Nonviolent Communication – those who have experience equivalent to reading A Language for Life by Marshall Rosenberg PhD. or attending a two day introductory workshop. Activities may include journalling, role play, dyads and full group practice.

Continue reading

See No Enemy ~ Hear What Matters: Community of Practice (online session)

These monthly online practice sessions are open to those who are already familiar with the fundamental ideas of Nonviolent Communication – those who have experience equivalent to reading A Language for Life by Marshall Rosenberg PhD. or attending a two day introductory workshop. Activities may include journalling, role play, dyads and full group practice.

Continue reading

See No Enemy ~ Hear What Matters: Community of Practice (online session)

These monthly online practice sessions are open to those who are already familiar with the fundamental ideas of Nonviolent Communication – those who have experience equivalent to reading A Language for Life by Marshall Rosenberg PhD. or attending a two day introductory workshop. Activities may include journalling, role play, dyads and full group practice.

Continue reading

See No Enemy ~ Hear What Matters: Community of Practice (online session)

These monthly online practice sessions are open to those who are already familiar with the fundamental ideas of Nonviolent Communication – those who have experience equivalent to reading A Language for Life by Marshall Rosenberg PhD. or attending a two day introductory workshop. Activities may include journalling, role play, dyads and full group practice.

Continue reading

See No Enemy ~ Hear What Matters: Community of Practice (online session)

These monthly online practice sessions are open to those who are already familiar with the fundamental ideas of Nonviolent Communication – those who have experience equivalent to reading A Language for Life by Marshall Rosenberg PhD. or attending a two day introductory workshop. Activities may include journalling, role play, dyads and full group practice.

Continue reading

See No Enemy ~ Hear What Matters: Community of Practice (online session)

These monthly online practice sessions are open to those who are already familiar with the fundamental ideas of Nonviolent Communication – those who have experience equivalent to reading A Language for Life by Marshall Rosenberg PhD. or attending a two day introductory workshop. Activities may include journalling, role play, dyads and full group practice.

Continue reading