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Rowell Hosts National Foster Care Art Exhibit
Question: What do a world-renowned artist, an award-winning actress and 40 foster youths in two cities 3,000 miles apart have in common?
Answer: They are all part of one of the most unusual art exhibits expressing the foster care experience ever to tour the nation.
 In celebration of May as National Foster Care Month, actress Victoria Rowell and her foundation, the Rowell Foster Children’s Positive Plan (RFCPP), is hosting a traveling exhibition of art created by foster youths. “Passion Tour Art Series” – a collection of found-object pieces – is the creative result of workshops that were conducted by acclaimed artist Phoebe Beasley in Los Angeles and Boston.
Each work of art is as unique as the youthful artist who created it. Some are made from photographs and wisps of cloth, others from bits of broken toys, CDs, diary pages, or other symbols of young lives that are themselves a collage of often-unconnected experiences. Each of the works is presented in shadow boxes provided by the Annie E. Casey Foundation through Casey Family Services.
The “Passion Tour Art Series” – and the accompanying reception series that features the artists from foster care – will premier at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles on May 1, 2006. On May 7, the exhibition will move to the Children’s Museum of Manhattan in New York City and provide the backdrop for the official East Coast launch of National Foster Care Month, for which Rowell serves as the national spokeswoman.
The show re-opens on May 12 at the University of Southern Maine in Portland, where Rowell is later scheduled to deliver the institution’s commencement address. Wheelock College in Boston will be the venue for the fourth tour stop on May 17. Wheelock will present Rowell with an honorary doctorate degree at its commencement ceremonies. The next opening will take place at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore on May 26, and the final show will be held on June 10 in Maui, Hawaii. At each of the exhibition sites, the student artwork will be offered for sale in a silent auction to support RFCPP’s work.
The arts are an important part of RFCPP’s work, providing scholarships in ballet, fine arts, and sports, as well as internships for foster youth transitioning to independence. “Studies have shown that children who are exposed to the arts and team sports at an early age acquire life skills that will be instrumental in their personal growth and development,” Rowell says. “These disciplines transport children away from their unstable lives to a place where dreams are born.” |
