APPRENTICESHIP FOR ART & SOCIAL JUSTICE

Harwood Art Center’s Apprenticeship for Art & Social Justice trains young artists in the co-creation of community-driven public art. Youth aged 17-24 are paid a living wage while building a foundation for careers in and around the arts. Our team gathers and responds to community input in a long-term commitment to Mesa Verde Park. Artworks created each summer are a growing monument to the living ecosystem and local residents in this neighborhood of Albuquerque’s International District. We engage in art as social practice, stamping community sourced 6 word poems in tile mosaics. We record and amplify oral histories. Our team integrates local shrubs and herbs that are integral to the local ecosystem within our public artworks. We care for our place, and for our neighbors in it. We collaborate broadly with partners in the City of Albuquerque and with leaders in our public schools, community centers, and public health coalitions. A diverse team of educators and mentors train apprentices in welding, plasma cutting, ceramic tile making, site investigation, solar power and electronics, the art of interviewing, professional practices, self-care, and personal finances. 

Projects

Unidos – 2018-2019

In the summer of 2019, the Apprenticeship for Art & Social Justice of Harwood Art Center completed UNIDOS, the first public sculpture built in collaboration with community for Mesa Verde Park. This sculpture is Apprenticeship’s inaugural public art project.

The UNIDOS sculpture is an abstracted butterfly form. The structure hovers over park patrons creating a shady, calming space during the day, and offering light at night through solar powered LEDs. The underside of its canopy is adorned with a multitude of handcrafted, colorful butterflies that are attached on kinetic hardware, creating a dynamic moving texture. The top of the sculpture will also serve as a water catchment system, providing water for plants below.

UNIDOS honors the beauty and community that forms through migration, both in the migratory convening of butterflies and within the International District’s diverse community. It provides a comforting space to reflect on the unique culture of the La Mesa neighborhood, while recognizing the personal journeys that occurred in order for this remarkable community to exist. UNIDOS represents convergence and the message that we are not divided, but we are one Albuquerque.

Meet our team!