Twenty Rapid City-area children have the chance to work with a Los Angeles artist this summer, creating a sculpture kids can play on. And six of those children will travel to LA in July to work with the artist in a studio at UCLA, on a sculpture called “Will Be.”
Local coordinator Holly Sortland and artist Bridget Beck went to high school together in Rapid City. Now Sortland has founded Project Respect, and Beck is a California sculptor involved in the Heart Project in LA.
Both women are working with children to prevent destructive behavior.
At the end of May, Beck will return to Rapid City and hold workshops at General Beadle School every afternoon for a week.
Before Beck arrives, Sortland says she’ll find 20 children from lower-income homes to take part in the workshops.
“They’re going to be painting pipes, and then they’re also going to be painting different parts of the sculpture with their own personal art. Part of the theme is racial reconciliation, so that’s why it’s really important, I think, that we get Native American youth doing some Native art. Also healthy relationships, or maybe things that students have been through, kind of therapeutically, they can do art that speaks to them. And that’ll be all part of the sculpture.”
From those 20 active participants, six will travel to Los Angeles at the end of July with all expenses paid to work with six inner-city LA kids to finish the sculpture.
After the sculpture is on display for a time at UCLA, Sortland says Beck plans to ship it to Rapid City. Its site has not yet been determined.
The Rapid City workshop is set for May 27-31 at General Beadle School. Each day’s session will run from 1 to 4 p.m.
To find out more about the program or to apply, call Holly Sortland at 605-858-5175.
To see Bridget Beck's work, go to:
http://bridgetbecksculpture.weebly.com/
To learn more about Project Respect, go to:
