Wedging Forward brings together justice and clay. Established in Winter 2020, it provides opportunities for formerly incarcerated people to learn the craft of ceramics. This community-based arts program, currently housed at Gasworks Clay NYC, in South Slope, Brooklyn, is rooted in themes of abolition, racial justice, and collective restorative awakening. The project grounds itself in the creative practice of clay production as a form of liberation and possibility for systems impacted individuals and groups. The ever-evolving initiative is a platform of critical making, diverse engagement and artistic expression that seeks to rewrite the narrative of carcerality in America and address ongoing injustices and barriers against Black, minority, and institutionalized bodies at the hands of the criminal legal system.
Wedging Forward currently supports a handful of dedicated artists through a fellowship program, providing full class and studio access to its participants, breaking down barriers to access many formerly incarcerated persons face. By providing returned citizens a space to create, learn and develop a personal arts practice, the project nurtures a community of dignity that ripples far beyond the studio- dismantling prison walls and transforming lives from the outside in. The immersive nature of clay provides a locus for healing and communal resonance, while confronting conditions of the Prison Industrial Complex, which are entrenched within ongoing, systemic, and systematic legacies of racism, oppression, and inequality. The project and its creative endeavours see beyond the monolith of incarceration and (re)envisions a site for change, craft, and connection.
Welcome:
This is a collective, exploratory endeavour- there are no expectations beyond participation and willingness to share your creative energy in with others
Classes are held @ Gasworks Clay studio 673 Fifth Ave, Bklyn
The program is offered on a fellowship model, providing complimentary classes in beginner hand-building and wheel-throwing techniques, open studio access, tools, working materials and any firing/processing costs.
*additional support can be provided for transportation, if required.
Documentation of the process is heavily encouraged, while completely voluntary, this aspect of the project seeks to introduce a more expansive, meaningful experience for all.
This program is for persons 18+ of all backgrounds, who have experienced some form of incarceration or imprisonment or have been directly impacted by the criminal legal system through a loved one.
While there is no pressure to open share your carceral experience, we hope that participants will critically engage with your personal histories through processes of informed making and holding shared space for one another through our individual and collective aesthetic journeys.
want to learn more?
https://forms.gle/6JHwqYRi2iBqGTvY7
Please do not hesitate to reach out with questions- That’s why we’re here!
Call/text: +1 347.626.6868
Email: wedging.fwd@gmail.com
There is always potential for creative beauty and to create beauty, together.
WF.
