“Hoop”, by Community Supported Art participant Jonathan Conner, also known as Lank.
“Owl-Map” by Community Supported Art participant Jonathan Conner, also known as Lank.
There is a fresh addition to Trenton arts scene: the Trenton Community Supported Art project developed by Slow Art in Trenton.
“It is based on the Community Supported Agriculture model, where community partners pay a farm a fee up front then obtain produce throughout the season,” says Trenton-based artist and consultant Lauren Otis, who co-coordinates the project with Trenton photographer Andrew Wilkinson. “For an art CSA, you pay your upfront fee then receive art made especially for you by selected local artists. Art CSAs have been created in Brooklyn, Philadelphia, and in cities across the country. Andrew and I thought this would be a great thing to replicate in Trenton.”
Otis and Wilkinson say that this new effort fits into the “ferment taking place in Trenton in the recent years.”
“Trenton is a small, economically depressed city, with well-documented problems, but creatively it is rich and flowering, with events such as Art All Night, Art All Day, Jersey Fresh Jam, Windows of Soul, and a whole new generation of artists, arts collectives, and creative boosters,” he says.
The two artists say that although there are many accomplished and emerging artists in the city there is little in the way of galleries or other venues to support and nurture them and “felt the model of a CSA — with its local focus, connective dynamic, and concrete benefits accruing to both artist and art buyer — was perfect for Trenton.”
The CSA “benefits Trenton-area artists by putting money in their pockets and introducing them to art-loving prospective patrons. It benefits you by giving you original art at a very reasonable price and introducing you to the people who made it, enriching your home and your lives,” they note in on their website. Slow Art takes a 15 percent of each share to assist with administrative and support services.
While the initial registration is currently open, the coordinators say that they limiting initial art shares to 25. The price of a share is $350, and with that purchase the shareholder receives one piece of original art made by one of eight local artists that Otis and Wilkinson have selected.
For each CSA, Slow Art coordinators say they will engage a diverse group of artists, mixing veterans with young Turks, and soliciting work in all mediums.
The first group of participating artists – who get free reign to create as they want — include Jonathan Conner (a.k.a. Lank), a member of the Trenton-based S.A.G.E. arts collective, a public art muralist, and an art instructor at Mercer County Community College; Lora Marie Durr, a painter and muralist who has exhibited at Rowan University and participated in the creation of a collaborative mural at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in Hamilton; Wills Kinsley a member of S. A. G.E. who specializes in “bike “ art; Debbie Reichard, a sculptor and ceramic artist who has exhibited at the Jersey City Museum, Aljira Center for Contemporary Art in Newark, and the Newark Museum of Art; and Tamara Torress, a Trenton-based photographer who specializes in capturing the contradictions of street life.
“As with CSA farm shares, you have no idea what you are going to be receiving until you pick it up. Some artists may create a single edition of work for shareholders, resulting in largely identical art for each shareholder. Others may make individual, unique pieces for every shareholder. Still others may choose the CSA to experiment stylistically, challenging themselves, and giving you the first peek at their latest creative evolution,” coordinators say.
Share participants pick up their art at mixers the coordinators will hold at SLOW Art’s 750 Cass Street studios. Otis and Wilkinson say that the mixers are an important part of the CSA and help build personal connections.
Community Supported Arts started in Minnesota in 2010 and has since been replicated in other regions of the nation, including Pittsburgh, Miami, Brooklyn, Fargo, and Philadelphia. The Saint Paul-based Springboard for the Arts offers individual artists or art groups replication kit that includes a 45-page setup guide, letter templates, partnership ideas, and logistical pointers. The cost is $45 donation for an electronic delivered kit. A $100 donation provides two hours of consultation.
“We are still actively signing up share participants,” says Otis of the initial outing. “We are about a third of the way to our cutoff of 25 share participants. Even if we don’t get to 25 we are likely to close the first CSA registration in several weeks to a month, at which point our 8 artists will commence creating work (if they haven’t already).
Slow art is located at 750 Cass St. in Trenton. More information is online at trentoncsart.com.
–Dan Aubrey
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