Everyone Is an Artist is a printed poster that is distributed free to demystify the art-making process; it has step-by-step
instructions, making art available, accessible and achievable. Once understood, the same techniques can be applied to various media, freeing the mind to create with simple and unpretentious materials.

Usually the project is set up as a group effort, creating a synergy toward a single goal, achieving camaraderie and enriching life. The project is a catalyst to art-making at home with family and friends. The idea came about during my teaching experience, from the need to create a teaching syllabus for my use and possibly the benefit of others too.

DIY concepts change our relationship to commercial products and our perspective on mass production. DIY has gained momentum largely as a result of our greatly enhanced access to tools and information, which I plan to use. DIY also enables uniqueness in the things we own. It also gives rise to a number of media outlets for sharing experience; the wealth of resources has become a self-sustaining treasure chest growing at an exponential rate: my project included.

Joseph Beuys’ famous slogan, “Everyone Is an Artist,” was not meant to suggest that all people should or could be creators of traditional artworks. Rather, he meant that we should not see creativity as the special realm of artists, but that everyone should apply creative thinking in their own areas of specialization. Beuys imagined that an expanded application of human creativity­—and the broader definition of “art” that would follow—would result in something he called “social sculpture.” While the term encompassed many things for Beuys, it might broadly be defined as a conscious act of shaping, of bringing some aspect of the environment—whether the political system, the economy, or a classroom—from a chaotic state into a state of form, or structure. Social sculpture should be accomplished cooperatively, creatively, and across disciplines.

Download the project now


Download the project now


Download the project now

The Arts of Recovery 2007

The fifth annual Arts of Recovery exhibition opened at Snug Harbor Cultural Center on Staten Island on September 9 is a collaborations between Tattfoo Tan and artists living with mental illnesses.The process starts with the participants and asking what they wanted to make and researching materials that suits that purpose. The artist did not know the technic of each of this requested objects but are given the task to investigate methods to make the objects using just readymade. Working with Tattfoo, participants created a summer scene of plastic zip tie that resemble grass, aluminium soda can butterflies and mailing tubes flag. These are material which we as a society overlook or discard every day.

Presented by The Verrazano Foundation in conjunction with Snug Harbor Cultural Center, South Beach Psychiatric Center, and the Art Lab, the exhibition, located in the Visitors Center at Snug Harbor will continue through October 20. 
 
The Arts of Recovery is made possible in part by an Encore Grant from the Council on the Arts & Humanities for Staten Island, with public funding from the New York State Council on the Arts. Additional support is provided by the Staten Island Foundation, Independence Community Foundation, Richmond County Savings Foundation, Verizon Foundation, and Councilman Michael McMahon.

Space for Art in Senior Centers: a Community-Based Residency

A study on aging adults in New York City identified the benefits of art in the lives of senior citizens. This new initiative seeks to connect artists and senior citizens in Senior Centers throughout New York City, as part of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s "Age Friendly NYC" initiative. Each Senior Center is unique and offers access to different types of spaces, resources, and communities. Artists will work with the Senior Centers to arrange workspace and storage as well as to develop opportunities for informal interactions with seniors and/or on-site structured programs such as workshops, demonstrations, lectures and/or exhibits. Research found that aging visual artists have larger social networks, more intergenerational contacts, and higher life satisfaction scores than other older adults. As a result, the Department for the Aging is interested in creating opportunities for visual artists of all ages to regularly interact with senior center participants. The new arts programming will also encourage additional older New Yorkers to make use of the City's senior centers.

NYC Department of Cultural Affairs Commissioner Kate D. Levin said, "This is an example of New York working at its very best: by leveraging currently unused spaces in the City's network of senior centers, we are able to provide much needed work space for our artists, while simultaneously providing new programming for older New Yorkers this will help ensure that New York remains a creative community for people of all ages."

My programming for the seniors will be at Stapleton Senior Center, 189 Gordon Street, Staten Island, NY 10304