Blooming Rainbow is a community art exchange project with the support of the Sister City organizations in Baltimore, Maryland, USA and Changwon, South Korea. Weekly art lessons taught by graduate students and artists for underserved children were held in both cities during the period February – June, 2022. The project was led in Baltimore by Maryland Institute College of Art graduate student Ara Ko and in Changwon by Chaeyeon Hong, MFA.
The children were provided with materials and guidance to paint on canvas. The works were then exchanged via overseas mail between the two cities and enhanced with the added brush strokes of the artists/teachers in the exchange cities. The collaboration ended with a simultaneous exhibition of the works and a live-streamed exhibition opening event on June 10 with speakers from both regions. With the support of community leaders, artists, sister cities, city government, and university faculty, Ara and Chaeyeon would like to continue and expand this program to add more students, communities, and universities.
They also believe that this project could serve as model that other Sister City organizations could adopt, to serve more children in the future. https://baltimoresistercities.org/blooming-rainbow-2022/
Photo Credit: Blooming Rainbow Team