MFA Art Practice presents a discussion between Laure Biron, director of Mural Arts Philadelphia's Porch Light program, Jason Maas, founder of the Artist Volunteer Center, and artist Sarah Sharp, creator of the collaborative book and fundraiser Tool Book. Specific topics of discussion will include the physical, historic and conceptual limitations of traditional art institutions; ethical considerations for artists; reactivity versus proactivity; creatively engaging communities outside of arts institutions; and criteria for measuring the success of a project.

Sarah G. Sharp is an artist and curator whose interests include alternative social histories, language, place, technology and craft. She is the recipient of a Getty Library Research Grant, a BRIC Arts Media Fellowship, and residency awards including SoHo20 Gallery Residency Lab, Joya at Cortijada Los Gázquez and The Vermont Studio Center. Exhibitions include The Aldrich Museum, Real Art Ways, Hampden Gallery at UMass Amherst, Frederieke Taylor Gallery and Field Projects Gallery. Sarah’s Oral History Interview with artist Elaine Reichek was published by the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian Institute. Sarah holds an MFA and an MA from Purchase College, SUNY, is an assistant professor at University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and teaches in the MFA Art Practice program at SVA. Sarah lives and works in Brooklyn and Baltimore.

Laure Biron joined Mural Arts Philadelphia in 2008 as a teaching artist sparking an interest in social justice and social work. After completing her Masters at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Laure enrolled in the Bryn Mawr School of Social Work and Social Research and took a field placement with the Restorative Justice Department Guild Program at Mural Arts. After three years with the Restorative Justice department and completing her Master's in Social Service with a clinical focus and a Masters in Legal and Social Policy, Laure started her own private psychotherapy practice and became the Director of the Porch Light Program, a partnership between Mural Arts and the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services that offers programming and projects rooted in behavioral health and community wellness.

Jason A. Maas is an artist, psychotherapist and the founder of the Artist Volunteer Center. He is interested in the intersection between art, artists and mental health: art's role in the mental health of artists and society, how the treating of mental illness is an art form and what the unique pressures are that society puts on artists (and artists put on themselves) that impact their mental health. In addition to his psychotherapy practice where he specializes in working with artists, Jason has fifteen years of experience in college and K-12 art teaching and currently teaches psychology at the university level. His artwork has been shown nationally and internationally, including the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, the Noyes Museum, Governor’s Island Art Fair and Smack Mellon. He holds a Master's in Mental Health Counseling from Brooklyn College, a Master's of Fine Arts from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and a Master's of Arts in Teaching from Manhattanville College.

Talk

Creative Interventions: Working Outside the Institution