Summary

Seattle harbors thousands of visual artists. And these thousands of artists are often prolific, generative makers, yielding thousands of art works each year. It is an arsenal of work that would fill an airplane hanger if gathered and stored. Some of it sells and a lot of it sits in studios, storage units and stacks. It has value, potential energy, but often the unsold works greatly outweigh those that sold.

Project Description

The Social Services Gallery serves as a depot for these unsold works. It is a curated collection founded upon regional donation by artist and collector alike (who also often have works that they would be happy to see put back into circulation), with a storefront showroom exhibiting and dispersing this trove of art to the citizens of Seattle. What makes it truly unique is that no money exchanges hands in the Social Services Gallery. If a visitor wishes to acquire a work exhibited in the gallery, it can only be claimed with an Art Voucher.

Blood banks have Art Vouchers. Soup Kitchens have Art Vouchers. Neighborhood patrols have Art Vouchers. And if you would like one, then you give blood, or volunteer or serve the community in one of the many understaffed programs around the city. Volunteering for just 4 hours grants you an Art Voucher. And one Art Voucher is redeemable for anything on exhibit in the Social Services Gallery. For this ‘proof of concept’ we have partnered with Bloodworks NW. If you donate blood in our mobile blood draw station at King Street Station, or at a Bloodworks NW center December 1 – 18, you will receive an Art Voucher. And that can be traded for any of the 300+ works on display.

The Bureau of Arts & Culture recommends that the city partner with regional social services and incentivize citizen participation through use of Art Vouchers. A city run gallery will solicit and exhibit artist donated works in a rotating display, redistributing artwork to participating collectors.

My entry to The Give Gallery is Le Stanze project a silk screen print I did during a residency at La Scuola Internazionale di Grafica in Venice, Italy. More about Le Stanze here: Le Stanze.