Cradle Making in Santa Cruz
This February, The Cradle Project opened for the first time in California at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History (MAH). The exhibit includes twenty-two cradles from the original 2008 installation, and new cradles made by Santa Cruz artists Wes Modes, Heidi Cramer, and Luke Wilson.
The MAH put their unique stamp on the exhibit with the interactivity and community participation they’re known and loved for in Santa Cruz. Outside the exhibit, an old door is used as a table where visitors make their own cradles from sticks and yarn. The idea is that visitors make a cradle to leave and take a cradle made by someone else, a giving concept that matches our values here at Firelight very well.
Read Cradles of Change in the Good Times Weekly to learn more about the Santa Cruz exhibit
MAH wanted to give visitors the experience of learning more about how African communities are responding to the AIDS epidemic and Firelight’s work to support them so outside the exhibit materials from our grantee partners cover an entire wall. There are photo stories, a map of where our partners work, cardboard numbers our partners use to teach math to children, games, and doilies made from recycled potato chip bags that are sold for family income. The MAH has captured the true nature of African communities in a vibrant and hope-filled display.
Explore The Cradle Project Workshops on Flickr
On opening weekend, three artists led community cradle making workshops. Luke Wilson created the Nest Cradle, Wes Modes created a traditional cradle made from reclaimed materials, and Heidi Cramer made adobe cradles in heirloom seedbeds. Children, their parents, and many others contributed to cradles from station to station. The hall was filled with hammering, laughing and lots of creativity on a rainy day. Visitors also brought items from their childhood for a pop-up museum.
The Cradle Project travels to different places to raise awareness about the impact of AIDS on children and families in Africa and the cradle of care communities provide in response. The MAH has created a real community around The Cradle Project, which has been very exciting.
Don’t Miss It The Cradle Project is showing at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History from February 7 to March 23, 2014.
Coming Soon In April, The Cradle Project will be shown in San Francisco at Alter Space. We are inviting artists to participate now. Cradles will be available for auction soon. For more information email Rebecca@firelightfoundation.org.
