"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008 11

"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008 22

"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008 33

Lily Yeh (1941- )“When I see brokenness,

poverty and crime in inner cities, I also see the

enormous potential and readiness for

transformation and rebirth. We are creating an art form that comes

from the heart and reflects the pain and sorrow of people's lives. It also

expresses joy, beauty, and love. This process lays the

foundation of building a genuine community in

which people are reconnected with their families, sustained by

meaningful work, nurtured by the care of each other

and will together raise and educate their children. Then we witness social

change in action.”

"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008 44

In 1986, Lily Yeh was asked by the dancer and educator Arthur Hall to create a park in an abandoned lot next to his building in North Philadelphia. With a small grant, a few shovels, and little else, Lily invited children and adults in this ravaged inner city neighborhood to join her in clearing the rubble-filled lot. They then transformed the lot into an art park with brilliant mosaics and sculpted trees, creating an oasis of safety and peace.

The park blossomed into The Village of Arts and Humanities, a community-based art organization that Lily co-founded in 1989. Lily, neighborhood residents, and staff have transformed more than 120 abandoned lots into gardens and parks. They also have renovated abandoned homes, and created educational programs, art workshops, after-school programs, a youth theater, and joyful community celebrations. Today, the Village of Arts and Humanities serves thousands of low-income people every year.

Lily’s vision has rippled out far beyond North Philadelphia’s borders. She inspires and collaborates with prison inmates to create beauty and art, and does the same with thousands of adults and children who live in some of the world’s most broken communities. She has collaborated with residents of the Korogocho slum near Nairobi to transform a barren churchyard with murals and sculptures and traveled to Ghana, Ecuador, The Ivory Coast and the Republic of Georgia to work on similar projects. Her most endeavor is the Rwanda Healing Project, in which she worked with hundreds of children and families to transform their bleak village into a place of beauty and joy.

Born in China, Lily emigrated to the United States in the early 1960s to attend the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate school of Fine Arts. A successful painter and professor at Philadelphia’s University of the Arts, Lily traveled to Beijing in 1989 to show her work at the Central Institute of Fine Art. There, she witnessed the tragic events of Tianamen Square. Over the 1980s, Lily gradually realized that being an artist “is not just about making art…It is about delivering the vision one is given…and about doing the right thing without sparing oneself.” She continues pursuing her vision through her new organization, Barefoot Artists, Inc., which teaches residents and artists how to replicate the Village model in devastated communities around the world.

"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008 55

"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008 66

"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008 77

"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008 88

https://oll.depaul.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_89715_1

Watch video profile of Lilly Yeh andThe Village of Arts & Humanities

From “Edens Lost and Found”

"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008 99

Juan Quezada, Master Artisan

Mata Ortiz, Mexico

"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008 1010

"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008 1111

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/mexico403/watch.html

Watch video profile of Juan Quezadaand the story of Mata Ortiz

From “FrontlineWorld”

"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008 1212

"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008 1313

"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008 1414

"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008 1515

"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008 1616

"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008 1717

"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008 1818

"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008"Crossing the Street"- Fall 2008 1919

Power of the Power of the arts…arts…

• INSPIRATIONINSPIRATION– meaningmeaning– voicevoice– pride/passionpride/passion– beautybeauty

• ECONOMYECONOMY– creative economy skill acquisitioncreative economy skill acquisition– salessales– property valuesproperty values– locally driven economic developmentlocally driven economic development

• DEMOCRACYDEMOCRACY– develops new leadersdevelops new leaders– brings different people togetherbrings different people together– raises questions, triggers new visionsraises questions, triggers new visions– helps solves pressing problemshelps solves pressing problems– builds solidarity, trust, civic capitalbuilds solidarity, trust, civic capital

PER

SO

NA

LC

OM

MU

NA

L