Bring the whole family to the library and make your own accordion fold book. Using markers and crayons, you will create a series of drawings and then bind your drawings into a short accordion fold book that you can take home with you. Work by yourself or create a book with a group of friends or family members.

All ages and abilities welcome. Free and open to the public.

This workshop is part of the Voices Unfold Project:

All Voices Unfold programs will be held at the Providence Public Library, 150 Empire Street in Providence. Thanks to generous support from the Rhode State Council on the Arts, all of the programs are FREE and open to the public.

About the Project

Voices Unfold engaged clients of Sojourner House in a six-month art and writing experience led by The Hive Archive’s Executive Director, Alyssa Holland Short. Alyssa, an illustrator and arts educator, worked directly with clients from Sojourner House in Woonsocket and Providence to build a portfolio of personal artworks through writing, drawing, painting, and printmaking. At the culmination of the program, the clients bound their artwork into artist books.

The experience assisted participants in self-exploration, growth, and healing through their creative expression. The title Voices Unfold references the acts of making and interacting with books. It is inspired by the words of Maya Angelou: “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” Angelou’s words emphasize to the silence and isolation that often accompany and perpetuate domestic violence. Voices Unfold preserved the stories of domestic violence survivors and celebrates their voices through the creative options that artist books offer.

About the Organizations

Sojourner House is a nonprofit domestic violence organization founded in 1976 by Brown University students. During the past 35 years Sojourner House has grown from a part-time, all-volunteer hotline into a provider of comprehensive services available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to victims of abuse. Their current programs include a drop-in advocacy center, a teen dating violence prevention program (Start Strong Rhode Island), a residential program that includes an emergency shelter and transitional housing, and a court advocacy program.

The Hive Archive was founded in 2001 as a non-profit, feminist arts organization. The Hive fosters creative and artistic growth, collective learning, and relationships across differences for local artists and allies who are committed to ending sexism. We believe that art and creativity are essential aspects of the human experience. The Hive Archive uses art as a vehicle for change and we operate under the philosophy that everyone has the potential to make change through the arts.

For more information on these organizations, please visit:

www.sojournerri.org

www.hivearchive.org