Category: Mint Artists

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How and why we are creating fun, free art kits for Detroit children, with amazing partners

Part of the first 500 creative activity kits at Brilliant Detroit. (Photo: Vickie Elmer)

It started with a comment on our co-founder’s Facebook page, a suggestion that families in Detroit may not have enough materials to create at home

Those few sentences identifying the need to distribute art boxes along with food in Detroit came from Yvette Jenkins, owner of Love Travels Imports.  (In the three degrees of separation, her shop shares space on Livernois with Art in Motion, which had hosted Mint for several workshops and participated with us in the Palmer Park Art Fair.)

Yvette’s comment inspired us to action. Soon we were connected with two other nonprofits: Arts & Scraps and Brilliant Detroit. Both of them are our partners in our Paint Detroit with Generosity initiative.

By 12:35 on March 13th – that’s 313 Day or Friday the 13th – the first emails flew out to Arts & Scraps executive director Ang Adamiak under the subject line: “Incredibly timely idea: Art boxes while DPS and other schools are closed.”

Our co-founder and executive director Vickie Elmer had already started brainstorming ideas. She saw this as something big and beautiful – 5,000 or more kits given to children in Detroit, fast and free.

Yet we knew we also had to line up funding and figure out how to get these kits to families with children, since schools, recreation centers and libraries were closed to protect against COVID-19 spreading.

It turns out Brilliant Detroit was a well, brilliant choice for many reasons, including its network of eight neighborhood centers that serve thousands of children and their adults. Its CEO and co-founder Cindy Eggleton knows how to collaborate and make things happen. So before we could say “coronavirus rhymes with iris” three times, we had funding for the first 2,000 kits.

A child created this penguin from one of the first kits. (Photo: Brilliant Detroit)
About two-thirds of the contents of the Creative Activities Kits created by Arts & Scraps, Mint and Brilliant Detroit. (Photo: Vickie Elmer)

The art kits contain all kinds of recycled art supplies from Arts & Scraps store and warehouse, from paper to cones to glitter and crayons and popcicle sticks and more.  Then we add in two two-sided Mint coloring pages, which were printed partly with underwriting by Detroit marketing firm MCCI Corp., and Jennette Smith Kotila.  (One degree of separate here: Jennette was managing editor of Crain’s Detroit Business when Vickie started writing for the publication. They worked together on Crain’s Most Influential Women special section and more.)

Last Monday, March 23, three volunteers recruited by Mint picked up the first 500 kits from Arts & Scraps and drove across I-94 to Brilliant Detroit’s headquarters. They all were women.

This project is starting to sound like a women’s empowerment activity – and in some ways, it is. Three women working with women to support mothers and children, grandmothers and fathers in a challenging time.

The first kits were given to families in Southwest Detroit who are connected to Brilliant Detroit.  “Thank you for supporting us to help our children. To motive them, and to learn to imagine,” said Gloria Vera, a mother of three children who received the kit last week.

Two of the Ramos children with some work made from the Creative Activities Kits. (Photo: Brilliant Detroit)

Creativity and making art have many benefits to children from problem solving to developing fine motor skills.  It  also is good for relieving boredom or stress.

“Here’s a little of the work that we have done,” said Judith Ramos, mother of four. She shows off work by her children Yajairi,  Yesenia  y Yamilet.made from the kits.  “Thank you to all the people who have taken the time to give us this material to keep our children busy at this difficult time. Thank you, and I hope God protects you.”

If you want more children to  be creative in these crazy times, please  donate to the Arts & Scraps fundraiser today.

If you wish to download one of our coloring pages from the kits, please download this one from the Palmer Park Butterfly Garden for free. 

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We are creating a beautiful partnership with Arts & Scraps

Arts & Scraps previous pop up took place at Stef-N’Ty in Detroit’s North End. The next one comes to the Bagley community. (Photo: Arts & Scraps)

Creative partnerships bring such beauty into the world. And the partnership between Mint Artists Guild and Arts & Scraps certainly will offer that – and a lot of creative activities and a few jobs for youth, when it lands in the Bagley Community  at the end of March.

Mint is hiring emerging artists as the staff for Arts & Scraps’ Neighborhood Network pop up in Neighborhood HomeBase community center run by the Live6 Alliance. A grand opening is scheduled for March 28 at HomeBase, 7426 W. McNichols, four blocks west of Livernois.

Arts & Scraps Neighborhood Network pop ups are funded by a $75,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan. It includes a pop up near Clark Park in Southwest Detroit this spring. Previous pop ups were held in the Grandmont Rosedale and North End neighborhoods of Detroit.

The main goal is to offer Arts & Scraps to all, Arts & Scraps executive director Ang Adiamack said. She works from Arts & Scraps main office and store at 16135 Harper Ave.

“Being so far east is great in many ways, but it does mean we are hard to reach for west siders. This opportunity opens up the possibility of resourcing artists, entrepreneurs, makers and more across all of Detroit, which we are really excited about. In addition, being able to have youth staffing the pop-up in Bagley is incredibly exciting. We love the work Mint does empowering students to grow their own artistic career,” Ang said.

Mint Artists Guild provides entrepreneurial training and workforce development opportunities to creative youth. It has partnered with Arts & Scraps for two years with Mint’s Paint Detroit with Generosity initiative. Mint also buys arts and crafts supplies from its East Side store.

“We adore creative collaboration and any time we create opportunities for youth, the community and a partner, that achieves our win-win-win goals and makes us very happy,” said Vickie Elmer, Mint’s executive director and co-founder.

This Paint Detroit with Generosity painting by Jessica Fligger hangs in Arts & Scraps East Side headquarters, donated by Mint Artists Guild.

The pop up jobs mix retail sales and customer service, art making and leading arts and crafts activities for all on Saturdays. Youth must demonstrate that they are responsible, resourceful and enjoy making craft projects. They must be available to work most Saturdays from mid-March through early June.

Young creatives ages 15 to 21 may apply by sending Mint a resume and information about themselves.  Please apply to mintartistsguild@gmail.com by March 5.  Interviews will be scheduled in early March.

The Neighborhood Network pop up at HomeBase will feature Arts & Scraps recycled creative supplies, plus Mint greeting cards and a few Mint prints.  Mint intends to hold regular free arts and crafts activities on
many Saturdays. 

UPDATE: The pop up will postpone opening until it is safe to do so. Watch for details on Arts & Scraps and Mint’s social media when state and federal authorities give us the all clear. 

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Mint’s big beautiful success by the numbers for 2019

Mint’s executive director Vickie Elmer and artist Eleanor Aro shared stories and our art and cards at the Detroit Institute of Arts member only shopping night in November 2019.

We just closed out a year of firsts – our first exhibit held at the Fisher Building, our first time selling anything at the Detroit Institute of Arts and our first summer where we employed 10 artists and creatives.

We hit double digits and many of Detroit’s best venues in one year.

We hope you like our success by the numbers for 2019, and that you will pitch in some  dollars to grow our successes this year.

Here’s a look at 2019 by the numbers:

2  Wolverine Promise interns who worked with us, Catherine and Trinity. It was our first time participating, as we prepared to launch a Mint marketing internship program.

 

3  Emerging artists who serve on Mint’s board of directors, up from two last year.

 

weeks of free arts and crafts in Palmer Park.  That seven weeks is more than double the previous year, thanks to support from individuals and others.  We aim to offer nine weeks this year, with your support.

 

10 emerging artists from Detroit who were part of our Creative Summer Jobs program, up from six in 2018

 

12   Mint greeting cards that are on sale at the Detroit Institute of Arts Museum Store through mid March, as part of the Detroit Collects show.  They debuted at the member-only shopping night in November.

Paint Detroit with Generosity paintings to be donated to 27 local nonprofits, followed by a similar number going to charities supporting children and youth in 2020.

 

 

35   Rosa Park limited edition giclee prints created, thanks to our partnership with Sherwood Forest Gallery .  They are selling superbly at Mint pop ups and events – and through our online store.

 

71   Yes, more than six dozen volunteers helped Mint with projects, events, workshops, Mint Masterpieces and more.

 

1,023 –  Number of hours our Summer Creative Workers were paid for creating with and for Mint in July and August.

 

$11,500 – Estimated amount of art, jewelry and artisan gifts sold by Mint’s
Learn and Earn artists this year through Mint.  They endured rain, a storm, cold temperatures and made great friendships and connections through these pop ups and art fairs. 

We gratefully acknowledge the support of Blossoms full service florists, Grow Detroit’s Young Talent, Integrity Shows, People for Palmer Park, the Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency, and many individual donors and small businesses who make these accomplishments possible. We ask that you will support us too so these success numbers will be bigger and more beautiful by the end of 2020.

Read our 2017 success by the numbers report here and our 2016 success report here.  We were so busy preparing for growth at the end of 2018 that we did not create a success list, though we did tally some of the numbers used for comparison.

Photos: Waldemar Brandt and Jan Kaluza /  Unsplash;  Vickie Elmer for Mint.

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Meet Mint Artists jeweler and board member Trinity

Trinity Brown at a Mint pop up in Eastern Market, December 2019. (Photo: Vickie Elmer)

Trinity Brown learned wire wrapping herself while on a break from dancing, following tips on a YouTube video.  She had had surgery on her back for scoliosis. She started doing shows at 13 and soon joined Mint, the youngest artist to start in our Learn and Earn program.  

She is a senior at University High School Academy in Southfield, where she’s on the varsity tennis team, captain of the UHSA Dance Co. and the Student Congress.  She worked as a Wolverine Pathways intern for Mint over the summer. And she also has served on Mint Artists Guild’s board of directors for two years.

She sets a goal for how much she intends to sell at each show.  And in 2019, she applied for and participated in the Ann Arbor Art Fair. 

“Mint has taught me everything I need to turn my art into a career…. Mint means everything to me and my art,” said Trinity.

She established the Curved Emerging Artists Show in 2018, with support and coaching by Mint and two of its cofounders. It has grown to almost 50 artists in 2019. 

She is known for wire wrapping during board meetings, Mint events and anywhere. And she’s the artist who wants to create and sell more jewelry – and help other artists sell more of their work too.

Trinity Brown, standing outside the Mint Studios in Palmer Park. (Photo ©Keith Emmerich for Mint)

Fun fact:  She hardly ever wears her own jewelry, because when she does, people buy it from her fingers or neck.  That’s especially true for her best selling copper pendants.

Future plans: Attend a leading business school focused on entrepreneurship and art.  

See her work:  On Instagram at @TrinsWireCreation or many Mint events.  

Hear more from Trinity in this 2018 video.

 

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Success! De’Shaia lands in pro shows with Mint

De’Shaia Ventour, a senior at Cass Tech, started making more elaborate duct tape painting after she joined Mint and sold her work at the Palmer Park Art Fair and other Mint events. 

She still creates beautiful duct tape flower pens and wallets, but her work has gotten bigger, more elaborate and in more venues.

Her duct tape painting Black Roses will be for sale at the All Media Exhibit, beside established artists including Darren Darby, Carole Morriseau, who taught art at Cass Tech, Bryan Tillman and others.

It’s her second time in the Detroit Artists Market. She had a few pieces in the Art for the Holidays show, which just ended.

For the All Media Show, Mint has a second piece at DAM too. The Mint Red Fish mosaic was created in the Mint Creative Summer Jobs program 2018, by a group of artists including Lakiya Ealey, Jordan Johnson and Lia Massey.  Someone who buys  the mosaic fish will support Mint in hiring 12 or more youth in our creative summer jobs program this year.  (All sale proceeds for Black Roses goes directly to De’Shaia Ventour.)

The Red Fish mosaic was created in the Mint Summer Jobs 2018.

The All Media exhibit opens on Friday and is up through Feb. 15 at the Detroit Artists Market, 4917 Woodware Ave., Detroit. The show is curated by Mint co-founder and Vice President Hubert Massey.

Black Rose, a duct tape painting by De’Shaia Ventour.

The De’Shaia video was created by Mint intern Journey Shamily and is © Mint Artists Guild, 2020.

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Mint’s successes and miracles: A yearend letter from our director

Alexis, Natasha and other Mint Summer workers learn painting techniques from our teaching artist. (Photo Seyi Akintoroye for Mint)

Dear friends of Mint,

Mint Artists Guild is finishing a year of successes and firsts. We are proud of these – and we see how many more opportunities and challenges we could tackle in 2020 and 2021, with your support and donations from individuals, businesses and foundations.

Some of our successes have names: Seyi, a photographer, learned to paint with acrylics in our Creative Summer Jobs program, and has three paintings on display in the Fisher Building through Jan. 3.  Alexis took a leadership role in our Summer Jobs program and joined our board of directors.  Journey landed a paid marketing internship with Mint, and is being mentored by an amazing marketing expert. Through Mint, De’Shaia’s work is for sale at the Detroit Artists Market and she will have another piece in the DAM All Media Show,

Others show up in places that seem like minor miracles for a small nonprofit. Mint’s greeting cards for the first time are for sale in the Detroit Institute of Arts Museum Store, through mid March. Mint’s Paint Detroit with Generosity show is hanging in the Fisher Building, one of the architectural giants and my favorite building in Detroit. And Mint sold greeting cards and brought along an alumni to sell his art at an artisan market in New Orleans, through our collaboration with the Palmer Park Art Fair. 

Mint Artists summer worker Bryan looks over the Paint Detroit with Generosity show at the Fisher Building opening in November. (Photo: Journey Shamily for Mint)

Our Learn and Earn artists sold a record amount of art at Mint pop ups and in the Mint tent at art fairs: $11,500, or about 20 percent more than in 2018. We hired our first Wolverine Pathways interns, a University of Michigan program that boosted our Summer Creative Jobs staff to ten, twice as many as two years ago. Another first: Several alumni graduated from universities and started creative careers in costume design, graphic design and more.  (We plan to profile a few of our alumni in 2020 and recognized Damon FirstBorn Chamblis at Mint Masterpieces in October.)

Yet we also faced sadness and setbacks. We worked with artists who lost a close family member and several who could not find transportation to workshops or a summer job. We did not create any large public art pieces this year, nor did we add to our butterfly mosaics in Palmer Park.

Mint will spend time in the year ahead setting goals and strategic plans looking ahead for five years. We see many opportunities and growth possibilities, and many beautiful partnerships with other nonprofits, foundations and businesses.

Our emerging artists want to plan more creative community service projects, and we are committed to supporting them. And we want to develop more entrepreneurship workshops and training, perhaps by collaborating with other organizations.

We need your generous gifts to keep growing and giving and opening doors to creative careers and community art projects. A donation of $75 supports a Mint pop up, and includes buying snacks for our young artists. A yearend gift of $250 will support three weeks of a youth’s Creative Summer Job. Give $5,000 and we will bring free weekly arts and crafts activities to a second Detroit park next summer.

So please find the donate button near the top of this page and give generously. If you prefer to send a check, please mail it to Mint Artists Guild, PO Box 21667, Detroit, MI 48221.

And thank you for being part of our successes and our growth.

Vickie Elmer
Mint executive director and co-founder

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How Jessica ended up in two Mint videos and a show in the Fisher Building

Jessica Fligger showed up with her family for the Mint Paint Detroit with Generosity opening last month, a rare artist with a rare opportunity – two of them.

She left 90 minutes later with two interviews completed and her paintings shining. This young painter and ceramics artist was thrilled to have her art featured in the Fisher Building – and in the interviews.

The first was with Tim Brown of CBS Detroit, for a piece for Eye on Detroit.

The second was closer to home. Mint marketing intern Journey Shamily, who has sold art with Jessica through the Mint Learn and Earn program, talked to her about her show at the Fisher, which comes down on Jan. 2.

” I just knew that I wanted my interview with her to be fun for the both of us while still giving her a chance to talk about the beautiful art she made for three beautiful nonprofits. I truly did have a blast and with this internship I can mark ‘interview someone’ off my bucket list,” said Journey Shamily.

Guilded by her Mint mentor Kelly O’Neill, Journey also edited the video of Jessica Fligger, which is presented here and on our YouTube channel. 

Jessica was paid to create original paintings and art through Mint’s Creative Summer Jobs program.  (Follow us on Facebook or Instagram to see some of the paintings created or stop by the Fisher Bakery by the afternoon of Jan. 2 to see them all in person.)

Jessica is one of the rare artists who was accepted into both of our training and development programs. Both she and Journey learn creative and business skills through Mint – including how to answer questions from guests or in front of the camera.

Support more youth developing skills with a donation to Mint or become a monthly donor and give even more opportunities.

Jessica is interviewed by Tim Brown for CBS Detroit’s Eye on Detroit. (Photo Journey Shamily for Mint Artists Guild)

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Meet Mint’s new marketing intern Journey

Marketing intern Journey Shamily at TedX Detroit with Mint. (Photo: Vickie Elmer)

Journey Shamily has a big, silly, sweet smile on her face.  Despite setbacks in her life, she smiles and giggles a lot, maintaining a sense of optimism and professionalism.

Her digital art shows her sense of “body positivity,” no matter the size, shape or shade of the women she creates.  She wants every woman to feel empowered about their bodies and every girl to see someone who looks like her, “beautiful and unique.”

Shamily, 18, was chosen as Mint’s first marketing intern in November, selected for her experience in graphic design and her attitude and enthusiasm. In that role, she creates videos, social media posts, fundraising materials and will help establish Mint’s social media policy guide. And she is learning new skills, guided by her mentor, Mint board member and marketing lead Kelly O’Neill and others on Team Mint.

“It’s helping me take my career to the next step and be more professional,” Journey said. 

Her favorite early assignment was serving as the Mint photographer and videographer at our Paint Detroit with Generosity opening at the Fisher Building. (Watch for a new post soon sharing one of the videos and a couple of photos from that wonderful opening. The show is up at the Fisher Building through Dec. 30.)

Journey Shamily, 18, attends WayMichigan, an online school and will graduate from high school next year. She has bounced around, living on her own, briefly in a homeless shelter with her mom, and now with her grandma, who has been very supportive of her creative projects. 

After graduating, she intends to  take a gap year to save money and add to  her experience as a freelance designer and digital illustrator.

In 2020, Journey is planning a community service project, bringing Mint Artists Guild into Detroit area homeless shelters to work with children on creative art and gifts for their moms.

 She has been part of Mint’s Learn & Earn program since September 2018. She has learned to connect with others and network around her art among other things. 

Mint is “very inclusive, very friendly and safe,” for all artists, she says.  She helps make it friendly, with her big smile and the “hello, hello, hello” greeting for all.

 

Fun fact:  She loves Ted Talks  – and sold her work with Mint Artists Guild at TedXDetroit 2019.

Digital art © Journey Shamily

Future plans: Attend a university in New York or elsewhere to study graphic design or illustration.

See her work:   Visit her website or stop by at Mint pop ups and the Mint tent at the Palmer Park Art Fair in June.

 

Support Mint Artists Guild with a monthly donation now, so we may hire more Journeys, more creative youth for internships and creative work in the year ahead. 

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Tea and friendship

Guests at our first Mint Tea, held in a home in Ann Arbor.

 

Friendships start in many places.  Ours are starting in homes and offices, in galleries and studios, over tea and cookies or tea and granola bars.

We have started a new “friend-raiser” called Mint Teas, most of which will take place in individuals’ homes.  They bring together a group of creative or entrepreneurial people who are interested in the work Mint Artists Guild does, or intrigued by our mix of business and entrepreneurship training and creative projects.

The first one took place this summer in Ann Arbor, hosted by a creative entrepreneur who has purchased Mint art and donated to us before. She invited a handful of friends:  artists, a teacher, a financial type and a former museum leader.  Mint brought along cool iced tea, one of our emerging artists and some stories on our early successes.

Now that colder weather is here, we look forward to serving hot tea and sharing stories about some of our alumni, such as Damon FirstBorn Chamblis, who was honored as our Featured Alumni at Mint Masterpieces. 

 Anyone may host a Mint Tea in a business, a home, a community center or someplace else. So please, get in touch. Select a date; set a goal for your fundraising and let’s drink to our creativity and growth!

Host a Mint tea – it’s easy and fun. (Photo: MorgueFile)

 

 

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Creative, beautiful art at Mint Masterpieces, Part 1

Mint alumni Maisha Rahman donated this piece called Beauty of Nature to Mint.

Guests at Mint Masterpieces on Oct. 19 will savor art that has been collected  by our co-hosts Judge Deborah Geraldine Bledsoe Ford and attorney Jerome Watson. And they will be able to bid on and take home some art created by Mint Artists as well.

Our silent auction features certainly work by well established artists including Anthony Brass, Donald Calloway, jeweler Jody Mitchell, Michael Willenborg, Ron Scarbough (donated by David and Linda Whitaker) and photographer Bill Sanders (donated by Vickie Elmer and Mark Loeb).  We will share some of their work in a future post or on Facebook.

Guests also will find pieces created by Mint Artists who sold work with us and who worked for us in our Creative Summer Jobs program, including this lovely piece painted over the summer by Bryan Wilson:

Mint Artists Bryan Wilson painted these swans over the summer in our summer jobs program.

We will offer limited edition prints hand printed on rice paper and some other pieces. Buy your ticket now if you want to see them all.

Mint also will recognize Mint alumni Damon FirstBorn Chamblis, who worked for Mint for two summers and is gaining a reputation as an artist who shows up at a wide variety of galleries, one-day art events and fairs. He was part of the Detroit Fine Arts Breakfast Club tent at the Palmer Park Art Fair, after being in the Mint tent there for two years. Here is Damon at a Mint gallery show in 2018:

Damon Chamblis graduated from Henry Ford Academy and dove into art and music making, with support from Mint, his grandmother and others. He is active in the Detroit arts scene and believes in Mint.

Artist Maisha Rahman, who was in the same first Learn and Earn cohort as Damon, decided to study graphic design at Wayne State University. She is a freelance designer as she finishes her bachelor’s degree. She agreed to donate the painting at the top of this post based on her gratitude for Mint’s guidance.

Mint helped both Damon and Maisha develop business skills and confidence. Open the doors for more young artists to grow with Mint by buying your Mint Masterpieces tickets today. And then be sure to bid on this adorable piece that Damon FirstBorn created while working for Mint Artists Guild:

This small painting Boy on a unicycle was painted by Damon FirstBorn in Mint Summer Jobs.