David Rosenthal began his art career in a traditional setting, but he says it wasn’t the right niche. As an M.F.A. graduate and full-time professor in the
University of Cincinnati’s fine arts department, he spent most of his time in the studio. While he enjoyed his work, he says he felt there was a divide and that too many people in the community simply didn’t connect with art created in that environment.
“That whole practice was kind of centered on the idea that the artist was the creator, and that art happened in the mind and at the hands of the artist,” says Rosenthal. “And I wanted to get away from that idea.”
So he set out to find a way to put art into the hands of a completely different demographic, and in 2009, Rosenthal founded
Prairie, a nonprofit that works to gather artists together to create and explore ideas in non-traditional ways.
Educational programming is one of Prairie’s primary functions, and through the
New Voices program, Rosenthal aims to bring two groups together for the purpose of building an understanding of the human condition through art.
The most recent collaboration: residents of
City Gospel Mission’s Exodus Program—a long-term rehabilitation effort that seeks to help men who struggle with alcohol and drug addiction—and students from
Milford High School. The program lasted 12 weeks and consisted of weekly excursions where the two groups came together to photograph the Over-the-Rhine community, discuss their work, talk about why it’s meaningful, and then reflect on the whole process.
“I think that when art is put in the hands of people who don’t usually have that tool, it’s just incredibly powerful because I think that somebody who has never had the opportunity to be expressive usually has a ton to say,” says Rosenthal. “When you combine that with another group of people who maybe does that on a consistent basis, like high school students who are involved in the arts, you can see these bridges forming, and barriers coming down—significant barriers. That’s all through the language of expression.”
While Rosenthal is a facilitator in the process, he says he’s also an art-maker because of the “creative energy and problem solving” that he brings to the program. Part of his drive stems from his 15 years of art experience, but he says it also goes back to his undergraduate days when he studied history.
“I think I really just became interested in social science—why people create the kind of institutions they create, how people relate to each other through those institutions, how they bring us together, divide us, create progress, get in the way of progress—that kind of thing,” he says. “I think really my curiosity is what happens when you introduce these expressive, creative tools into social situations.”
Reactions from those involved in the program are positive. Rosenthal says the Milford students’ video reflections revealed changes within the students that were both eye-opening and for some, even “life-changing.”
“There’s always some kind of sheltering or inward looking that happens at every high school because students are so busy, and that’s just the nature of the whole program—you do your work at school,” says Rosenthal. “So I’ve found that there’s lots of opportunities for students to get out and see the world and really kind of answer some of those questions that come up in their daily work about the world all around them, and I’m really happy to be doing that work.”
Do Good:
• Attend Prairie's upcoming exhibition "After the Fall," which is a collection of artists' work, built on the theme of female identity. The exhibition opens Feb. 9 and continues through April 6.
Contact Prairie for more information.
• Support art programs within your local school district.
• Join Prairie in its misison to reach out to community organizations by getting involved with a local nonprofit.
By Brittany York
Brittany York is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati and a teacher at the Regional Institute of Torah and Secular Studies. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia.