Oct 4, 20223 min read

Common: West Side Creatives Art Show

I recently organized the first of four West Side Creatives Art Shows at The Arts Factory. The show, "Common," provides a glimpse into the lives and experiences of each individual artist. Each portrait, landscape, and still life invites you to get to know who we are and what we are made of. Common themes between works hint at the harmony of the collective.

Katrina Cherry, Bunny Gregory, Helms Jarrell, and Hoan Rahlan are artists who dream and and conspire together as West Side Creatives. West Side Creatives is birthed out of QC Family Tree’s Culture Bearer Residency, an 11 week community engaged artist in residence program in Charlotte’s West Side neighborhood, Enderly Park.

In partnership with Wonderworld West End Studios at The Arts Factory, the West Side Creatives will rotate fresh artwork into the space and host public openings once a quarter. "Common" will be on display through mid-November 2022. The Arts Factory building is open for viewing during weekday business hours. The show was featured in an Equilibrium article and report on WFAE. You read all about the report here.

QC Family Tree’s Culture Bearer Residency is meant to build community by connecting individuals across points of difference; build community by nurturing, celebrating, and supporting authentic cultures and creative expression; increase relevance by using arts, science and history to address complex community issues; and increasing innovation by supporting the creation of new and groundbreaking work. This Culture Bearer Residency program highlights the strong role that artists and culture bearers play as leaders in civic engagement and social change. The program demonstrates how dynamic social change work incorporates arts and culture into efforts to positively shape the community.

QC Family Tree is growing and nurturing a coalition of artists and cultural workers within Charlotte. This “Rhizome” Coalition is made up of artists and cultural workers who create art and engage in social practice that is rooted in communities of place, tradition or spirit. Rhizome members are folks who call for social and economic justice and are working to dismantle all forms of oppression—everywhere. Rhizome members come together to share their art and organizing, learn about others’ work, and build strong local networks. Contact helms@qcfamilytree.org if you want to be a part of the growing Rhizome.

Please contact the artist directly to purchase their work. Note that all works will remain in The Arts Factory until mid-November 2022. Artist contact information and the list of artworks are below. If you need help remembering what the art piece looked like, you can click on this spreadsheet to see the labels with thumbnail images.