Carolyn Ratcliffe
Carolyn Ratcliffe
Carolyn Ratcliffe
statement

I have drawn and painted since my childhood in Mississippi, and pursued this through my undergraduate studies, graduating with a BA degree in Art with a concentration in painting from the University of Alabama. After moving to New York in 1974, I turned in my brushes for a garden trowel and a camera, painting landscapes, then photographing them, as well as events and cityscapes. I organized arts events-dealing with performance and visual arts in the community gardens of the Lower East Side, most often in La Plaza Cultural such as the ¡Viva! La Plaza Performance Festival (1996-2003). It featured dance, music, drama and the visual arts from May though October in La Plaza Cultural. I wrote and acted as Project Director for several grants, including the NYFA Community Assets 2000 for the ¡Viva! La Plaza Performance Festival, The 1999 NEAP and MCAF Awards for ARTISTAS DE LOISAIDA for the production of a booklet and multi-media presentation on the history of community managed open green space in New York City, and The NEAP2000 award for the New 600 BC E. 9th Street Block & Neighborhood Association Public Forum on Ground Water and Construction-its impact on housing in the Lower East Side. All of these projects involved a blending of special talents of artists-writers, graphic designers, gardeners, painters, editors, photographers, and musicians to create unique documentaries that point to need to preserve and protect our natural environment.

ARTISTAS DE LOISAIDA was a creation of mine along with two friends; Robert Slaughter and Mario Bustamante -we mounted our first show in May of 1995 in conjunction with EARTH CELEBRATIONS’ The Rites of Spring Pageant to show the work of artists of the gardens. I have continued to organize the ART LOISAIDA shows as well as show my photographs and to seek funding with a variety of different arts organizations over the past ten years. As of May 2008 ARTISTAS DE LOISIADA was incorporated as a New York State nonprofit under the name of ART LOISAIDA FOUNDATION. I am Artistic Director and Treasurer of the organization.

My photographs have been shown in all thirteen of the ARTISTAS DE LOISIADA shows, Henry Street Settlement, Times Square gallery and three St. Brigid Auctions as well as in solo shows at Planet One Café, Tompkins Square Library. My work has been published in The Villager, City, THE THIN GREEN LINE, VIVA LA PLAZA, and examples of my work may be seen here and on Face Book. I served on the jury panel for the Lincoln Center family shows from 2000-03 and was judge of the Council House Art Show in Staten Island June 2007 and 2009.

Curatorial Experience:

Art Loisaida Foundation Howl Festival Show @ Theater for the New City 2008

Theater for the New City’s Lower East Side Festival of the Arts Exhibit May 20th-June 30th, 2009

Art LoisaIda Howl Festival- September, 2009.

Theater for the New City Lower East Side Festival of the Arts 2010

“Home _ Screening, Tompkins Square Library, December 2009

“Viva Loisaida” screening, 11 BC Garden September 2010

Theater for the New City,-ArtLoisiada Foundation Preservation Exhibit November 2010

EDUCATION:

Milano Graduate School for Management and Urban Policy with a concentration in Nonprofit Management, New School, MS in May, 2006.

NYU-PSCE- Fine & Decorative Arts Certificate University of Alabama- BA

I work as a freelance development consultant for several local nonprofits dealing with music, dance and the visual arts as well as serve on Manhattan Community Board #3 (Parks & Recreation Committee & Arts & Culture Task Force) and The Lower East Side Preservation Initiative., and chair the Landmarks subcommittee as well as the 9BC Tompkins Sq. Block Association and the Lower East Side Performing Arts, Inc. boards

WORKS: prints upon request

CONTACT: Carolyn Ratcliffe Tel # (212-)674-4057