York College of PA earns NEA funding for workshops held in conjunction with art exhibits

Workshops planned in conjunction with two York College of Pennsylvania art exhibitions earned National Endowment for the Arts grants administered through York's Cultural Alliance. Both events received $2,000 in funding. 

A Combat Paper Workshop for local veterans is planned in conjunction with the exhibition “O Say Can You See,” featured at Marketview Arts, 37 West Philadelphia Street, York, from Nov. 4 through Dec. 17. An opening reception will be held at 5 p.m. on Nov. 4 (First Friday).

Themes of valor and sacrifice, common to Veterans Day events, are complicated by expressions of grief, confusion, anger, and remorse in this exhibition of artwork by combat veterans, whose experiences at war and upon returning home sometimes leave them wondering what it was all for. 

Combat Paper transforms military uniforms into handmade paper. Its founder, Drew Cameron, will come to York and host two days of workshops with local veterans, residents, and students. The workshop will be a community-building experience that allows for an exchange of stories and beliefs between those who have and have not served in the military with the goal of building a deeper, more authentic and multidimensional understanding of military service and warfare than is typical of Veterans Day events.

In addition, an early October printmaking workshop by Drive By Press cofounder Joseph Velasquez also received funding. Offered to middle- and high-school students, York College students, and local community members, the workshop featured the use of a skateboard printing press, which will remain with the College for future use. The event was planned in conjunction with an exhibit titled “Nuestra Tierra (Our Land),” which is open through Oct. 22 in Marketview Arts. Prints made in the York workshop were exhibited adjacent to this exhibition during October’s First Friday reception at Marketview Arts.