Love My Neighbor®: March 2020

Monday, March 30, 2020

In Isolation - We Are Still A Community!

Thanks to the donations from FoodCycle LA and Trader Joe’s we were able to rapidly bring much needed food to one of the most difficult and notorious neighborhoods of LA county, the “Scottsdale” neighborhood of Carson, the site of our Love My Neighbor public art project.

The food situation was difficult for older people and limited ability folks over there even before the crisis. There is no food store in walking distance. Now we were able to fill the gap when needed most and quickly bring much needed food for the quarantined elderly folks of this long underserved community.

We are bringing food in at night and community activists and security takes them to houses in the morning. We also bring children’s art generated from our program with support messages from kids to lift the spirits of our older neighbors.

Even in home isolation we are still a community! By loving our neighbor we will prevail!

Friday, March 27, 2020

Love My Neighbor 2 Prevail! We Respond to National Emergency

Community fridge stacked with nutritious food for the quarantined elders of the tough “Scottsdale” neighborhood of Carson at the site of our non-profit Artward! Gallery “Scottsdale”. The homebound local elderly and limited ability folks don’t even have a grocery store in walking distance. Think of your safety, of those around you first but if you can - think what you can do for the most at risk group, for our elders and sick. Stay safe. Stay sane. We’ll make it.

We Will Prevail!

Friday, March 6, 2020

Love My Neighbor Public Art Project Is Now An Award-Winning Program!

The Love My Neighbor Public Art Project in the long-undeserved “Scottsdale” neighborhood of the City of Carson was just selected as the winner of the coveted California Park and Recreation Society 2019 Award for Excellence in the important Creating Community category.

It is an amazing and authoritative recognition of the conceptual uniqueness and real world community impact of our program.

The uniqueness of art’s power, the uniqueness of its application within the community in need and the uniqueness of our amazing collaborations are the keys to this success.

The amazing principle collaborators in this project are noted California artist Alexey Steele, the creator of the project, The City of Carson Cultural Arts Commission, The City of Carson City Council, The City of Carson Human Services Department, The Board of Scottsdale Townhouses Association, On Site Community Management, Bank of America's Community Outreach Volunteers of "Better Money Habits" Program, Carson Sheriff's Department Gang Diversion Team (GDT), The 501c(3) non profit Artward Initiative.

Congratulations to the entire amazing Team Carson on this accomplishment!

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"MY NEIGHBORS: Capturing the Soul of America's Diverse City" a series by Alexey Steele

There is a lot of adversity to overcome in today’s world. For me the answer to many difficult questions that we presented with daily is in the simple principle "Love My Neighbor".

Loving one’s neighbor is the foundational building block in the moral fiber of our society. I make my case with ongoing "My Neighbors Series" a collection of portrayals of the people around me in our City of Carson.

Carson is a great city, statistically one of the most diverse in the nation, a community most closely reflecting our World. Carson is great because of its people and the diversity is its most important asset.

I was honored to be awarded The City of Carson Cultural Arts Commission grant for 2015/16 and then again for 2016/17 to continue working on "My Neighbors Series" in collaboration with the City of Carson.

I was also honored to be awarded 2016 and, recently, 2017 additional grants by Wells Fargo Bank.

I am grateful for a long-term support and sponsorship for my cultural outreach programs by Rand Resources, LLC

It is a great privilege to collaborate and coordinate my Carson projects with 501c3 non-profit Artward Initiative.

Art can lift aspirations and give us all an important common ground in today’s divisive times. I believe that as we are continuously exposed to the stream of escalating negative news we need to focus on people in communities that inspire us in positive ways. I take inspiration for this series from my community that overcomes adversity.

Every street and every neighborhood has its own widely loved neighbors. What I want to capture through My Neighbors is the unique, iconic and deeply human qualities that make ordinary people the true bedrock of our communities and who give us something meaningful, true and solid to hold onto in times of trouble, which is especially important in neighborhoods like Scottsdale.

At the kind of times that we live in I want ART to help people fill what I call The Dignity Gap.

I believe that strengthening community bonds by getting to know and love one’s neighbors is an answer to many of the difficult issues facing society today. I hope that My Neighbors will encourage visitors to see their own neighbors from a new perspective and take the message of love for one’s neighbor back to their own streets.

I want to capture people in these painting who you cannot help but love. Through the Love My Neighbor public art project, I want to encourage other people to notice and embrace human beacons in their own neighborhoods.

These are the overlooked heroes of our society.

I also believe in the public nature of ART. In this I am following in the footsteps of my late father, an important Ukrainian artist Leonid Steele and this project is my homage to him.

Just as my father went into remote villages of Ukraine to capture the expression of real people and share it with them, I am following this family tradition to capture in paint the strength, the dignity and the grace at the rock bottom of our society, which is so often the bedrock of our community.

Alexey