Love My Neighbor®: Love My Neighbor Curriculum

Love My Neighbor Curriculum is the children and youth educational program that is being developed around Love My Neighbor public art project by Alexey Steele in collaboration with The Rev. Dr. Isaac Caneles, PhD of Mission EbenEzer, Pastor Alton Trimbil of Glory Christian Fellowship International (GCFI) and Athia Carrim, an Interfaith and Education Director of International Institute of Tolerance (IIT). All three are leaders of very influential local faith based groups Rev. Canales representing predominantly Latino community, Pastor Trimbil - predominantly African-American and Athia Carrim – an Islamic Interfaith center.

This envisioned as the pilot educational program with the aim to being expanded.

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The launch of our program with the good friends from IIT on August 12, 2017 was nothing short of amazing and inspiring. It was our first test of concept for how to teach kids of all backgrounds to love ones neighbor whomever that great neighbor happened to be. It worked better than anything we hoped for.

We started with the tour of the gallery when I explained why I started Love My Neighbor project and shared the stories of incredible people that posed for me.

The highlight for the IIT kids, of course, was to see the painting of my good friend and their beloved Imam Ashraf.

After talking about how same values in life are shared by great people of all different backgrounds it was just so special to hear the kids chanting "Cirilo!" and posing in front of his painting just as proudly as they did in front of Imam's.

We then proceed to the next room where 14 art working stations were set up.

I asked if the kids had any great neighbor of their own that they can think of and then asked to paint anything that first came to mind as they thought about that special person. The result of this experiment was spectacular. Everyone described the idea of the special person to whom they are grateful with poignant and convincing precision. There was more true content in the images those kids created, some using the medium of painting for the first time, then many "art shows" much too often being a tiring exercise in proficient pointlessness regardless of the style used.

The first courageous girl to answer the call was Zainab Khan, the youngest in the group, and one by one everyone else, even the skeptical ones, followed suit.

Amazingly, the initially skeptical kids did absolutely fabulous and striking works. Everyone got so much into it that didn't want to stop when the time to go came.

We then had a ceremony of making kids official Love My Neighbor Ambassadors to their own neighborhoods complete with their own badges. One of the requirements was to say thank you to any of their great neighbor.

Our very first Love My Neighbor Ambassador was, of course, the magnificent Zainab Khan.

Our first Ambassadors and remarkable Athia Carrim, the Interfaith and Education Director of International Institute of Tolerance (IIT).

Onward'n'Artward!

"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

Love My Neighbor Curriculum

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