Love My Neighbor®: Lantern In The Night

Artward! Gallery is founded by the artist Alexey Steele and operated by Artward Initiative 501c3 non-profit. The gallery is dedicated to showcasing his Love My Neighbor public art project in the City of Carson and organized in the open to the public Scottsdale Townhouses HOA building. Its near-horizon objective is through repeated art live-sessions by Alexey Steele, ongoing showcase of the works of My Neighbors Series and periodic special art events to engage and bring meaningful community-building impact to a “Scottsdale” neighborhood of Carson, serve as a model of how art can be used as effective tool of social action in the similarly difficult urban scenarios across the US.

In the place as important and with such a difficult history as Scottsdale, Carson, the space were the gallery is placed is truly magnificent.

There is something very special about its soaring ceilings with incredible woodwork that reminds the hull of a ship with its keel turned upward and the huge windows. The installation of dimmable lights brought out the remarkable architectural potential of the layout.

Scottsdale has practically no street lights, only clusters of security lights in the alleys, and as we leave the lights in the gallery on it glows through the night as tangible and visible confirmation that change is not only possible, but inevitable in Scottsdale and all other places like it.

Determination that is brought by Hope is achieved one heart at a time.

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

Lantern In The Night

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