The Awesome Foundation New York is proud to present our latest grant to Kylin O’Brien and her awesome project, the LEGOmandala. Congratulations! Kylin O’Brien is an artist living and working in Brooklyn, NY. Her LEGOmandalas combine the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of creating and ritualistically dismantling ornate sand mandalas with the contemporary medium of LEGO. A meticulous work of art, once complete it is taken apart by a group of adults and children invited to transform it into their own creation. The deconstruction of the piece represents the acceptance of material impermanence. The reconstruction of the LEGO represents the importance of imaginative co-creation and joy in transformative work. LEGOmandala brings people together, raises awareness and gives voice to Tibetan culture in a Western context – making its deep philosophical concepts accessible, contemporary and relevant. View a time-lapse video of a LEGOmandala event on Vimeo.

Artwork by Kateriela Snipes This August the DC Chapter of Awesome was joined by the organizers of Tribal Affairs http://tribalaffairs.tumblr.com/, a local group of arts, fashion, design and culinary students working to support young artists in The District. Tribal Affairs generously donated the proceeds of a recent event as an extra $500 grant to be awarded to a young artist. The winner of this grant was the inspiring Katrieia Snipes, for her arts mentoring project. It is an 8-week, daily after-school program designed to inspire young people to believe in themselves and build confidence in through art. https://apotheekpillen.nl

It was a humid summer night in DC when we were seduced by One Night Stand – the winner of the July grant from Awesome Foundation DC. One Night Stand seeks out vacant lots in the greater Washington DC area and turns them into contemporary art venues for one night. The project team revitalizes the vacant lot, cleans, removes debris and prepares the space for an exhibition that lasts 2-3 hours. Photo with thanks to @PinklineProject The aim of the project is to provide spot exhibitions and involve the community in the transformation of their neighborhood. The project is the brainchild of Randal Scott, and we talked to him about his inspiration for the project: What is One Night Stand all about, what do you do, where is it, who is it for, and when is the next one? In a soundbite…ONS puts contemporary arts exhibitions in vacant lots, unused space or wherever, for one night. ONS was kinda put together on the fly. Traveling back and forth from NY I have lots of time to think and it just came to me (after a long process of looking at way overpriced commercial space in DC) to just throw an exhibition together in a vacant lot. I… read more →