This summer, Marwen collaborated with the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) and the City of Chicago’s One Summer Chicago (OSC) Program as part of a 5-week paid virtual internship. One hundred high-school interns (22 from Marwen) participated in a robust 100% telework enrichment experience that included work experience, professional development, and mentorship from transportation industry leaders.
This year, CTA expanded the program model from STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) to STEAM to embrace the arts! Marwen was a Power Partner (along with Joffrey Ballet Community Engagement), and hosted a cohort of interns to produce special CTA curated projects. On August 6, Marwen interns showcased their interpretation of the theme Ride to Resilience through visual arts that was shared with their fellow interns and CTA employees.
Marwen young people worked closely with teaching artists to develop individual artistic responses to the theme. Their projects span a variety of mediums and genres, from drawing, illustration, and print making to painting, photography, and fiber arts. Each young person proposed their project based on collaboration and conversation with peers and a teaching artist mentor and created their piece in three weeks.
“Working with these 22 young artists this summer has been absolutely incredible," shared Jared Bellot, Marwen's Manager of Culture & Access. "Despite the limitations of our virtual studio and inability to be together in a physical space, this cohort brought their passion, dedication, and brilliance to the entire process. The breadth of work they created -- illustrations, paintings, screen prints, pop up books -- is truly inspiring, as are their thoughtful responses to this summer’s theme Ride to Resilience. I am so proud of this cohort, the art they created, the conversations we had, and the community built.”
The cohort was led by Marwen teaching artists Sage Smith, Elena Sotos, and Victoria Williamson. Marwen's 22 young artists include: Alena Baker, Ashley Velazquez, Carl Holmes, Cyndy Victoria, Daisy Lara, Daniela Rodriguez, Edana Lynch, Hudson Ward, Indigo Smith, Isaac Trusty, Jacob Sobel, Kailiann Cordova, Kaspar Roman, Marilyn Hernandez, Matthew Meza, Mya Cavner, Natalia Sandoval, Osayi Omoregie, Ranya Dano, Sheila Morales, Soleil Zamora, and Swahdreeznya Rosier.
See the completed works below. Scroll over each image to expand.