Friday, April 17, 2015

Unraveling and Coming Together

Caritas Village is exciting about having the pleasure of displaying the artwork of Angela Myers and Dawn Kimble. The two artist worked together to create the exhibit “Unraveling and Coming Together”. After the “Unraveling and Coming Together” opening, I got the chance to get to know Angel better, learning more about her gifts and inspirations. Angela Myers is a born Memphian that is well plugged into the community and its outreach. Angela is a University of Memphis Alum with a Bachelor’s of Art in Psychology. Since, she has developed her talents in other ways, one of her main focuses being her art.

Angela, how long have you been painting?
I started painting when I was about 10 years old, but didn't take it seriously until I was an adult.


What does art mean to you? Is it spiritual expression? Is it connected to your childhood?
Art is a part of who I am as a person and yes, it is absolutely spiritual for me. It is one of the ways in which I connect with God. I paint for Him. Everything I produced has a reason behind it be it an expression of a future life, to help heal somebody's heart, or just to bring joy. This particular set of work does not necessarily connect with my childhood, but it connects with many of the children that I used to teach.

I love to paint and I express myself with color. In most of my work colors have meaning and I use them to express emotion [of the piece]. Much of my abstract works is bright and exciting because that's the emotion that I hope to convey. One thing I will say, I have [learned to] stopped painting for people. I have finally reached the place in my artistic career where I paint for me. I paint what I like and I paint what I feel and whoever likes it, great, and if they don't like it, great. As long as God likes it, I'm good.

How did you get involved with Caritas?
I was approached by Carl E. Moore [,
local Memphis artist and serving Board President at Caritas Village,] a few years ago and he asked me if I wanted to do a show at Caritas. He said that he had been following my work and its progression; I was pretty excited and honored to be involved with such an awesome place like Caritas.

What does it mean to have a space like Caritas Village to display your work?
It means being able to share the gift that I believe God has given me with the community I support and live in. Caritas is a great place where people get to come together and talk and share and connect.

Let’s talk more about your choices for the exhibit, what was your theme for your pieces?
I was focusing on the connections we have with each other. There are so many different kinds of relationships and I wanted to make sure the captured the essence of how we relate in then all: marriage, singleness, and family.

Overall, how do u feel the event went?
I feel that it went pretty well. Both I and [Dawn Kimble] had quite a bit of family support and people seem to receive the pieces quite well. We even had the opportunity to explain our work and share ideas and thoughts behind why we created the different pieces.



The “Unraveling and Coming Together” exhibit is still on display at the Caritas and prints of both Dawn Kimble and Angela Myers work are for sale, and some original! Bring a friend to look at some great art and share a meal from the Caritas kitchen!

There are many events to come, so keep updated by subscribing to the blog and liking out Facebook Page!

Interview Written by
Gennine

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Fill The Need: English Classes at Caritas

Caritas Village is not just a cafe or a temporary clinic or a community center.

Caritas Village is a place where ideas can flourish and people are served. There are not many places that open their doors to provide a where the community has the liberty to develop their gifts through service and fill the needs of the community. For a student from Rhodes University, by the name of Anania Woldetensaye, Caritas Village has provided that space for him.

Through Anania’s interest in Spanish and the sciences, and future interest in attending medical school, he first started out as a volunteer at the free clinics every second, third, and fourth Tuesday of each month as an interpreter. He soon noticed that the patients did not have the basic English knowledge to explain their symptoms to the volunteer doctors of the Compassion Neighborhood Clinic, Inc. (CNC) and wanted to help them be able to have these simple, and private, conversations on their own.

Anania is starting from the ground up with his ESL classes; he is creating his own lesson plans and teaching classes himself every Mondays and Wednesdays from 6:30 to 8:30PM and Saturdays from 10:00 to 11:30AM upstairs at the Caritas Village. Since most of his students come from the CNC nights at Caritas, Anania now there interpreting and passing out ESL fliers, encouraging people to come and learn basic English skills.

Though the classes started out being solely health and healthcare focused, with the growing interest of the students, Anania has also incorporated reading, writing, and other themes of the student’s interest. This has allowed the students to better communicate in work and social environments. However, with these topic additions, there have been some hurdles along the way. One of the main hurdles being understanding as a teacher how to best serve each student individually since all the students are at different levels depending on their exposure to the English language.

This is where you fit in!

As you know, Caritas is made of volunteers just like Anania who want to serve the community in whatever way they can.  There are plenty of opportunities for you to climb aboard and make a difference in your Memphis Community, including teaching and planning alongside Anania in the new ESL Class. If you have or want any experience in ESL lesson planning or just want to be an added conversation partner for a student, please come and attend a evening class Monday, Wednesday at 6:30 pm or the Saturday morning class 10:00 am. There are even opportunities for Spanish learners to use their Spanish speaking skills for clarification and in conversation!

For other news, keep a look out on the Caritas Village website and Facebook page for upcoming events! There is also a volunteer interest box right on the website where Caritas would love to hear about your experiences in the café or other Caritas Events and how you would like to get involved!

Hope to see you soon!



Written by
Gennine