Where Baltimore Artists, Residents and Businesses Intersect - Art of Home Growing up in inner city North Minneapolis, Andrew Zientek understood that art was absent from the daily lives of his underprivileged friends and neighbors. Zientek pursued fine art to the graduate level, but abandoned UMASS Dartmouth program when he became dissatisfied with other artists’ disconnect to the outside world and their seeming lack of social responsibility. Inspired by the words of a professor and drawing from his own life experiences, the artist moved to Baltimore and founded Art of Home.

Art of Home is a unique non-profit that ‘seeks to introduce, through the use of art, other ways of seeing the world to low income families while providing shelter and physical comfort.’ Art of Home purchases shells of homes in low-income areas and rehabs them with the help of Baltimore-based artists. Art materials are provided by Zientek and thru an on-line and in-person portfolio selection process, chosen artists are given creative freedom to design one-of-a-kind projects that suit the individual spaces. The finished houses are then offered to low-income families in the area.

Currently, Zientek is soliciting Baltimore-based businesses for corporate sponsorship. As always, Zientek states, “finding talented artists in Baltimore who understand the importance of participating in a project like this is the easy part – it’s encouraging companies to step forward in support of the idea that’s more difficult. Art of Home has the potential to unite groups which are currently isolated from each other, but it requires cooperation from all.

For more information on Art of Home: www.artofhome.org.

Labels: Art, Baltimore

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