Makeshift Grant Projects

The Downtown Albuquerque Arts & Cultural District is pleased to announce Working Classroom, Helen Atkins, and Working Classroom as the recipients of grant funding for downtown arts projects. These projects highlight emerging artists, promote business in the district, and present easy-to-view artwork downtown.  The grants from the Downtown Albuquerque Arts & Cultural District provide up to $2,500 for installations of artwork from March 2018 – March 2019. This grant opportunity was made possible by support from the Albuquerque Community Foundation.

Helen Atkins is partnering with Patrician Design to feature exhibitions from emerging female visual artists including Jordyn Bernicke, a local ceramic artist, and Kathryne Cyman, who teaches the contemporary tradition of porcelain at the University of New Mexico. Exhibitions also feature Helen’s own work. 

Helen Atkins is an artist and arts instructor from Albuquerque, New Mexico. She graduated from the University of New Mexico in 2016 with her BA in Studio Arts. She is currently Artist in Residence with ArtStreet (a program of Albuquerque Healthcare for the Homeless), a teaching artist with the Harwood Art Center’s Creative Roots Program, the Project Coordinator for Artful Life’s International District Youth Artist Team, and a gallery assistant for Patrician Design.

Local art gallery OT Circus commissioned a mural by local artists Joeseph Arnoux and Lynnette Haozous on their building’s façade at 709 Central Avenue SW. The mural, Original Inhabitants, explores animals and plants that are threatened by the destruction of their habitats. OT Circus is also commissioning local artist Rick “Pappy” Paprocki for a series of sculptures that will be installed in OT Circus.

Working Classroom is partnering with 3 Sisters Kitchen to design and paint a mural in 3 Sisters’ new community space on Gold Avenue, opening August 2018.