Flight: Immigrant Awareness Workshop

 The Salina Art Center will feature Biennial Artist Sheri Crider Saturday, April 21 from 2-4pm at the Salina Art Center, 242 S. Santa Fe. Flight: Immigrant Awareness Workshop is a program of the Salina Biennial Exhibition: Contemporary Art from the Mountain Plains Region.

 

The workshop creates an opportunity for participants to assemble a limited release mobile of a migratory bird while gaining a brief introduction to individuals and issues faced by detainees at the Cibola Detention Center in New Mexico. The Northern Wheatear, American Kestrel, and Blue Vireo mirror many of the immigrants country of origin, migratory path and instinct of migration to provide themselves and offspring adequate safety and resources. A large percentage of asylum seekers are from Western and Central Africa, including Senegal, Guinea, the Congo, Angola, and Gambia. Many detainees from Mexico (most of them are not seeking asylum but were picked up by ICE in the US and are now detained) and some from Central America. The Cibola facility is additionally the only detention center in the country with a unit for transgender detainees. Each bird offers an individual narrative that illustrates and personalizes the motivation for those seeking asylum.

 

Crider is a visual artist and owner of Sanitary Tortilla Factory. She sees great possibility in discarded materials, unused spaces, and missed opportunities that inspire her art practice. While maintaining a keen, curious perspective of inquiry, Crider values her community. She says, “my community is vast. My circles are filled with cons, hustlers, academics and hipsters alike.” Originally from Phoenix, AZ, Crider lives and works in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The workshop fee is $25 and persons can register online at www.SalinaArtCenter.org or by calling 785-827-1431.