Students in Transylvania University’s First Year Ambassador program put the finishing strokes on a community art project that will not only enhance the appearance of local gardens, but give people a place to sit and enjoy them.
These colorful Adirondack chairs are part of a Community Art Cooperative project with professors Kurt Gohde and Kremena Todorova, an artistic duo known around town for their public artworks. The Blue Grass Community Foundation in 2016 put these Transy faculty members in charge of creating the Community Art Cooperative, which is a three-year initiative.
The chairs will be installed in the North Pole Community Garden on North Limestone and the London Ferrell Community Garden on Third Street. “The idea is that the availability of seats will encourage people to spend more time in the gardens and engage with others doing the same,” Todorova said.
This week’s painting session was the final of three. Other participants have included members of the Community Art Cooperative — who are creative people from neighborhoods near Transy — and youths in a Seedleaf summer program.
In addition to painting chairs, students in Transylvania’s First Year Ambassador program have been developing camaraderie though activities like a ropes course and canoeing, and getting better acquainted with the Transylvania and Lexington communities. They are preparing to be peer guides for their classmates.
