Song: The Continuous Line of Life Series
Year: 2013
Viewed: 27 - Published at: 2 years ago

The Continuous Line of Life Series is a large-scale participatory public art platform created by Ernest M. English in 2013. English is an American artist from New Orleans, Louisiana. He has shown his work in major US cities including New Orleans, New York City, and Boston. He currently is a fellow at the MIT Community Innovators Lab in Cambridge, MA

For the Line Series, English prepares large canvasses, designing intricate, segmented, abstract grid-like patterns and assigning each space in that grid a number. The canvas is then hung in a public space, and the public is invited to color in the spaces. The result is not only the beautiful, complex and meticulously designed piece, but also the cultivation of an atmosphere of co-design and sharing in the community in which the piece was completed. English has developed five pieces in the series so far. The video below is a useful introduction to the goals of English's project. This page is the living resource on The Continuous Line of Life Series.

Video timeline:



00:09 "The reason we are doing this is to show people the power they have both artistically and socially."

00:33 "We are just going to put the art piece up. Although I kinda look like an artist with the hat and all, I'm just going to pretend I don't know how it got there, and the markers were just a gift from God dropped down from the heavens, and we just started coloring away."

1:22 "I'm enjoying this color. It's like melted butter. It's almost a sensual experience to color this in. I did dark blue before, but this light yellow is much more satisfying."

2:14 "When the bomb went off in Boston, I was actually walking on Newbury Street."

2:47 "People seem really invested in this and they are staying for awhile and that's really cool."

3:22 "One of my favorite sayings is 'adversity is a courtesy for those who care to grow,' and I feel like when communities, all over the world for that matter, are presented with hardships it really is a chance for them to come together and make something better happen."

( Ernest M. English )
www.ChordsAZ.com

TAGS :