by Eva Dameron
Daily Lobo
OFF Center is a community art studio where anyone can come in and make art.
It is geared toward people with low or no income, because they are usually the ones lacking resources.
"We're trying to make sure there's space for people who may not have access to materials or to a space," said founder Janis Timm-Bottos. "They can make their art and then choose to take it with them or sell it in our shop."
Timm-Bottos said she was in art therapy school in 1994 when she was invited to work with an art therapy group at an emergency homeless shelter.
"We did this absolutely incredible project," she said. "It developed into people getting together making art. We decided we needed places like that - for people to not just be diagnosed or fixed or changed but a place to share across the table with materials. It's so simple."
She said homeless people get held down in the stereotype of poverty and it is hard for them to move forward. Instead of taking a social service ideal, she wanted to make the issue mainstream and help people get into some ideas about economic development for themselves, she said.
This philosophy eventually led her to establish OFF Center four years ago.
"People come here to make art," she said. "What happens is over a period of 10 years, which is how long we've been doing this, a community is built."
OFF Center is hosting the third annual Folk Art Festival at Robinson Park on Aug. 13 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., immediately following Saturday morning's Downtown Grower's Market.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
"There aren't enough places in Albuquerque that celebrate the art made by the people," Timm-Bottos said.
"We have trained artists and that's wonderful - we have venues for them, and galleries and museums. But people who make art in their homes, just to make their lives better, that don't ever show their work, that's who we are trying to target."
Harvey Kirschner has been coming to OFF Center for six months. He will be selling assemblage shadow boxes, origami collage cards, and candleholders at the festival.
Toni Adair-Harris, who suffers from depression, is an OFF Center veteran of three years. She will be selling her art at the festival.
"It's the best thing that ever happened to me," she said. "People treat each other well. Everybody who hangs out here is different. Some people, you'd look at them and think they're not talented at anything, but then they sit down and draw beautiful portraits."
Timm-Bottos said there will be more than 80 art vendors and she expects more than 1,500 people to show up. Besides vendors, people can expect to see poets from the National Poetry Slam perform on one of the three stage areas, a big parade led by samba dancers, two tents for art-making, a few restaurants selling food, and a fashion show.
Timm-Bottos said last year, flamenco dancers showed up with their own floor and started dancing.
"We loved that," she said." We want more of that. We want spontaneous acts of art."
