The New City Galerie in downtown Burlington held an event last night to showcase the work of three local artists. Corrine Yonce, VAHC’s Americorps VISTA Resident Organizer, had her portraits on display for the show. Some of those portraits are directly related to VAHC’s Voices of Home project. Corrine has been painting residents living in affordable housing, whose interviews we have shared on this site. She is a truly talented artist, and the residents’ stories are captured in their portraits.
In her artist’s talk, Corrine spoke of the process of being able to work not just from a photograph but from her interactions with the residents during their interviews. She talked about how their experiences informed her artistry and the ways in which their stories helped to shape the portraits. The portraits on display featured residents from Decker Towers, 3 Cathedral Square, and Northgate Apartments. The paintings were accompanied by phone numbers that are connected to clips from each of the corresponding interviews, which would not be possible without technical assistance provided by the Vermont Folklife Center. The aim of the phone numbers is to make the Voices of Home interviews accessible to the low-income residents that the project focuses on, who may not have access to a smartphone or internet.
This project is possible because of the generous support of Curtis Lumber, Dick Blick, Burlington City Arts, CVOEO’s Thriving Communities project, and HUD. We congratulate Corrine on her dedication to sharing the stories of low-income residents and on making her art accessible to the people that she serves.
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