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Ellen's Work Blog

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Ellen’s Work Blog
June 2023

On most days over the last eight months I have spent some of my time at work positioning 10,000 watches face up on 28 yards of aluminum wire mesh, immersing them, section by section, in polymer, 19 gallons total. On Wednesday, May 24, John Jacquier, Don Breslauer, and Justin Truskauskas met me at AMP to install this mother-load of watches on the concrete block and brick walls surrounding the elevator shaft in the mural building. Like some kind of Dr. Seuss creature wrapping itself around the elevator and up the stairs, the last section was installed on the third level about 10 feet from the roof. I will spare you the full description of how John, Justin, and Don got that last one up there.

As projects go, I have to be honest and describe it as one of the most tedious creative pieces I have ever done. Yet every time I put my knee pads on, started pulling the watches out in massive piles and, one by one, finding a perfect fit, a sweet juxtaposition, there was this momentary sense of accomplishment. Every watch belonged to a person who gave their time to help someone else. And every night when I got up to leave the studio, the pile of completed watches growing, I thought of the cumulative effect of all that help. At heart, we are still a country of people who want to give back. Sadly, in today’s world, it doesn’t make the front page.

At AMP, it does. 

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Art at Work: Education

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Art at Work: Education
May 3, 2023

A full hour on a bus with 10-year-olds and commuter traffic couldn’t keep McKinley Elementary from visiting AMP. After students toured the exhibit, they had some big ideas on what they would do if given a factory building.... metal shop... soca music space... roller-coaster restaurant. Another fun and creative field trip in the books!

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Art at Work: Education

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Art at Work: Education
March 9, 2023

Another great school visit, this time with students from Botelle Elementary School and Colebrook Consolidated School. After a tour of the exhibit, kids worked on a fun architectural project, imagining what they would do if they were given a factory building similar to AMP to adapt into their own big ideas. Dream home? Community center? Clinic? Cat coffee shop?

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Art at Work: Education

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Art at Work: Education
March 8, 2023

We had a fantastic day with seventh graders from Roger Ludlowe Middle School. There is nothing better than having 60 students in our space, asking questions about the mural and working on their own art project. For part of the Ludlowe project, students painted rocks with giant eyes and found secret places to tuck them in our outdoor program space. We can’t wait for our summer campers to discover these big-eyed rocks staring back at them.

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Ellen's Work Blog

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Ellen’s Work Blog
March 2023

I am halfway through assembling more than 10,000 watches as we head into March. I can see the finish before we get to spring. As I continue to lay them out, my mind wanders. There are so many stories here—these watch donations span decades. Here is an unorthodox medium that is turning into an amazing art assembly, and a great symbol of collaboration. Once we get this installed, the overall effect is going to be something very special.

Also special is our new series of music events in the mural building—and I am psyched. Mark Saturday, April 1 on your calendar. You do not want to miss this. I have been listening to the KC Sisters as I work in the studio and it brings back memories of growing up and singing with my sisters, Carroll, our alto, and Judy and I, who were first and second sopranos. How much fun it was as siblings to create harmony together, and the KC sisters take this to a whole new level. Add one of our favorite female vocalists, Theresa Thomason, singing Motown and gospel and, together, these women are going to bring down the house.

That’s a promise. Reserve your tickets now.

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Moving In: Installation

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Moving In: Installation
February 20, 2023

Just a few hundred watches heading over to the mill today. No need for straps—this is, no doubt, our heaviest collaborative project. And it's a fraction of the watches to come.

In 2010, AMP partnered with the General Federation of Women's Clubs. GFWC members from across the country donated over 10,000 watches to represent all the time volunteers spend helping others. Ellen is encasing the watches in resin to form a huge watch link running through the ramp gallery.

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Moving In: Installation

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Moving In: Installation
February 3, 2023

Ellen's winter hibernation is over and Justin has moved the circular saw into the back ramp for some serious install work. Together they will pick up where they left off last fall, filling the ‘backstage’ gallery with artwork. Thousands of pieces are waiting to go up, created by all the kids on our AMP collaborative projects across the country.

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Ellen's Work Blog

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Ellen’s Work Blog
February 2023

In my world, February is the last grey, frigid month of winter. Valentine’s Day is two weeks away and I am getting psyched for all the colorful and exciting things to come: the music, the special events, the next steps on the back ramp installing more impossible sections. And, after spending weeks with a glue gun, it’s exciting to think of how 3,000 tongue depressors will look once they are installed overhead.

There is nothing I love more than starting a day with ideas that will take me somewhere in the hours ahead, but I have yet to understand how it will all end. Some of the most exciting things happen when you don’t know, at the offset, the exact conclusion.

Welcome to 2023. How cool will it be!?!

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AMPed UP

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AMPed UP
January 23, 2023

We’re so excited! The History Channel/A&E Network recently featured the American Mural Project on HISTORYTalks, a special event highlighting trailblazers, global leaders, and change makers. Senator Chris Murphy recommended AMP for this honor. The film crew who visited AMP approached a tough assignment of telling our 22-year story in three minutes, and they did it with incredible originality and talent. And, no surprise, Senator Murphy’s introduction makes the piece. You will love this. Please share with friends.

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Ellen's Work Blog

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Ellen’s Work Blog
January 2023

2022 will go down as a memorable AMP year in every respect for all of us on staff, all our volunteers, and all our kids in every program. From the moment we received our certificate of occupancy for all three levels of the main building in June, there has not been a dull moment in the tremendous space. We have gone way over our visitor projections for the first six months we have been open on the weekends, and we had full sessions for all our programs this summer. We continue to welcome all the kids in our CHAMPS after-school programs during the school year.  

Since we are always looking ahead at possibilities, we have spent the last two months of 2022 planning for new events in 2023. Since we are sitting on an acoustical wonder—the mural building—our first step has been to plan with our music talent team some exciting weekend concerts. From our first big event in 2020 with Paul Winter, Theresa Thomason, and Joel Martin to last fall’s gala with Gabriel Löfvall, Sandra Boynton, and Chorus Angelicus, we have been blown away by the sound of music in the mural building. Since standing ovations are a given at the end of these events, it’s a no-brainer to schedule more of this at AMP. And there is no limit—Gospel, Motown, jazz, classical, and rock—we are planning for all of it. Keep checking on our site and social media for schedules of upcoming concert dates. We want to pack the place. We are also planning special film screenings and documentaries with guest speakers, many of them subjects in the mural, as well as Thursday night jam sessions. And more, more, more programs for kids. 

None of this could be happening if it were not for your continued AMAZING support—not just for everything we do but for everything we look ahead to do in the future.

I see 2023 as breaking all kinds of attendance records at AMP and I am not crazy. I know you are all with us and want more activities at AMP as much as we do.

The possibilities are endless and impossible is nothing!!!

 
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AMP just featured in Freakonomics Podcast!
Listen to episode 605: What Do People Do All Day?

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