Carrie Schneider

A series of workshops in collaboration with James Ciosek in which refugee youth built and decorated their own art bikes. The project culminated in an exhibition at labotanica, an inaugural ride around Emancipation Park, and the participants earning their bikes for keeps and winning a spot in the 2011 Houston Art Car Parade.

We have been having Skype talks between community leaders at Sunblossom and amazing artist activists Htein Lin and Chaw Ei Thein. Read the New York Times article about them at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/13/world/asia/13prisoners.html?_r=1. Inspired by Htein Lin's use of printmaking with his fingers in smuggled paint on prison uniforms, the students made their own works of art. Inspired by Chaw Ei Thein's work using mouthless/voiceless stones to represent political prisoners, the students learned to draw emotions in the face and use art to demonstrate their own freedom of expression.

A collaborative mural composed of drawings by 75 refugee youth from Burma illustrating their old and new homes. The portion on the right with the zig zag road was designed by 12 year old Bawi who won the World Refugee Day poster contest with it.

In collaboration with Naomi Natale and One Million Bones, I hosted a Houston Bonemaking party to protest current genocides, raise money for displaced victims, and raise awareness about the refugee populations living in our city. I developed a way to make skulls from recycled milk jugs (pictured), as well as bones from soap, wax, flowers, plastic bags, paper towel tubes, and newspapers. You can plug into the One Million Bones community by visiting onemillionbones.com

We've done multiple projects including painting, batik, paper mache masks, collage, origami, a field trip to the Houston Museum of Fine Art, and a portrait drawing class taught by accomplished local Karen artist Sar Moo Lay.