CMU welcomes laundromat art lecturer

Where’s the place to strike up a conversation on art? Artist Rise Wilson thinks the answer to… Where’s the place to strike up a conversation on art? Artist Rise Wilson thinks the answer to that question is a laundromat. CMU hosts a lecture by Wilson today at 4:30 p.m. An artist and social entrepreneur, Wilson will discuss her Laundromat Project (www.laundromatproject.org), which transforms ordinary laundromats into art houses and discussion halls.

Wilson’s lecture, titled “Innovations in Funding and Access to the Arts,” will feature discussions she’s had with strangers while washing her clothes in two separate New York City laundromats. These discussions dealt with the making and appreciation of art as well as its social backdrop.

Alan Friedman, director of the Institute for Social Innovation, said in a press release, “At one level, Rise Wilson is turning laundromats into places where people gather not only to wash clothes but also to take art classes. Yet the Laundromat Project sees art as so much more than just an amenity or nice touch. Art in this context is a forum and force for social change.”

Yet the Laundromat Project isn’t just for art aficionados. People of all backgrounds and levels of art are welcome to join in on the making of art or the discussions of art in their societies. Wilson hopes to foster social change with her program, devoting all profits into arts programs in her community.

“Before you can make lasting change, you have to know firsthand that there are extraordinary possibilities in even the most mundane and bleak circumstances,” Wilson said in a statement about her work.

This lecture is part of Carnegie Mellon’s Institute for Social Innovation lecture series and is sponsored by the Grable Foundation. The lecture will be held in the Kresge Recital Hall in the College of Fine Arts on CMU’s campus.