Archive: Around Town

Jeffrey R shadowing Challenge's Contract Cleaning crews at Tompkins Cortland Community College
Two pieces of art by Ithaca resident and Challenge Workforce Solutions participant Jeffrey R. were selected for a juried exhibition at Arts Unbound in Orange, New Jersey last month—and one piece sold on opening night.

The show, entitled No Shame In My Game, "highlighted the achievements of black artists while bringing attention to the issues around disability in the black community." Founded in 2000, Arts Unbound is an art gallery and studio dedicated to the artistic achievement of people living with disabilities and to the continuing artistic enrichment of seniors.

Celene Ryan, their Director of Artist Development, previously worked with self-taught artists with special needs at the American Folk Art Museum and the Ricco/Maresca Gallery in New York City; she proclaimed Jeffrey's work "really wonderful."

Jeffrey was born in Atlanta in 1964 but has only been making art for the last seven years. A recurring subject is vintage album covers, which he reimagines with an offbeat pop sensibility. Jeffrey's monochrome rendering of a Duran Duran LP was included in A Moment of Recognition: Art by Challenge Participants and Staff at the Hilton Garden Inn Ithaca late last year. His contributions to the Arts Unbound show commemorated Elton John and Atlantic Starr, the latter of which was quickly snatched up by an undisclosed buyer to become his first official art sale.

When he's not making art, Jeffrey has been taking part in a variety of community-based prevocational work and volunteer experiences through Challenge, including stints with New York State Parks, Tompkins Cortland Community College, the ReUse Center, Recycle Tompkins, and Women Swimmin' for Hospicare.

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