A COMMUNITY-BASED PROJECT
The artistic expression of how belonging to a community is as essential as breathing.
I envisioned the Doors project as a way to engage people from all walks of life, and from countless personal journeys, to contribute expressions in a common theme. Perhaps it's the anguish of being excluded; perhaps it's the triumph of will to overcome addiction; perhaps it's the growth each of us achieves by recognizing what may be bad in the world, but by the same token, embracing the best qualities in the heights of the human spirit.
When the project is complete, there will be a number of doors (as of the exhibition opening, there are at ten). As the project has developed its own inertia, as new groups of people became involved, new themes in the human experience emerged, and it was easy to say, "...let's do a door for that one."
As doors are the manifestation of an entry point, a gateway, an ending or a beginning, they will be displayed in three-dimensional space, hopefully illustrating the bonding components of "within" and "without." Each door represents a different community with its own common themes, issues, challenges and triumphs. The two sides of each door represent the experiences and feelings of being outside or excluded from the community, and then being inside and included in that community. In some cases, I was the lone artist, but in most, my contributions were alongside or secondary to the artistic expressions of the participating members of the respective communities.
The project culminated in a public showing starting May 1, 2015, as part of the Lubbock community's "First Friday Art Trail" and as my M.A.E. Capstone Exhibition. I extend an invitation to all to see the Doors. As you identify your own personal connection in the art, that will be the greatest of honors, for me and all those who soulfully contributed to the project.
Important Footnote: While the ten doors in the current project and exhibit represent literally years of development, this is not the end for the Doors. I will be working in the coming year to invite other communities to offer their expressions on new doors. First will be a door for the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgered, & queer) community, which will take its place as door eleven of the series. I will then branch out from there, and with the spectrum of communities within our society, the possibilities seem almost limitless.
from a painting session - texas tech university, feb 2015
television story/interview
See the news story by the local Channel 34 television station which features David describing the focus of one of the eleven doors in the project.