Elsewhere Living Museum: Featuring Matthew T. Giddings & Krystal Mack

First Friday is always such an opportunity to meet people in downtown Greensboro and this past Friday we were fortunate to have met Matthew Giddings (left), executive director of Elsewhere Living Living Museum,  and artist-in-residence Krystal Mack.  Matthew hails from South Bend, Indiana; however, most immediately, he was working in a cultural incubator on the south side of Chicago. He has many visionary goals for Elsewhere, the former thrift shop turned museum on South Elm Street. Matthew has collaborative projects in the works with Guilford County Schools. Also, he is working to establish an in- residency program for entire families to live at Elsewhere where all members of the family will be artists in residence- even if the family has young children. Matthew is working diligently to ensure that access to programs at the museum is equitable and for resident artists to be paid, as opposed to their paying for opportunities to create at the museum. 

As we spoke at length with Matthew on the third floor of the museum, he introduced us to Krystal who was sitting just outside the "ghost room", creating one of her great brooms. Krystal is from Baltimore, MD. Making brooms was one of the ways she coped with the pandemic. In the above photo, you can see some of the smaller brooms she created. The booms are part of a mixed media piece is called "Broom Closet". Based on the artist's statement beside Mack's piece, the whisk brooms represent restoration and meditation. Mack explains the making of brooms requires a meditative focus that helped her cope with the pandemic. In addition to making brooms, Krystal is a writer, an award winning, self-taught baker, and a creative consultant. We were delighted to have had the opportunity to meet her.

Elsewhere Living Museum is transforming before our eyes and is finding its stride as a place with something for everybody. We encourage you to consider joining. On their website,  they offer some great food for thought, "When we invest in Elsewhere, we bring collaborative futures to life."  Collaboration is connection, something we all seem to be craving, post-pandemic.

Happy Monday!

Comments

[William Kendall]

Thanks for profiling them.