Photographs by Daya Bonnie Astor on display at the Kirkland Public Library. View open hours.
Featured Artist
- Daya Bonnie Astor, Photographer
More Information About This is My Home, 2016 by Daya Bonnie Astor
Artist’s Statement
“Tent City IV was hosted by the faith community Temple Bnai Torah, Bellevue, in August and September 2016. I received permission from the residents to visit and share art for four Sundays during the camp. My purpose was to provide art supplies so that the residents could create art, connect to their feelings, families, past and engage in a healing process for their future. I believe art gives people a visual voice. Bellevue Reporter staff writer Allison DeAngelis was given permission to accompany me on the third Sunday. I chose to display photographs of the residents of Tent City IV who participated in art projects. Notably many were young mothers, healthy, attractive, and uncertain of their futures. Their faces and goals are no different from the people we meet everyday in the malls, stores, libraries, and streets of Bellevue, Kirkland and beyond.”
About the Artist
Daya Bonnie Astor is an artist and community arts activist. She has conducted workshops and curated shows for special populations including: people with chronic mental illness, disabilities , homeless adults and more.
Her skills as a community health nurse intersect her art activism and she develops and implements programs incorporating art as a healing force. She was a workshop leader at the most recent The Kennedy Center conference about intersections of special education and the value of museums for those with special needs.
Her work has been selected for several non profit organizations such as Project D’vora/Seattle: domestic violence prevention; Mills College/California: fundraising for rape victims in the Congo and for the women of Haiti; NCJW/Seattle for Vagina Monologue production artwork; and Women of Reform Judaism/NY headquarters publishing greeting cards to benefit educational programs.
Daya was born in mid century Brooklyn, New York and resides in suburban Seattle, Washington. She earned a Masters in Studio Art from NYU in 2010. She has been a member of Shift Collaborative Studio, American Alliance of Museums, Artist Trust ,the society for children’s book writers & illustrators and EAFA.
Bellevue Teacher helps ease stress, boredom with Tent City art workshop” by Deangelis, Allison, September 2016, Bellevue Reporter; ( www.bellevuereporter.com/
All artwork displayed at the Kirkland Public Library Satellite Exhibition is for sale as marked by the Kirkland Arts Center.