ARKVILLE — The Roxbury Arts Group, Catskill Water Discovery Center and Bronx-based interdisciplinary artist Dennis RedMoon Darkeem will host Gathering Waters, a free community celebration centered on water, creativity and environmental stewardship, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 8, at the Catskill Water Discovery Center, 699 County Road 38.
The event will bring together residents from across Delaware County for a day of art, music, storytelling, food and interactive activities that explore the role of water in the region’s communities and landscapes.
The centerpiece of the celebration will be the Community Drops Collective Banner Project, a large-scale public art installation created from dozens of individually decorated “water drops” made by youth, adults, local businesses and community organizations. Participants have been creating the artwork since mid-July through workshops, summer camps and community events, reflecting on water’s significance in their lives and hopes for the future.
Photographer Mark Burnham will document the completed installation and create portraits of participants with their artwork as part of his ongoing Community Portrait Project. The images will be featured on the Roxbury Arts Group website.
The celebration will also feature a performance by Frown Town, a community storytelling circle and presentations by participants in the Camp Feathers in a Notebook: Creative Waves youth program and adult workshops, who will share artwork created during the summer.
The event concludes the Creative Waves initiative, a community arts and environmental engagement program developed by Darkeem in partnership with the Roxbury Arts Group and the Catskill Water Discovery Center. The program includes a summer day camp for youth ages 7 to 17, adult watercolor and mixed-media workshops, and the Community Drops Collective Banner Project, all focused on exploring the cultural, ecological and personal connections people have with water.
Darkeem’s work combines sculpture, photography, mixed media and installation art while examining themes of cultural identity, environmental change and community engagement.
Gathering Waters is free and open to the public.
For more information, visit roxburyartsgroup.org or contact the Roxbury Arts Group at programs@roxburyartsgroup.org.
