This week’s Work of the Week is Furthur by Jeff Nachtigall. Nachtigall’s work draws on a wide range of traditions, and is laden with references to graffiti, pop culture, modernism, architecture and fine art.
About the Artist: Jeff Nachtigall
Jeff Nachtigall is a multidisciplinary artist, curator, activist, and speaker. His curatorial practice focuses on community-based projects that challenge the stereotypes and stigma surrounding those living with special needs. He is equally committed to both artistic excellence and inclusivity, and the artist work that emerges from his participants, as well as the positive impact on their lives, is a testament to this.
While working as the full-time artist-in-residence at an assisted living facility in 2006, Nachtigall developed the Open Studio model for healthcare. This inclusive, non- hierarchal, client-centered strategy challenges the traditional clinical approach of art therapy and pushes the boundaries of the arts in health care. This model has evolved and grown into a community-based practice, engaging marginalized groups throughout North America in art interventions that act as a catalyst for social change.
Nachtigall is also the inventor of the Mobile Painting Device (MPD), an adaptive technology that transforms the wheelchair into a giant paintbrush, giving people living with neurological deficits opportunity to express themselves on a very large scale. The MPD has been used in a number of communities and projects throughout Canada and the United States.