Credit: Larry Levanti

Donna Brown, foreground, works with master papermaker Anne McKeown at Rutgers' Brodsky Center. The co-workers manage an exchange program between Rutgers and a Johannesburg art studio that helps bridge the cultural gap between South Africa and the United States.

Donna Brown took a papermaking class at the Brodsky Center for Innovative Print and Paper, part of Rutgers’ Mason Gross School of the Arts, as an undergraduate art student. Her instructor, Anne McKeown, master papermaker for the center, told the students that some South African guests would be joining the class for four weeks – four weeks that would leave a lasting impression on Brown.

Brown knew about the extreme injustices occurring in that country, but had never met a black South African. “Because of the long separation of blacks and whites in South Africa, they were drawn to me,” Brown said. “We spent time working in papermaking during their visit and shared our experiences as blacks from different countries.”

This type of cultural understanding is at the heart of Rutgers’ collaboration with the Artist Proof Studio (APS), a community-based printmaking studio in Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city that has become a resource center and “home studio” for artists from disadvantaged areas.

The Brodsky Center has sponsored eight visiting South African artists who are printmakers, papermakers, and teachers affiliated with APS. “These young artists find that there are bridges that override differences,” McKeown said. “They are able to share their stories about the health crises in their lands and expand in their capacity as artists and advocates. When they return to their home, their experiences in a foreign land influence their actions because they have a deeper knowledge of the similarities and differences among people.”

The APS–Brodsky Center exchange program has been funded by Johnson & Johnson for more than 12 years. Many of the projects created by the artists from both countries are focused on creating awareness around health issues, such as AIDS and teen pregnancy – problems that affect young people in both countries.

Brown, who graduated from Rutgers in 2007, made fast friends with her South African colleagues when they visited her class in 2005. She was so inspired by the program that when McKeown told her she was taking a trip to work on a project in South Africa, Brown knew she had to go. She did her own fundraising in order to accompany McKewon to Johannesburg in February 2007.

McKeown and Brown collaborated with papermakers and printers in South Africa to produce a portfolio of prints that included handmade paper and printing techniques.

“I had a difficult time dealing with the drastic difference between the United States and South Africa,” Brown said. “But I met a lot of amazing people and learned so much about the daily lives of South Africans. Not to sound cliché, but the experience was life changing.” Brown took her involvement a step further: She was hired to work with the Brodsky Center after graduating from Rutgers.

In her new role, Brown is involved in the Brodsky Center’s most recent initiative: introducing North Brunswick High School students to South African artists in order to raise awareness about teen issues in Africa among North Brunswick teenagers, and to broaden their horizons.

In fall 2007, APS selected two artists, Molefe Twala and Motsamai Thabane, to spend six weeks as artists-in-residence at the Brodsky Center. In addition to working on their artistic portfolios, Twala and Thabane spent time with North Brunswick High School students at least once a week, both at the high school and at Mason Gross. The South African artists shared their experiences and helped the students use art to tell their own stories.

“We guided the students toward giving their artwork meaning,” Brown said. “Once we brainstormed about ideas, they were able to translate their ideas into prints. The students gained insight into the lives of people a world away.”

McKeown, who ran the workshop, believes the artwork provided a vehicle to begin a discussion about issues that face all teenagers.

“Unfortunately, most of those similarities revolve around the harsh realities facing teens. Issues like rape, teen pregnancy, drugs, and violence are all too familiar to students in South Africa and North Brunswick,” she said. “For those in South Africa, the AIDS epidemic continues to ravage the middle-aged population, leaving children to raise children.”

The student artwork was displayed at the Mason Gross Galleries in December and January. The exhibition was a testimony to the program’s success, Brown said. “The work is of the highest quality. You can see the integrity and sincerity of the artists.”

Twala and Thabane will take back one print from each of 35 high schoolers to South Africa, where they will be shown at workshops with South African teenagers. “A dialogue will occur as students from the other side of the earth look at others’ images and see the similarities,” McKeown said.

Brown knows firsthand how this kind of dialogue can change a student’s perceptions of the world around them. “I learned that the problems I find so overwhelming are really not that bad when compared to orphaned children who are raising their brothers and sisters – the kind of challenges many South Africans face each day,” Brown said.  “I believe that the North Brunswick high school students took away the same message.”