Accessibility Through the Trees: Spring Art Installation at the Chamber

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ositive Street Art’s mission is to inspire a passion for the urban arts in a productive way and to build strong communities through educational workshops, community events, and artistic services.  The Greater Manchester Chamber has partnered with Positive Street Art to curate a satellite gallery featuring a myriad of diverse artists, as a step in ensuring a more inclusive and desirable future for New Hampshire. You’ll continue to see rotating art installations in the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Boardroom at the Greater Manchester Chamber, located at 54 Hanover Street, Manchester, over the course of the next year.

Spring Gallery & Opening Reception for “Accessibility Through the Trees”

The show will run through April – June, with an opening reception on Thursday, April 18th, 2024 from 5-7 PM at the Greater Manchester Chamber, 54 Hanover Street, Manchester. All are welcome.

In the heart of historic Manchester, the Positive Street Art Gallery provides the perfect backdrop for an evening dedicated to the celebration of art and culture. Mingle with fellow art enthusiasts, enjoy light refreshments, and indulge in this season’s installation where we look at what accessibility means to the natural aesthetic, and to Manchester itself, feel and look like to those with physical and financial disabilities.

At the opening reception on 4/18,  Yasamin Safarzadeh, an esteemed artist from Positive Street Art, will lead in an arts build to engage more expressive and creative means the impetus of the show.

More about the Spring Gallery!

In this season’s installation, we look at what accessibility to the natural aesthetic and to Manchester itself feel and look like to people with physical and financial disabilities. The word accessible is often looked at as an additive to the ‘DEI’ intentions of organizational shifts into being more inclusive. With these artists, we take a critical lens to the throwaway ‘A.’ Is the city of Manchester looking at all of its people when thinking about  face lifts? Does the city of Manchester pay equal attention to all of its neighborhoods when it clears sidewalks of snow and debris? Do all of our state’s students get equal access to nature? Do our community members only access nature through the screen of the pocket computer? These are the questions we have been thinking about as we install and gingerly handle the works Richella and Amber Nicole have created, while thinking about both physical and existential access to the natural aesthetic.

Satellite Gallery Hours & Viewing

The Positive Street Art Gallery at the Greater Manchester Chamber, located in the Daily Mirror Office Building on 54 Hanover St,  is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9AM-4PM. The gallery is located inside of the GMC’s Harvard Pilgrim Health Care (HPHC) Board Room, which is sometimes rented out by private groups. Individuals are invited to view the installation and purchase original prints either outright or through payment installations with no interest, although it is recommended you contact the GMC to ensure access to the HPHC Boardroom and Satellite Gallery during the time you plan to visit. Call (603) 792-4120 and chat with the GMC’s Office and Program Coordinator, Lauren Clark.

Featured Artists
Richella Simard:  Richella is a contemporary photographic artist working in Concord, New Hampshire. She is an art educator at Manchester High School West in Manchester, NH teaching interdisciplinary arts and community engagement. Richella is an avid outdoors person and her recent work incorporates a reflection of her vision and connection to the natural world. She primarily is a film photographer, creating work that uses film in both traditional practice as well as challenging the medium. She uses a medium format camera, 35mm and a 4×5 view camera to create her images. Her compositions convey the relationship between the natural and contrived environment always infused by the presence of humanity. Richella has moved on to explore many ways photography can be portrayed.

Amber Nicole Cannan: Amber Nicole is an entrepreneur, a biomedical artist, science communicator, art teacher and general community builder. She serves on Manchester City’s Highway Commission advocating for accessible sidewalks and bike lanes. She has a strong background in science and anatomy from Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Institute of Art’s Biomedical Art program. This scientific background helps her connect with “nontraditional” thinkers. Amber Nicole Cannan officially founded Unchartered Tutoring, LLC in August of 2016 after running a number of private education sessions incorporating art and science together. Her art work focuses around community, disability, science and educatio