A local artist’s memory and legacy is being kept alive with a project called ‘Art Carts’.
Lauren Rosenberg and Donald Wilson randomly bumped into each other at a Mother's Day party. Wilson ended up telling Lauren about an issue that had been brought to his attention.
“Some kind of a way that people that are unhoused could have a way to secure their belongings,” Wilson said.
The municipal court told Donald that they were having trouble with unhoused individuals not showing up. The reason they weren't showing up was because they had no place to store their belongings. So, Donald was looking for a solution to this problem, and Lauren came from a different perspective.
“I, separately from this, was looking for a project to memorialize my husband, who had passed away in 2020.And he was really involved in the cycling community in Las Cruces. He was a sculptor and a performance artist. His name is Bob Hepner,” Rosenberg said.
After brainstorming, they came up with an idea that would help people store their belongings but also commemorate Bob. And that idea was to create 6 carts.
“And my idea was that these carts would be really visible and that professional artists would make them and that people who had the least would have really the best art. And the way that the public could see it was just in motion going through the city," Rosenberg said.
SABA is a graffiti artist. He puts on the Fine Arts Flea Market that happens every first Friday of every month. And this is where he started painting his cart. SABA displayed the cart at the market and let people paint it. He drew a landscape using the people's different drawings.
“Everything has a beginning and an end. So this is kind of that in between thein between the process is the life, we're right now, we're happening, it's creating. So, it's cool to just kind of build with the people and then put it together,” SABA said.
He also knew Bob.
“Nothing ever lasts forever, right? Kind of with this, our good friend passed away, right? So, it's like we got to remember that and how it changed his life and worked with it. And, you know, because I'm an artist, it changed my life,” SABA said.
The question on both Lauren and Donald's mind was how to get the carts out to people. So, they reached out to the city and Community of Hope.
“We sent them videos. We had photos of the carts in progress, and they said, absolutely, we would love to receive these carts,” Rosenberg said.
The outreach team at Community of Hope will choose who will get a cart. Normally, they give out donated luggage and wagons. Nicole Martinez is executive director at Community of Hope.
“I was really excited to hear about this project fora number of reasons. First, it's just amazing when people in our community want to give back to our unhoused neighbors. I think it's really important that we're thinking about the struggles that people go through outside when they don't have ways to store their belongings,” Martinez said.
In Las Cruces, Ordinance 3079, known as a shopping cart ordinance, prohibits people from removing a shopping cart from the retail premises where it is used for shopping purposes. It went into effect August 16th of last year. Enforcement began in October.
“We've seen that people have had a harder time keeping their belongings with them. They tend to then go through donations a lot faster,” Martinez said.
Lauren says her idea has turned into something bigger than expected. She says this type of project shows what the community can do when it comes together.
“Everybody I've worked with has had such a big heart, and they really just love the project. Some of them knew Bob or were friendly with Bob, so they knew his connection to all these different causes and events, and then artists just started making them, and it was kind of extraordinary. The project has just grown and grown and grown, and at this point, we're kind of almost done,” Rosenberg said.
The project has finally wrapped up and to mark the end, the carts were shown at the Fine Arts Flea Market for the community to see. The carts were driven around and parked on stage by Velo Cruces members. They can now be distributed and may be seen around the community.
