On an August morning, ART 180 looked more like someone’s living room than an art studio. A group of teenagers had made themselves right at home, with their shoes off as they laughed and cracked jokes with one another. The Disney movie “Holes” played quietly on a projector.
The laughing continued as the teens got back into creating their art. While ART 180, an art nonprofit in Jackson Ward, felt like a big sleepover that August morning, many of the teens — though all attended Richmond Public Schools — had met only a few weeks prior. They bonded quickly during the summer over their shared love of art.
Oktoba Gilliam, a 14-year-old sophomore at Armstrong High, misses the laughs the most. Everyone at ART 180 is fun to be around, she said. If your day starts off badly, once you step into ART 180, it always turns around.
The teens were part of the summer 2022 Edward Dean Robinson Artist Residencyat ART 180. The residency …