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A CLEVER LIFEC R E A T I N G L O V E & E Q U I T Y T H R O U G H V O I C E S ,E D U C A T I O N , & R E F L E C T I O NAUG 2021 | ISSUE 1LILLIAN SIXT &TAYLOR GREENEYOUTH ART & THE DIVERSITYWITHINMEET OURCHAIRWHAT ISC.L.E.V.E.R.?KEHINDE WILEY &SHANTELL MARTIN

TRUTH ISSOMETIMESPAINFUL, BUTWITHOUT IT,WE'LL NEVERGROW.STEPHANIE KLINE, CEO:

0407081415182021What is C.L.E.V.E.R.?Meet Our ChairYouth In ArtAugust Artist SpotlightShantell MartinKehinde WileyYouth In FilmYouth LGBTQIA+ Group

The founder and CEO, StephanieKline birthed C.L.E.V.E.R. in itsinfancy, years ago when she becamefrustrated with the lack of outlets toassist and help in the areas of socialjustice and community growth thatshe was most passionate about. C.L.E.V.E.R., since its inception, beenbold in it's roots. We don't care aboutmixing messages, or branding. Wecare about helping in the areas weknow the best. Therefore, CLEVER'sthree main pillars will not forever be just Youth LGBTQIA+ initiatives,Literacy, and Youth in Film, but willalso expand as we reach others, andothers reach us. The world is ahurting, and hate is too bountiful toignore. C.L.E.V.E.R. hopes to givesome love, send it out, and watch itflourish and grow, all while educatinganyone we can.Though most of the current projectsare focused within North Carolina atthe moment, C.L.E.V.E.R. looks toexpand and partner with . Mission: C.L.E.V.E.R.'smission is to create anequitable societythrough our threepillars: YouthLGBTQIA+ Initiatives,Literacy For All, andYouth in Film.WHAT ISC.L.E.V.E.R.?

communities and organizations across the UnitedStates and beyond. The more we reach, the morewe can help. Our current projects are helping us to dust offour shoulders after a long hibernation fromCOVID. While the pandemic continues to changethe way we reach people, we cannot let it stop usfrom doing so any longer. So, we're gettingcreative. Though the enormous CLEVER Con that we hadplanned for October was canceled for this year,we still have to reach our fundraising goals. Inorder to give our next year projects thefoundation they need, our fundraising goal for2021 is $10,000! So, instead of CLEVER Con, we're going to bedoing a succession of smaller fundraisers and weneed your help. The two biggest areas we needassistance are donations and volunteers! Its okayif you can't volunteer in person, there are plentyof things you can do right where you are. Use one (or MORE!) of the QR Codes to the right,and help us make our goals and create someamazing programs in 2022, including:-Business and Formal Closet -Youth Film Festival-Growing Our Youth LGBTQ+ Groups-Our Online Every Day Closet (Forthose who feel more comfortableshopping for clothing from the comfortand safety of their home, withoutjudgement).-Literacy Story Hours With LocalQueens and Kings-CLEVER Con 2022

Each month A CLEVER Life will showcase one of ouramazing Board Members, so you can get to know us,on a more personal level. This month, we celebrateBai Rosa, C.L.E.V.E.R.'s Chair of the Board." Hey there! Thanks for subscribing to A C.L.E.V.E.R.Life! We are so excited to have you as part of ourcommunity. C.L.E.V.E.R. is about so many things, butif I had to sum it up in one word, that would becommunity. As we grow and learn about each otherand ourselves, we become stronger together. AtC.L.E.V.E.R. we strive to make the world awelcoming, loving place for everyone. We hope youenjoy our monthly magazine, and if you feel soinclined, we would love to have you reach out andvolunteer at any of our upcoming events or just sayhello and let us know a little bit about you. BAIROSAI’ll go first – My name is Bai and I’m the Chair of the Board of Directors at C.L.E.V.E.R. I grew up in a small town in Indiana. I fell in love withtheatre when I was 9 years old and never looked back. The arts welcomed me and my quirks with open arms. I moved to Chicago for college,where I dove headfirst into the queer community. After graduating and working on a few national tours, I moved to NYC to go to grad schooland continue towards my dreams.While I was in NYC, I met this amazing woman named Emily and by our second date, I knew she was the one. I tried not to show it because Ididn’t want to be the crazy person proposing after 2 dates, but within a week of that second date I blurted “I love you” in a room full ofcoworkers and then awkwardly ran away. Fast forward to today, Emily and I are married and living in Mooresville with our 3 cats, Jackie Chan,James Bond, and Bruce Lee, and our puppy, Harrison. I’m so excited to join CLEVER and work to bring love and literacy to everyone around us. Cheers, Bai RosaChair, Board of DirectorsC.L.E.V.E.R."

C.L.E.V.E.R. works, every day, toward creating programs andoutreach that spans all orientations, races, spectrum,identities, and backgrounds. We, just like the world we live in,have a lot of work to do to reach a state of equity for allpeople. One of the core processes we utilize in everything we do, isreflection. Reflection, coupled with education, can open up ourminds to realizations that can be developed, changed, and/orexpounded upon. This month, we decided to showcase two amazing youthartists, Lillian Sixt, and Taylor Greene, who created art piecesthat represent the change and ideas we strive to have inevery area of life. Understanding societalbiases, embracing ourown thoughts andfeelings, and movingtoward changing thatin which createsdivision and hate in ourworld, is the first stepin change. REFLECTION

DIVERSITY &INCLUSION, WHICHARE THE REALGROUNDS FORCREATIVITY, MUSTREMAIN AT THECENTER OF WHAT WEDO.MARCO BIZZARISpeaking on diversity & inclusion at Gucci.

Lilli Sixt

"Equality is something that the world is lacking. Diversity issomething that is all over the world. This art piece is not just 1person but a variety. It is several people or different types andstyles into 1. Everyone is different in their own way. From skincolor to personality to style everyone is different and EVERYONEshould feel welcome. We all are equal even if someone saysotherwise. You are valid and you are equal to everyone. Diversityis what makes us different and special. Without diversity, youwouldn't be you."Lilli Sixt, 10th Grade

HEATHER EDMUNDSSHADES OF LOVE LKNWhat is Shades of LOVE LKN? Shades of Love LKN is a 501(c)3 non-profit communityorganization that was founded in June 2016 to helpbridge together our communities, and our countrythrough action, acceptance, understanding, and LOVE.To state it simply- we work to implement the conceptof being strong, kind, and united as an individual and asa community.The purpose of our organization is to unite as oneregardless of a persons shade of skin, religiousbackground, ethnicity, or anything else that society saysshould divide us.C O M M U N I T Y   S P O T L I G H TWe advocate, educate, and empower communities tobe proactive in partnering with local first responders tocreate and build trust and relationships. Serving as aresource outlet for many community needs, we takepride in giving hope to those without, and workingtowards a better reality for all.From backpack drives, adopting first responders, toserving our homeless and more, we make it a priorityto make everyone in our community feel valued andincluded.

Taylor Greene, 11th Grade "This piece was done as part of an annual summer camp at Pine LakePreparatory in which students take down ceiling tile and decorate them with oilpastel before hanging them back up in classrooms and hallways. Camp directorand 7th grade science teacher Kelly Chappell asked for a tile to be made thatrepresented the value in diversity and empathy. What I illustrated to fill thisprompt was four hands of different racial backgrounds finger-spelling the word“Love” in ASL, with a rainbow border to represent diversity in orientation inaddition to adding some bright colors and filling some white space. The tile iscurrently placed outside the entrance to the high school counselors’ office."

Below the surface of Shantell Martin’s signature black and white drawings is anartists’ inquiry into the role of artist and viewer, where a work of art is morethan an object of admiration disconnected from its inception. With a meditativeprocess defined by an uninhibited flow, her compositions embody her internalstate and the impermanence of the world around her. Exploring themes such asintersectionality, identity, and play, Martin is a cultural facilitator, forging newconnections between fine art, education, design, philosophy, and technology.Photo by Emanuel HahnIn The Studio.Shantell Martin is proud toannounce her participation inYouTube Original's "BlackRenaissance".  The new special is available on theYouTube Originals Channel andshowcases Black creators, artists,writers, storytellers, and historymakers who have shaped ournation’s history; and the nextgeneration of Black voices who arere-imagining our future. The specialalso includes dance, music, fashion,photography, literature,Afrofuturism, and the art of BlackWomen and LGBTQ+ artists. SHANTELLMARTINArticle Taken From Shantell Martin'sPress Kit via her Website

In addition to prestigious solo shows at some of the most renowned art institutions including the 92YGallery in New York City, the iconic Albright Knox Gallery, and the MoCADA Museum, Martin has carved apath for herself that is as much intellectual as a visual artist. During her two year tenure as a MIT MediaLab Visiting Scholar, Martin collaborated with the social computing group to use drawing as a medium toexplore the interaction of social processes with physical spaces. At the Brown Institute for MediaInnovation, Martin created a large scale wall installation and worked with the Institute’s research group toexplore how visual and computerized storytelling might influence media and technology innovation. A fashion and design icon in her own right, Martin has collaborated with iconic brands such as Nike, Vitra,Max Mara, Tiffany & Co., and in 2018, Puma launched a global capsule collection featuring her drawings.Martin has collaborated with legendary artists such as Pulitzer Prize-winning performance artist KendrickLamar and acclaimed designer Kelly Wearstler. In late 2018, she was asked to collaborate with theprestigious New York City Ballet, where she created large scale drawings in the performance hall and foyerof the Lincoln Center for the company’s celebrated Art Series. She continues to teach as an adjunctprofessor at NYU Tisch ITP (InteractiveTelecommunications Program), where she works with her studentsto push the boundaries of storytelling, visual art, and technology. Photo by Emanuel Hahn Lincoln Center New York City BalletPhoto by Steven SimoneWTC The OculusFollow Shantell Martin@Shantell_MartinShantellMartin.artStudio@ShantellMartin.com

By applying the visual vocabulary and conventions of glorification, history,wealth and prestige to the subject matter drawn from the urban fabric, thesubjects and stylistic references for his paintings are juxtaposed inversions ofeach other, forcing ambiguity and provocative perplexity to pervade hisimagery.Wiley’s larger than life figures disturb and interrupt tropes of portrait painting,often blurring the boundaries between traditional and contemporary modes ofrepresentation and the critical portrayal of masculinity and physicality as itpertains to the view of black and brown young men.Photo From Kehinde Wiley Facebook.Los Angeles native and NewYork based visual artist,Kehinde Wiley has firmlysituated himself within arthistory’s portrait paintingtradition. As a contemporarydescendant of a long line ofportraitists, includingReynolds, Gainsborough,Titian, Ingres, among others,Wiley, engages the signs andvisual rhetoric of the heroic,powerful, majestic and thesublime in his representationof urban, black and brown menfound throughout the world. KEHINDEWILEYArticle Reposted From Kehinde Wiley'sWebsite :http://kehindewiley.com/about/.

Follow Kehinde Wiley@kehindewileyart@kehindewileyhttp://kehindewiley.com/Initially, Wiley’s portraits were based on photographs taken of young men found on the streets of Harlem. Ashis practice grew, his eye led him toward an international view, including models found in urban landscapesthroughout the world – such as Mumbai, Senegal, Dakar and Rio de Janeiro, among others – accumulating to avast body of work called, “The World Stage.”The models, dressed in their everyday clothing most of which are based on the notion of far-reaching Westernideals of style, are asked to assume poses found in paintings or sculptures representative of the history oftheir surroundings. This juxtaposition of the “old” inherited by the “new” – who often have no visual inheritanceof which to speak – immediately provides a discourse that is at once visceral and cerebral in scope.Without shying away from the complicated socio-political histories relevant to the world, Wiley’s figurativepaintings and sculptures “quote historical sources and position young black men within the field of power.” Hisheroic paintings evoke a modern style instilling a unique and contemporary manner, awakening complex issuesthat many would prefer remain mute.Photo Via Kehinde Wiley FacebookPhoto by Robert WedemeyerVia Kehinde Wiley Facebook.Photo Via Kehinde Wiley Website

A CLEVER LIFEC R E A T I N G L O V E & E Q U I T Y T H R O U G H V O I C E S ,E D U C A T I O N , & R E F L E C T I O NSeptemberTHE AMAZING WORLDOF DRAG!!STAY TUNED!STAY TUNED!