"When I see brokenness, poverty and crime in inner cities, I also see the enormous potential and readiness for transformation and rebirth. We are creating an art form that comes from the heart and reflects the pain and sorrow of people's lives. It also expresses joy, beauty, and love."--Lily Yeh
Although much has been published about Lily Yeh, "Awakening Creativity" is the first book authored by this internationally beloved artist and social pioneer. Through color photography and Lily's own candor, the book displays the dramatic transformation of a school environment for migrant workers' children--children who otherwise receive no education.
An angel of beauty and hope, Lily engages middle-school students, their teachers, and local elders in converting a barren factory space in Beijing, China, into the Dandelion School's colorful, mosaic-covered youthscape. The book is a testament to crafting joy. It shows, in illustrated detail, how Lily guides a participatory process of artistic expression that uplifts a distressed community and offers an inspiring model for educators around the world.
Lily Yeh is a celebrated artist who has worked with communities in Rwanda, China, Ecuador, Ghana, Kenya, Syria, Italy, and across the United States. She founded Barefoot Artists, a volunteer organization that uses the power of art to revitalize impoverished neighborhoods. Yeh is also the renowned co-founder of The Village of Arts and Humanities that has brought to life over 120 abandoned lots in the most distressed districts of North Philadelphia. She has been given many prestigious awards and five honorary doctorates.
Industry Reviews
"""Creativity is a certain flare of spirit that is truly unlike anything else. Awakening Creativity: Dandelion School Blossoms is a call for social change through creativity from Lily Yeh, as she shares her own drive to make the world a better place through art and tells her story of turning a wasted factory space in Beijing into something that is so much more - the Dandelion school, aimed at the local children to give them inspiration for a better future. With a certain dedication, Awakening Creativity comes with a powerful message that definitely should not be overlooked."" * Midwest Book Review, 2011 *
""Art is in all of us, and the best seek to encourage it in others. Awakening Creativity: Dandelion School Blossoms is a chronicle of author Lily Yeh's journeys, offered as an example for encourage art all over the world. Focusing on her campaign in China, where she got an abandoned factory converted to encourage local middle school students, and helped them find artistic expression. Presented in full color and plenty of example art works throughout, Awakening Creativity is a choice pick for any educational collection dedicated to promoting the arts."" * Midwest Book Review 2012 *
""As a case study, Awakening Creativity is both inspirational and detailed... At every step from concept to completion, Yeh recruits members of the school community, including students, as genuine collaborators in the artistic process. The result is a series of works that reverberate throughout the lives of their co-creators. The art beautifies the campus, but its impact is far deeper: it gives students the skills and the inspiration to be active co-creators of their own lives."" -- Joseph Hart * Public Art Review *
""Yeh's book should be used as a model in run-down schools everywhere. It should be used in community development training and in every school of design. Her work is the best of what art can do to build the human spirit and make a community place. Thank you, Lily, for your work and for documenting it so carefully in this book."" -- Susan Goltsman * Children, Youth and Environments *
""It is not often that a book can transport the reader to another place and time, but Yeh has done this successfully. By including color images on every page, the reader gets lost in the school and community and makes readers feel part of the project from the beginning. Yeh tells a captivating story."" -- Carolyn Brown Treadon * Journal of Art for Life *
