MEMBER FOCUS: Teal Thibaud

WHEN THE PANDEMIC HIT, the project to beautify the intersection of Dodson and Glass Street came to a halt. Up until that point, @glasshouselive’s Director and Co-Founder, Teal Thibaud, was working with students of Hardy Elementary who were reimagining how the intersection could look. With people sheltering in place and schools closing, Teal wanted to ensure that the young artists still had a creative outlet. Soon, a ripple effect of new projects took form.

Glass House Collective (GHC) brings the community together through the arts. Since the nonprofit’s inception in 2012, Teal has helped link residents with artists to enliven Glass Street with public works of art. She states, “Especially now, the arts are essential to connect and elevate our communities.”

With the outbreak of COVID, GHC’s projects pivoted. Crisis called for creativity, and Teal called upon a partnering nonprofit, @art120chatt, and art teacher (Sara Cross) to distribute craft supply kits (Art Anywhere Kits) to all 500 students of Hardy Elementary.

Another project emerged. Teal knew photographer @reed_schick was onto something when he took distanced shots of Teal and her daughter, Zoë. Unlike other porch portraits, he had subjects stand behind windows—or any form of glass—telling them over speaker phone where to position themselves. “It fascinated me,” Teal says, “we connected him to another resident, and the launch of Pandemic Portraits followed”

As Teal explains, Pandemic Portraits became a multimedia series. When Reed took photos of residents behind panes of glass, they shared their stories of how they were coping with COVID. He wanted to get that on film. Teal notes that organically, two additional pieces were born: a mini documentary and a poem by GHC’s Erika Roberts.

“Glass House Collective is called a collective for a reason. We rely on each other’s collective strengths,” Teal says, “creative talent is helping me through this pandemic. And it’s important we continue to invest in the arts because it really does positively impact our cities.”