We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sarah Berns-Zieve aka BZ a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Sarah, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

In the summer of 2021, The Arts Collective Bmore(ACBMORE/The Arts Collective) envisioned and carried out our first non-remote project, ‘Turn the Corner’.

The project consisted of the following: seven up and coming local artists were commissioned to create a piece of art; each artist chose a street corner somewhere in the city; their material was chalk and sidewalk. Over two days on a hot weekend in August, the artists each spent a couple hours creating their chalk piece. I filmed the process as well as conducting short interviews with each artist about their experience and their motivation.

The mission behind this project was threefold: to provide local artists with the opportunity to share their work with the community outside of an institutional setting; to see how Baltimore artists interpret the phrase “turn the corner” whether that be in relation to the city, themselves, or anywhere in between; and last but not least, to incorporate more art into our everyday lives and highlight the power of street art, no matter how temporal.

Each of the seven artists expressed, for a variety of reasons, that they appreciated and enjoyed being a part of the project. For some, it was their first time using chalk since childhood. Those artists felt that they were opened to a whole new medium. Others communicated that they appreciated working outside of their comfort zone. Some said that they now were inspired to explore the medium of chalk in the future.

In the weeks after the project, another artist reached out to us on Instagram expressing that they would love to be a part of ‘Turn the Corner’ if we were ever to replicate the project. ‘Turn the Corner’ appealed to this individual in some way or another and they were not the only one.

On day two of the project, myself and Galya Kroiz-Seidel, the artist of the final corner experienced a beautiful moment. A short while earlier, a woman and her young daughter (somewhere between 5-8 years old) had passed by us. They stopped to see what we were doing and the woman shared how cool she thought the project was. The encounter was sweet and validating for both myself and Galya, however, that is only the preamble to the beautiful moment. A little while later, after Galya had finished her corner, I got in the car and proceeded to drive up the hill. All of a sudden I was motivated to stop the car in the middle of the road and jump out. In front of one of the houses I saw the same little girl from earlier but now sitting on the sidewalk with a piece of chalk in her hand, drawing. The mother saw me stop and came to tell me that as soon as they arrived home her daughter had asked her to get the chalk out. I was deeply touched by the impression our brief encounter had on the little girl. She was shy and only uttered a word or two, if that, but did permit me to take a picture of her as she worked on her creation. I walked back to the car feeling overjoyed and hopeful.

At most of the corners, at least one community member, and often more, stopped to ask us what we were doing as they went about their day. People really liked the idea, as well as the execution, of the project. ‘Turn the Corner’ was unusual which was acknowledged and many people expressed that they appreciated the effort to beautify and incorporate art into the community.

A week later, as had been anticipated, most of the pieces had been washed away by rain. The only concrete record of the event is a documentary film also called “Turn the Corner” that I produced the following year.

Sarah, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Hi, my name is Sarah Berns-Zieve aka BZ. I picked up a camera for the first time when I was in my second year at Swarthmore College. I had spent a lot of my time watching movies but picking up that Canon XA10 was what made me fall in love with filmmaking. I had only felt this before with dance when I started that journey at the age of 8. I realized right there that filmmaking was the perfect avenue for me to explore all my passions simultaneously. I felt that all one needs was an imagination and that the mechanics could be learned along the way.

Jumping forward a couple years, I now have an LLC called BZ Productions which I use for creative freelance work such as videography, photography, editing, and project management, amongst other things. I also founded and am building a nonprofit organization called The Arts Collective Baltimore whose mission is to unify and transform community through the power of art.

My freelance work supports me financially enough so that I am able to work only part time in the service industry and have space to focus on growing The Arts Collective as well as envisioning future projects. The process requires patience, adaptability, and resilience. The path of a young creative entrepreneur is a challenging one. I am thankful for the community around me who relates, advises, and inspires. They are central to my work. Through collaborating with my peers I have discovered that my background in dance has influenced how I move with the camera and how I capture movement. I am excited to explore the idea of movement more through interdisciplinary projects with other artists. I am open to all sorts of creativity, especially projects that think outside of the box, for lack of a better phrase. Sound is of the essence always. Shadows, reflections, and smoke intrigue me. My personal mission statement is that the only way that we can solve the problems in our world is with magic, and art is the closest thing we have to magic.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Halfway through college, I dropped out of school and moved back to Baltimore. I could no longer tolerate residing in an institutional bubble where community was not a priority and the community that did exist did not acknowledge the power of art to change the world. I grew up in a city that centers both creativity and community and I knew I needed to return to that environment in order to be nurtured and to grow. It is a decision that I have not regretted for a moment. I’m thriving and I’m inspired and through this experience I have been learning to trust myself and I feel confident now that my intuition will lead the way.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

The mission driving my creative journey is the power of art to create positive change in our society. Art can be used for self expression, or as an outlet. Art can be used to influence, inspire, and initiate movements for change. Art has the ability to communicate across barriers. Art can be used for healing and growth. and Art can also be the change itself. The intersection of art and social change is essential to a hopeful future.      

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bernszieve.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/bz____________?utm_medium=copy_link
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarah.bernszieve
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-berns-zieve-b82b77215/
• Other: https://vimeo.com/user134899280