Original artwork created by artists and mothers to depict the paradox of parenting 

STAMFORD, Conn., April 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Philips Avent, the number one childcare brand recommended by moms worldwide, introduces the Parent’s Path Art Collection by Philips Avent, a curation of custom artwork created in partnership with artists who are moms. The collection demonstrates the paradox of the unforeseen detours and magical milestone moments that parents experience. Each artist reflects on their unique journey with motherhood while depicting self-expression, self-care and community support as essential parts of nurturing new parents through the journey.

Philips Avent knows parenthood comes with its own personal journeys for moms, who continue to learn and grow while prioritizing baby and often neglect to nurture themselves along the way and embrace the fact that it takes a village. The hope is that parents find comfort in the art, knowing that Philips Avent understands each parenting journey is different and offers tools and support to help navigate challenges and prioritize parents’ wellbeing, whether that is transitioning from breast to bottle feeding, sleep training, or soothing a colicky baby. Designed in partnership with healthcare professionals, Philips Avent feeding and soothing tools are innovative solutions to help parents give their babies the best care, ultimately helping to maintain their own peace of mind.

“As a trusted mother and childcare companion for over 35 years, Philips Avent understands that no two parenting experiences are the same,” said Brenda Kapner, Marketing Director at Philips Avent. “We are committed to supporting all parents as they discover what works best for them and baby and are thrilled to demonstrate this by providing an intimate look into four individual parenting paths that all parents can relate to.”

The Parent’s Path Art Collection by Philips Avent begins with custom artwork developed by a group of mothers who share similar, yet totally unique experiences with parenthood.

• Aimee Koran – A multi-disciplinary artist exploring the complex binaries of motherhood working in mediums of sculpture, photography and mixed-media installation, contributing works honoring the human experience and motherhood moments. 
• Alison Chen – Working in video, photography and performance, Alison’s work centers on the complexities of intimate relationships, contributing a series of images to capture everyday moments and map the act of caregiving.
• Lauren J. Turner – An experienced artist and doula working with paint imagery, contributing painted works highlighting the authentic and inclusive experiences of the parenting journey.
• Liana Finck – Cartoonist and author documenting the details of the pregnancy journey, contributing a customized drawing deriving from her recent pregnancy and post-partum experiences. 

“I am honored to use my art to contribute to the larger conversation around the individuality of each parenting experience,” says Aimee Koran, mom of two, interdisciplinary artist and Philips Avent partner. “My works are created through the lens of motherhood and shine a light on the otherwise invisible labor inherent in that journey. The opportunity to partake in this art collection with Philips Avent has allowed the perfect space and creative freedom to talk about the trials and tribulations of parenthood and needs of parents.” 

Philips Avent will donate the custom-curated art from the Parent’s Path Art Collection to select medical centers supporting women and families. Philips Avent continues its efforts in providing resources and support for parents as they navigate the ups and downs of their individual parenting journey, knowing this uniqueness is what bonds parents together. 

Parents are encouraged to share their own photos and artwork of their parenting moments with Philips Avent by following @PhilipsAvent and using the hashtag #AParentsPath. For more information about the Parent’s Path Art Collection by Philips Avent, visit https://www.usa.philips.com/c-e/mo/parents-path.

About Royal Philips 

Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people’s health and well-being through meaningful innovation. Philips’ patient- and people-centric innovation leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver personal health solutions for consumers and professional health solutions for healthcare providers and their patients in the hospital and the home. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, ultrasound, image-guided therapy, monitoring and enterprise informatics, as well as in personal health. Philips generated 2022 sales of EUR 17.8 billion and employs approximately 77,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. News about Philips can be found at www.philips.com/newscenter.

SOURCE Philips Avent

CrossIron Mills is much like any other mall, with big brand stores, a large food court, and shoppers bustling about as they look for their next purchase.

But located near entrance five and the food court of Balzac’s popular shopping destination is a new interactive art exhibit that is sharing an important message with passersby.

With Earth Day approaching on April 22, CrossIron Mills recently partnered with art-focused non-profit PARK (Promoting Artists and Redefining Kulture) to spread awareness about climate change and the importance of sustainability to create a healthier planet.

Through the artistic contributions of a few local artists, PARK has created an engaging open exhibit called the Eco Hub, where visitors can learn more about environmental sustainability and take in the colourful displays of art that were all created from recycled materials.

CrossIron Mills’ marketing manager Joel Tatlow said the experience of working with PARK and local artists has helped make the exhibit special.

“It just makes everything really ‘pop,’ especially when you’re talking about a topic like sustainability that’s a little bit complicated to understand,” he said. “It’s wonderful to be able to present that topic in a visual language using local Calgary artists.”

Considering the art display is in an open public space, Tatlow said they are committed to spreading awareness of important issues.

To further promote sustainable, the Eco Hub features a mural that talks about the impacts of climate change. In addition, the art display includes a pledge wall, and with each public pledge, CrossIron Mills is promising to donate $5 to the Alberta Council for Environmental Education. 

“We have a variety of sustainability initiatives here at the property that we’re looking to celebrate with this Eco Hub,” Tatlow said. “We have this public platform where there’s a ton of people here and it’s important for us to be able to raise awareness about an important issue like sustainability and the health of our planet.”

With this year’s Earth Day theme being ‘Invest in Our Planet,’ Tatlow is excited for Airdrie and area shoppers to immerse themselves in the exhibit in the coming days.

He hopes the public will see the efforts CrossIron Mills is making to promote a sustainable planet for the future. On this topic, he also touted a few of the mall’s own green initiatives.

“It’s really great for us to be able to have this public forum for people to interact and engage with that concept in a way that’s really visceral and really tangible and really visual for people to understand,” Tatlow said.

“I also hope that people get a sense of the sustainability efforts that we have going on here at the property. Sometimes those get so lost behind our operations team, but we do really have some interesting environmental and sustainability projects going on at the property that I hope people can take in and understand when they visit the Eco Hub.”

One of the Calgary artists who contributed to the Eco Hub is Tyler Lemermeyer. Using over 2,000 cans and 11 different colours of paint, his display provides viewers with a deeper meaning.

“I wanted to create something that really celebrated Earth Day and a depiction of earth,” Lemermeyer explained. “In the actual piece, there’s a mirror which allows you to see yourself reflected within the piece and on the other side, there’s a heart and it kind of acts as the earth’s core.”

Lemermeyer hopes his piece promotes positive conversations around the topic of sustainability, while avoiding the sense of doom-and-gloom that often encompasses the topic of climate change.

“It’s more about starting the conversation and being more consciousness about how you can be better,” he said.

Lemermeyer feels the Eco Hub will continue the public conversation about an increasingly important issue.

“Having art and creating this playful, inviting space, especially in a place where there’s going to be a lot of traffic and a lot of people that are going to see the installation, I think it really kind of gives exposure to a lot of people,” he said said.

The Eco Hub exhibit will be on display for viewers to enjoy from April 18 to 30. The displays are located near entrance five and the food court at CrossIron Mills.

With dramatically bowed edges, coiled shapes, and fragments jutting in opposite directions, Instruments by Rick Salafia defies many standards of measurement. The ongoing series, which currently comprises more than 200 works, disregards the one-foot rectangle in favor of a playfully diverse array of shapes. Semi-circles stretch like a croissant, ends expand into wide, asymmetric forms, and a segment stretching just a few inches breaks free from the rest of the metal tool. While the pieces in Instruments take on impractical shapes and proportions, the individual inked lines and numbers remain relatively uniform, evoking the systemized nature of a typical ruler.

Salafia produced each work in an edition of three and has some available in his shop. You can find more from the series on his site.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Rick Salafia’s Wildly Shaped Aluminum Rulers Measure Impractical Proportions appeared first on Colossal.

Customer experience is about connecting people with resources. Electric power, water, natural gas, heat, meters, service technicians or appliances, heat pumps, solar panels, electric vehicles, charging stations, smarter homes: the list of often essential resources is growing steadily, raising the question of how to connect people to them.

Interconnection is the first aspect of the intelligent SAP Customer Experience (SAP CX) portfolio, bringing operational and contextual data to the individual engagement.

In a changing world, both customers and utilities are forced to adapt:

• The customer has unprecedented access to smart devices
• Energy and water providers are asking consumers for usage flexibility and conservation
• Programs are available and mandated to support home and business owners with decarbonization investments
• The utility is deeply involved in distributed electric generation, energy storage, and decarbonization

Staying connected constantly with customers is a critical factor for succeeding in the energy transition.

Globally, utilities have been driven to expand and shift, and there is no end in sight. While energy and water suppliers must embrace sustainability goals, the industry is developing new business models. Utilities are becoming retailers for commodity and non-commodity offerings. To their consumers, the utility is a trusted partner and welcome advisor when investing in home energy and storage or electric transportation, or simply subscribing to bundled home service offerings for energy, water, telecommunication, transportation, and other services.

This means that a utility company faces what seems to be contradicting goals: optimizing classic customer operations for stable and reliable energy and water supply, while at the same time innovating the customer experience with speed.

To meet these two important goals — optimize and innovate — companies are specifically demanding better customer solutions.

On the one hand, customer service must maintain, if not improve, customer satisfaction while lowering cost-to-serve. Automation of manual tasks, digital channels, and process excellence are key. On the other hand, innovating customer experience can be tricky for a utility. Traditionally, especially in regulated markets, the energy and water supplier did not need to focus on nurturing customer relations and growing a market share. Time-to-market, digital storefronts, and third-party collaboration can be challenging for the classic utilities culture. Consumer technology has grown rapidly. People now come with smart devices and expectations, and are used to seamless shopping experiences.

To be competitive, utilities must learn and adopt best practices from other industries, including retail, electronics, and automotive. Introducing new products and services requires a state-of-the-art marketing and sales execution setup.

Customers expect individual — and respectful — communications and offerings. Insight is the next aspect in the SAP Customer Experience portfolio, with timely, meaningful, and predictive data to anticipate, support, and optimize customer interactions. A best-of-suite business solution with end-to-end process for lead to cash and service request to resolve enables both, optimizing the back office and innovating the front office.

“Our utilities customers have the goal to build customer intimacy and involve their respective end customers in the energy transition journey, including them becoming energy generators and contributors to the grid as well,” says Daniela Sellmann, global vice president and head of the Utilities Industry Business Unit at SAP. “This can only be achieved if the front and back office come together to get a 360-degree view of the end customers. That is why we strategically invest in our customer experience solution for utilities.”

SAP is unmatched in combining enterprise resource planning (ERP) with CX solutions in the industry context. CX includes several applications, connecting service, sales, marketing, e-commerce, and customer data on a solid and flexible platform. SAP’s continued focus on delivering and innovating industry-tailored CX solutions is visible both in the current product portfolio and road maps.

With the new version of SAP Service Cloud, launched in 2022, utilities customer service teams in the office, on the road, and at home can easily connect to their customers. A redesigned agent desktop runs at greater speed, scalability, and availability. The add-on for utilities extends SAP Service Cloud with native integration to meter to cash in the SAP for Utilities portfolio, the core of energy and water back-office processes.

SAP Sales Cloud equips sales teams with the right tools in today’s complex selling environment. When used in combination, SAP Service Cloud and SAP Sales Cloud can increase  return on investment (ROI) significantly.

Innovative products require an online presence, which is where SAP Commerce Cloud, subscription management add-on, delivers a store front and e-commerce platform suited and ready for any utility offering.

SAP Emarsys Customer Engagement is the new marketing solution to personalize interactions and SAP has an exciting road map for utilities-specific analytics and tactics, with pre-built content for listening to signals during customer journeys and context-sensitive responses.

The partner ecosystem plays a critical role delivering SAP Customer Experience solutions, not only with implementation services but also enhancing SAP offering with apps; for example, through SAP store.

“We now have more than 14 apps built for SAP for Utilities and CX, covering multiple scenarios for customer data, service, sales, marketing, deregulation, or CPQ and product management to meet specific needs,”says Edgar Kauter, managing director at Power Reply Germany. “As an industry cloud partner, we see SAP’s investment in CX and the industries and we value the innovation. Utilities can easily see how the standard SAP portfolio, together with our standardized apps and implementation services, provides not only a quicker time to value, but also cost-efficient processes.”

A seamless customer experience requires a seamless organization and a seamless solution. Any integrated front office and back office requires adaptive measures, the third aspect of  intelligent CX from SAP. Adaption means that feature-rich SAP applications can be personalized, extended, integrated, and composed with other apps; for example, industry cloud partners.

SAP is on a mission to help make utilities businesses more customer-centric. Discover intelligent CX solutions for utilities that are interconnected, insightful, and adaptive on sap.com, and explore road maps to discover how SAP plans to improve the integration design of sales orders for utilities commodity contracts in SAP S/4HANA here.

Robert Straubinger is chief solution expert for Solution Management Utilities at SAP.

Not far from where cranes loom over ascending towers of multimillion-dollar condos downtown, a scrappier, grass-roots development is taking shape. A pedestrian-friendly arts destination is gaining momentum in the Limelight District long Lime Avenue between Fruitville Road and 12th Street. 

Right now, the district’s fourth boundary juts in and out along Waterloo Avenue to accommodate residential buildings. But this border is in flux as the Limelight District, officially recognized by the city in 2020, works to extend its western boundary to encompass galleries around Princeton Street.

The Limelight District recently raised its profile with the March 30 opening of the Palmer Modern at 925 N. Lime Ave. The arrival of the new gallery with artist spaces follows the February addition of a second space by arts collective Creative Liberties at 927 N. Lime Ave. Its flagship is nearby, at 901B Apricot Ave.

Twenty-one artists call Creative Liberties home, including co-founders Barbara Gerdeman, who specializes in photography, acrylic painting and mixed media, and Elizabeth Goodwill, who creates book art, fiber art and mixed media. Their new building houses 10 studio artists, gallery space and the Creative Academy classroom.

“Thanks to a huge amount of support from the community—the public, artists, arts advocates and the media—we have been able to grow Creative Liberties in a short time period,” says Gerdeman. 

Commercial businesses are taking notice of the artistic ripening of an area formerly known for auto repair shops. Recent months have seen the arrival of Sunflower Market on Lime Avenue, a WaWa convenience store on Lime Circle and Sun King Brewing on Mango Avenue. 

Dog-friendly, Friday night happy hours

The arrival of Sun King has prompted Kim Livengood to add Friday night hours for her dog-friendly Hamlet’s Eatery. The food truck-cum-brewpub is located at Livengood’s The Bazaar at Lime and Apricot along with roughly 40 other tenants. Opened in 2018, the Bazaar is considered the catalyst for the area’s evolution.

Courtesy photo

But wait. This story is about art, not business. Actually, it’s about the intersection of art and commerce, and what urban planners call “placemaking,” community development that’s easier said than done. 

In the case of the Limelight District, a braintrust of sorts has come together. Its members include Livengood, real estate developer and arts patron Howard Davis, Creative Liberties proprietors Gerdeman and Goodwill, Palmer Modern owner and artist Craig Palmer and his wife, Jen Palmer, president of the Sarasota Studio Artists Association. 

There are others in the mix as well. You can be sure that those with a stake in the future of the Limelight District will make their voices heard. Anyone with land or a business in the area can join the Limelight District’s association for a newly instituted membership fee of $100.

Davis has been approached by investors who want to be part of 925 Lime Ave. and other properties that Davis and his wife, Sherry, may acquire in the Limelight District in the future. But they prefer to go it alone, turning down investors and even shunning bank financing with one exception, Howard Davis says.

 “When you’re investing your own money, it keeps you very focused,” he says. “And there is no such thing as a silent partner.” 

The Limelight District’s mother is a mom

A high-profile real estate developer who spent most of his career in Boston, Davis cut his teeth in Sarasota with the transformation of an abandoned furniture store he bought in 2016 in what is now called the Rosemary District. In 2021, he sold the lovingly refurbished Mid-Century Modern building, The BOTA (for Boulevard of the Arts) Center, at 1570 Boulevard of the Arts, for $4.35 million.

In some instances, the impetus behind placemaking comes from local government. But the Limelight District’s birth can be attributed to Judy Alexander, Kim Livengood’s mother.

Alexander spent most of her life as an indefatigable community volunteer. But to hear her daughter tell it, Judy Alexander’s dream was to own a warehouse. “One day my parents were driving down Lime Avenue. My mom saw the building and said to my dad, ‘Let’s buy it.’ My dad never said no to my mom.”

Livengood’s father, Barry Alexander died in 2019, but lived to see that warehouse become a vibrant venue for artists and craftsmen to sell their wares. Fronted by an old school pickup painted lime and apricot and decorated with a mural painted by artist Karen Chandler on a neighbor’s building, the arts-and-crafts mall is hard to miss.

Thanks to the efforts of tenants as well as tourist development and artists groups, the Limelight District is becoming a destination for locals and tourists alike, particularly on the Second Saturdays organized by the Sarasota Studio Artists Association, which has more than 50 members.

Spearheaded by Jen Palmer, the group has created a map of art galleries not just in and around the Limelight District but all over the city.

Bright banners on the way

Right now, the Limelight District has the lure of plentiful, free parking. Who could ask for more?

Actually, there are some things that Livengood & Co. have on their wish list. 

Every arts neighborhood needs colorful banners hanging from city streetlights and Livengood wants some. “But you wouldn’t believe what it costs —$100 each and liability insurance in case one of them falls down and hurts someone,” she says. 

The banners, when they are hung, will carry a new Limelight District logo, which is in the works along with an upgrade of the website. Fortunately, there is no shortage of branding, design and marketing expertise among members of the Limelight District’s braintrust.

Courtesy photo

Livengood and both Palmers have marketing experience while Creative Liberties co-owners Gerdeman and Goodwill worked alongside each other at the Art Center Sarasota.

As the Limelight District grows up, its backers want knotty zoning issues to be hashed out by the city council. Current code permits heavy industrial businesses that might not fit in with the arts district, some of them auto-related.

However, some gallery and shop owners like the idea of auto repair shops in the area because people getting their cars fixed must leave them for a few hours, creating the opportunity to explore the budding artsy neighborhood.

Live/work spaces for artists on the wish list

Also on the zoning front, Davis and Palmer see the need to accommodate work/live spaces for artists. Davis is offering entrepreneurial artists such as Palmer, Gerdeman and Goodwill the opportunity to lease space at below market value. They in turn are subdividing the space and renting it out to artists and craftsmen. 

Davis and others envision a future for the Limelight District where artists burning the midnight oil can sleep on a a pull-out sofa without running into trouble with the law.

Well acquainted with working with local governments from his career in real estate, Davis says the Limelight District is also asking the city for help on issues such as sidewalk improvements, better streetlights and sewage system upgrades. 

Some Sarasotans, especially second-homers and new transplants, may not realize that there are still some houses near downtown using septic tanks. Such outmoded waste disposal has the potential to foul the air and streets, not a good look for the Limelight District.

Unlike other arts destinations across the country that sprung up in warehouse districts, the Limelight District is not plagued by crime. Maybe the auto repair shops in the neighborhood do a good job of outfitting cars with anti-theft devices. But for whatever reason, safety isn’t a concern right now, Davis says.

Courtesy photo

Learning the three C’s

When you ask members of the Limelight coterie about their vision for the district, the answers overlap and involve common goals. Inclusion ranks high on the list for Jen Palmer as well as the Creative Liberties co-founders Gerdeman and Goodwill— “art for all, not just rich people,” says Palmer.

Craig Palmer says the Limelight District’s artist studios can help creators build relationships with potential buyers, a factor that he sees as increasingly important in a high-tech, post-COVID world.

“Some of the most interesting conversations are when visitors observe my work and explain to me what they see,” Palmer says. “It made me aware that everyone has their own unique interpretation and experience of abstract art, and I like to believe that it helps inspire creativity for the viewer.”

Palmer Modern features an art gallery and includes a studio for Craig Palmer as well as affordable studios for five additional artists. The artists have access to a kitchen, lounge area, space to publicly display their work, and private, secure studios.

 For Davis’s part, the placemaking happening along Lime Avenue is about the “three C’s — creativity, community and collaboration.” 

Perhaps pioneer Kim Livengood sums up the goal the best: “We’re looking to create a neighborhood where you can park your car, walk around, watch art being made, buy some stuff and get something to eat or drink,” she says. Oh, and don’t forget your dog.