Hector Canonge, local multi-media artist, is presenting his newest public art  project,The Inwood Laundromat Language Institute,where he will offer English classes for local residents at the Magic Touch Laundromat on Thayer Street on Tuesdays and Thursdays

There will be more than just detergent and fabric softener being dispensed at the Laundromat this summer.
Local multimedia artist Hector Canonge was busy this past week, hard at work on final plans for his newest public art project, The Inwood Laundromat Language Institute.
Every day local residents enter the Laundromat to handle a tedious weekly chore that many of us take for granted. However, as a regular himself, Canonge noticed that some people have difficulty getting the task done.
"There are a lot of newcomers [to the United States] in the area, and I see that they struggle with a lot of the concepts that we take for granted – the wash cycle, the spin cycle," he explained.

"Sometimes they even have difficulty asking to buy soap or for change because they don't speak the language."
For the length of the month of August, Canonge will teach two English classes for members of the community who commit to two one-hour sessions a week. The classes will take place at the Magic Touch Laundromat on Thayer Street on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The first session is from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and the second is from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

The project is part of Canonge's artist residency with The Laundromat Project, an organization that supports public art projects. He won a grant earlier this year in the organization's Create Change program that has allowed him to continue to create alternative learning spaces in the community.
Last month, Canonge spearheaded the Active Knowledge Academy at the Bronx River Arts Center. The month-long program brought artists out of their preferred medium to embark on an interactive learning journey with their peers.
Like the Active Knowledge Academy, TILLI, as Canonge affectionately calls his new project, "was created to explore the connections we can make amongst art, the community and learning."
And really, what better place is there to explore those connections than in Magic Laundromat in Inwood?
Setting up at the folding tables in the center of the Laundromat, Canonge and his pupils will work on vocabulary central to the task, such as "clothes," "pants," "soap," and "machines." Then, using flashcards and a brochure, Canonge will move to more difficult aspects of the language such as possessives nouns (my sweater, your dress, his shorts) and verbs like the ubiquitously heard "wash" and "wait."
According to Canonge, the students who registered for the program were wary of "textbooks with a thousand verbs to memorize."
But Canonge is specifically avoiding that technique of teaching and hopes to cultivate a real-world vocabulary for his students.
"The environment itself becomes a tool. That will trigger familiarity for a lot of people and will allow me to construct a system that they can use in their day-to-day lives," Canonge said.
Mike Mok, owner of the Laundromat and a first-generation immigrant from Korea, said that he has high hopes for the program, which is taking place in his second home.
"I think a lot of people have difficulty communicating with each other," he said. 
"So this is very good for the community."
The culmination of the project is what provides the art aspect and allows Canonge to do what he does best – multimedia art.
On Tuesday September 6th, the project will come to an end with a 'graduation' ceremony.
At the ceremony, Canonge will unveil the compilation of experiences of his 20 students in the form of a multimedia interactive kiosk installment in the Laundromat, which will outline the process of the project and highlight individual experiences that took place over the course of the month.
"This is where the project becomes not only a didactic experience but also a piece of oral history, and a real art project," commented Petrushka Bazin of the Laundromat Project.
And although it is an art project, its aim is also to serve a genuine community need, Canonge's ultimate goal.
"A lot of people can just go to a public school or a community college and register for an English course," explains Canonge. "But the people in this community may not have an ID or legal papers. So how do we serve a population that is so in need and so willing to learn?"
Stock up on your quarters; the Laundromat and its lesson plans await.