Turn Me On
"The everyday represents a zone of social transition and possibility with the potential for new social arrangements and forms of imagination."
This reading has numerous parallels to the Community Build Studio project in the spring of 2018. The project was an attempt (successful or not) to activate a forgotten and ignored space in Charleston. Instead of discussing the discussions and frustrations of that project, I'd like to discuss a an idea that that we were presented by multiple people at the Community Built Conference. The power of Mural.
Honesty the idea of a mural on a wall of the side of some random building never really made sense to me as something that could change anyone's life. But, at the conference, we were able to hear from Adam with the Blank Canvas Mural Company and Amber Hansen from the University of South Dakota. They spoke about their impactful work with murals in community. The common thread of their talks were about how the murals were able to activate that random wall and not make it so random anymore. They were able to take banal space and turn it into something participatory--both of them used different techniques in involving the community in the design or painting of the mural.
Is it this simple? Can everyday lives be forever impacted by paint on a forgotten wall?
This reading has numerous parallels to the Community Build Studio project in the spring of 2018. The project was an attempt (successful or not) to activate a forgotten and ignored space in Charleston. Instead of discussing the discussions and frustrations of that project, I'd like to discuss a an idea that that we were presented by multiple people at the Community Built Conference. The power of Mural.
Honesty the idea of a mural on a wall of the side of some random building never really made sense to me as something that could change anyone's life. But, at the conference, we were able to hear from Adam with the Blank Canvas Mural Company and Amber Hansen from the University of South Dakota. They spoke about their impactful work with murals in community. The common thread of their talks were about how the murals were able to activate that random wall and not make it so random anymore. They were able to take banal space and turn it into something participatory--both of them used different techniques in involving the community in the design or painting of the mural.
Is it this simple? Can everyday lives be forever impacted by paint on a forgotten wall?
Hastings Community Mural | Hastings, NE | Amber Hansen
Sans Souci | Greenville, SC | Blank Canvas Mural Co.
It was funny while reading this post how I am taken back to Brookings. Before I make it to, "Adam with the Blank Canvas Mural Company and Amber Hansen from the University of South Dakota", I had South Dakota in my head. You have maybe heard this from other sources in your life ;) but murals are big time commissions for local artists. In my last few years, there was a large push in the communities downtownn to provide an outlet for local artistry. The final Summer before I left brought 2 60' pieces to the downtown. It was, what I thought at the time, to be an odd place in the world to have such a gesture.
ReplyDeleteI was completely wrong. Even in rural America, in the middle of no where... the Brookings locals had so much pride in the art that you would swear it had been there for generations. Seriously a cool thing to see! Great post!
This is a great post Bert, and I had not realized the connection, until you wrote it. Murals make such a large impact in everyone's lives...the life of the local artist, the community members that helped in design and painting, the landmark that that mural now becomes in the town. The space is still ordinary but it has been given a new life.
ReplyDelete