Participants in the Public Art Lab worked this Spring with teaching artists to create "The Dialogue Project". For 8 consecutive Saturdays, students wrote about what, in their minds, makes for a good home and a safe neighborhood. Their writing then became part of portable signs that the students designed and painted. During our last class, we took our signs out into our neighborhood's streets and open spaces, and shared our thoughts with the residents, and everyone else who cared enough to pay attention to a group of 15+ artists holding up colorful signs.... we were "talking back" to our neighborhood, giving it our poetry and our dreams for a better environment for our friends and families. We were inspired by the many who honked their horns in support, and those who stopped and talked to us about the project.
This public art project made visible and overt the kind of thoughts and conversations that we are always having in NOMAD LAB: "what kind of neighborhood is a good neighborhood?", "how can we imagine change together?", "what makes our neighborhood unique?" The young artists' signs spoke loud and clear: in Valle del Oro, it doesn't matter how young or how old you are, as long as you have the courage and vision to lead change and embrace your community.
No comments:
Post a Comment