I think the Freedom House is a wonderful place that does something that Brown County really has a need for. Homelessness is something that I knew was in the area but something easily forgotten because of how invisible it is here. What they’re providing for families is a chance to start fresh and take stress off the process of rebuilding. I think it’s especially important for the kids though since they’re just along for the ride and have every right to a normal upbringing. Something I didn’t know was that Freedom House put so much effort to normalize the experience for their younger residents. I think it’s so important for babies, kids, and teens to be able to grow up in an environment where they’re doing the same things their peers are doing and aren’t left out. Nothing really made me feel that uncomfortable during the visit, just the thought of the struggle that these residents have to go through before arriving there is sad to think about. The shelter does a great job of being a warm place that provides a ton of useful tools and resources, but I’m sure nobody was planning to end up in that situation until it was one of their only options left. I don’t have any solid ideas yet, but I could imagine my role involving designing anything they would need for events and such. I’m willing to help out anywhere I’m needed. Creating some decorations for kids would be really fun to do too. I think it’s even more important to help give them a positive atmosphere than their guardians. More posters on the wall of a cartoon or a movie could go a long way for them. I was thinking of even something interactive but I’m not sure what that would be yet.
My Third Freedom House Visit
Before my third visit to the Freedom House, I wanted to have a few ideas in my head of some projects I might want to pursue. I was hoping this trip would help me to determine what direction I wanted to go in. I wrote out a few ideas in my sketchbook and was excited to share them with Lydia, our volunteer coordinator. This visit has felt like it has been the most productive so far; I feel like it has helped me to make more connections between our coursework and the needs of the Freedom House.
During this visit, I was open to helping out in whatever way that they needed me to. Since I was visiting by myself this time, I felt more apprehensive than previous visits and did not know what to expect. I ended up spending the majority of my time with Lydia in her office, bouncing ideas off of each other. It turned out to be a great creative brainstorming session. She expressed to me that she felt there was a lack of uniformity and professionalism regarding a lot of the paperwork and signs around the house. These signs like dining room rules, operating hours, and receptionist manuals are seen and used everyday. Updating them could go a long way in refreshing the space. Currently, any sort of paperwork or sign that is up at the Freedom House is quickly printed using Word, with little to no staying power. We talked about creating a new format for signs, something brighter and with a little bit more of a voice. We also talked about creating some sort of template or formula for signs they might need to print in the future going forward. The remainder of the visit was spent walking around together, taking photos of signs that she wants redone and that I think could use an update.
I’m feeling excited knowing that I have a good grasp on my project for the Freedom House. We ended up finding quite a bit of signs needing work, so the most challenging task for me looking forward will be to find the most efficient way to get the work done. I’m hoping for my next visit, I can bring in some rough drafts of ideas and get more feedback.
3rd Freedom House Visit
For my third visit to Freedom House, we did a little bit of both hands-on and planning work. After we did some cleaning in the dining room and bathrooms, we met with Lydia to discuss upcoming possibilities for Freedom House and their Gallery of Hope. We figured out that they wanted to create a new logo, posters, social media photos and printed work to share information.
After meeting and talking, I created a couple sketches for Lydia (which still need to be scanned, posted and shared with her). I tried to incorporate a similar cursive/script for the word “gallery”, then thought about including “of hope” in either Futura, Helvetica or some sort of sans serif font. I hope to send her my ideas later today. If I get some sort of “go ahead” for the project, I’ll plan on redoing the script by hand, scan into Illustrator and do the rest of it with the pen tool.
I also think I will include a piece of mine to be featured in the gallery. I think it focuses on the “hope” part of the gallery’s name, featuring a smiling boy trying to catch a frog. I intentionally made it so that the boy would look to be more of Latino or Indian descent, making it a much more inclusive piece for those who live in Freedom House who are of a racial minority. I plan on printing multiple digital copies to give to the children at the homeless shelter.
My Second Freedom House Visit
Since our first visit to the Freedom House as a class, I found that it had been on my mind a lot more than I expected. I realized how important the work that they do is to the community and I was eager to help. My expectations for our next visit on March 1st were fairly open-ended. I was hoping to jump right in and help out in anyway that I could, but I didn’t have any sense of what that could entail. I prepared myself to be as open-minded as possible and to go with the flow of the Freedom House’s routine. I also wanted to bring along my sketchbook in case an idea for my project hit me and I wanted to continue brainstorming.
During this visit, we helped with some daily tasks like cleaning the dining room and vacuuming. It was a little difficult to gage how helpful we were to the employees because we had finished our jobs rather quickly with five people. One of my favorite moments of our visit was interacting with Haley, a little girl whose family is currently residing at the Freedom House. I was not expecting to spend time with the children, yet as she was helping me clean the dining room, it became the highlight of the trip. I could see creating something for the kids as my final project.
While I feel like we did some useful work, I’m hoping to go deeper with our impact in future visits going forward. I’m glad that we had the opportunity to ask the employees of what they thought the Freedom House needs for artwork; brainstorming and bouncing ideas off my fellow classmates was a lot easier being there in the space. I can definitely see our projects becoming a collaborative effort. For our next visit, I would also like to seek out if we could speak with the guests directly about what kinds of art they would like to see around their home. I’m eager to learn about using the letterpress in class because I feel like that could be a useful tool in creating work for the Freedom House and open up more opportunities.
Freedom House Visit #3
In my third visit I went into Freedom House expecting to strictly do general labor again. I already had a sketch ready to come to fruition for Freedom House, so I was not looking for creative inspiration as I was during this last visit. For the first half of our visit we cleaned the bathrooms and the dining room. What was different this time was for the second half of our visit we met with Lydia who gave us some suggestions for our creative project. Mainly she wanted us to design a logo for the gallery of hope and create flyers. Even though I already knew what I was going to do and was not relevant to what she was asking, I still listened and took this as an opportunity to learn. During this time I gained insight on the human condition and what it might look like working with a client.
During the past few years I’ve heard over and over again someone saying I’m not creative or artistic. I find this to be terribly untrue. People are very creative and artistic. Sure, if you pick up a pen for the first time and try to create a hyper realistic illustration it is unlikely that it will be a masterpiece, but like anything art takes practice. What makes art a particular challenge is when you do fail it is permanent and visual and at times it can be discouraging, but if people accept that it is ok to fail and use there failure to drive them to create better stuff then eventually through practice and time one can create a masterpiece. When we were meeting with Lydia she kept saying she was not creative or artistic in any way. I beg to differ. She definitely had an opinion on what she thought was a good or bad logo. I feel that she kept saying that our of fear of being judged by us who are art students. This self-deprecation seemed like a form of self-defense in the face of anxiety.
This meeting with Lydia gave me a keen insight on what it would look like to work with a client. She did not know what she wanted which makes coming up with a design a challenge. What Lydia did know was that she wanted something different. She gave us examples of designs from the past few years of what she thought was not successful or moderately successful. Through this, I learned that clients may or may not give you a lot of direction. That being said it is up to us as designers to do some research on the organization or event and accurately create a design that encompasses their mission and purpose.
Freedom House Visit #2
Freedom house visit (3/1). With my second freedom house visit I went in acknowledging the fact that I more than likely was not going to be creating any art for them this time around. I wanted to see what they needed help most with, which this time around was general labor. With Lydia gone on this visit it was a little trickier to discuss what needed to be improved in this space, because I found that everyone may or may not be on the same page as to what is going on.
During this visit based off of audible complaining from certain staff that a lot of responsibility is put on just a few peoples shoulders. When one of those people are gone many don’t know what to do as certain tasks may not be getting done due to this person’s absence. This shows me that their is a lack of communication amongst its employees which will cause dysfunction and negativity in a place which really can not afford anymore negative energy for its guests.
After this visit, I found a little more guidance as to what I may or may not be doing for my final project. An administrative member as well as a guest told us what they might like to see be created for them. After hearing what they said I think it would be real neat if our class potentially collaborated on a long wall piece that would stretch along the wall where the old pictures hung outside of the dining room entrance. It will be difficult for me to figure out what I am going to make for them considering almost everything that I have ever created in the world of art has not been in the theme of uplifting happiness. I am hoping that between now and the next visit I will take more time to think about how I am going to approach this project.
My Creative Process
People can or have written novels about their creative process so I will try and summarize the main points of mine. I feel that I don’t fully understand or have control over my creative process at this point in time in my life. When looking back on projects I have made, I have no idea how I made those projects. In my process, I lose control of what I’m doing and or thinking. It feels like something takes over and tries to create something through me. It is as though I’m in some sort of trance. Time and any conceived notion of our physical reality slip away. While in this state of mind, I’ve found it not too difficult to come up with strong compositions. But it is hard for me to bring the composition into the physical, because my drawing chops are not the greatest. Which is why I find it important to study other artists and try and copy different techniques one finds interesting so we can infuse them with our compositions. This all may sound very odd and a little crazy but I don’t have any other way of explaining this. I feel that When I personally try to force an idea into this world without the “zone” that the whole project turns out quite shotty. For example, a project I did in the fall of 2017 titled UNTITLED001, I found to have a decent concept tackling an issue that has very much impacted many people, but the image turned out to not be the best. Maybe it just wasn’t ready to be made yet. Which means maybe I’ll go back and revisit that project someday.
As far as generating ideas goes, much like the actual rendering of the composition I have no idea where they come from. I put the prompt in the back of my mind and let it sit there. I am aware that the prompt is there and don’t lose sight of it, but I let it sit there and send off a beacon of sorts that tries to pull in ideas that are of the same or similar nature as the prompt. It is fun to think of ideas as some sort of invisible living organism that is just floating around in the cosmos waiting for a vessel (we being the vessel) to come along and inhabit it. If the vessel is willing to work with the idea then it creates space for it and allows for a positive environment for it to flourish and grow through the vessel. Once the idea feels it has utilized the vessel for all it can it will leave and enter back into the cosmos. If the idea enters a vessel that is not willing to work with it right away, it may stay or it may leave. So really it’s up to us to decide whether or not we want to work with it. If we don’t we just have to face the possibility that it might not stick around. To answer the second part of this response I don’t feel I’m in control of generating ideas. I feel that they come to me, often late at night which is hard because as human beings we need sleep to stay sane and stay alive. As a consequence I end up not working with many ideas due to the fact that I need sleep.
A public artist is someone who presents their work to the public in a format that can be viewed or experienced while one is physically present. Although there are exceptions, such as a website design, I don’t feel that artists who solely put their work on a digital platform is a public artist. I do consider myself a public artist because I have put my work in galleries and have hung it for people to experience in person.
I use social media as a tool to try and get exposure for my work to a larger group of people that I may not be able to do on my own. Although social media can be a tool to help one expose their work it can also kill the creative process. It can cause people to overthink whether or not their work is good or bad in fear that they might not get a lot of lies and thus discourages them to create more art. In short, although it is a tool, I feel that it can be very toxic for a creative mind.
Freedom House Visit #2
For this visit to Freedom House I did not tell Lydia what I wanted to work on, rather I thought she would let me do whatever they were most in need of at the time. There for I expected to be doing some housekeeping work throughout the building. I was hoping to see some of the residents since we didn’t get to see anyone who lived there the last time we visited.
Before this visit I picked a day during which I wouldn’t be in a rush to leave Freedom House for other commitments. I emailed Lydia asking if I could come help out during that time. It was less than ideal weather the day Brian and I were visiting Freedom House, so we left to volunteer bit early to leave time for the drive.
When we got to Freedom House we met one of the employees at the front desk. She let us know that Lydia wanted us to clean the dining room. Once Brian and I had finished cleaning the room we moved on to the living room and did some vacuuming. Overall our experience went pretty smoothly. We had enough supplies for properly cleaning and were given directions on what Freedom House needed done.
As of right now I am beginning to think about what my final project will be. Because I am a design student and I consider my design work to be strong I am thinking about doing a logo for the donation event they are having in a couple months. Also, I am thinking about making some screenprint posters to advertise the event around the area. I still need to talk to Lydia further to see if they even need advertising of if they just invite certain people and have acquired a list from previous years.
Freedom House Visit #1
I am really impressed with how much work freedom house does for the homeless community. I was in awe by all the services and support they provide families while being a non-profit relying on donation to stay afloat. It sounds like the fundraiser thats coming up in the next couple months is a really big deal the organization. I learned about all the services and classes they provide for people who stay at their facilities. These classes educate parents on finances and prepare them for living on their own again. I got a taste of what kind of help they need at Freedom house. I also learned a lot about the circumstances that hurt the less fortunate families in the fox valley causing these people to lose their home.
I really want to provide my creativity to help the Freedom house raise money at their annual fundraiser. The questions I need to answer is at what angle do I want to approach ideas for the theme of this event. I was uncomfortable thinking about how I have never come close to living in poverty and I never really need to think about what in this area would be difficult without things like a car or a first/second shift job. I’m thankful for my first visit pushing me to think about these difficult topics.
Creative Proccess
My creative process includes thinking of a topic, gathering material and information, brainstorming, then developing my idea. I generate ideas by being aware of the world around me. Reading the news not only allows me to become aware but I then shape an opinion on what’s going on in the world and enjoy making work from my perspective. I also enjoy browsing sites like Instagram and Pinterest to try and catch inspiration from other artists work.
Public art is work that has been created with the intention of being staged in the public domain. I have not yet made any work that’s been outdoors, but I have made work that has been put on display in a public area. I would like to create more work that will reach a larger audience by being in public. The intent I have when creating work is for any type of person to see it and question it. I try to make work that will make people think or start a controversial conversation. Social media such allows me to display my work publicly. Social media allows my work to get more exposure and a different audience than just the people who walk through the Bush Art Center.
