Collective Imprints Project

Images of Our Mural

2008-09-16T00:47:00.000-07:00

There will be more images of the finished mural coming soon, but I wanted to get a few images posted.

Click to Enlarge

Celebrating our Work

2008-05-29T19:14:00.000-07:00

We had a great article in the Philadelphia Daily News on May 20, check it out.

On May 1 we had a great community celebration, with many people helping tell the story of this project. A film and slide show about the project was being projected on the wall as we listed to live music, ate and shared stories with new friends.

It was one of those special and authentic community arts events where you had to be there in person to fully appreciate the feelings of pride in our work. There have been a number of participants who wrote lengthy articles about their experience in Collective Imprints. This project really was a ground breaking experience, and something that I hope will live on not only on the walls of the Rotunda but in the hearts and minds of all who participated in the project in someway. Until the very end new people were coming to get involved. Clearly people in Philadelphia love community arts.

Rashida describing the mural.

Jodi leads a community movement response to the mural.

Ben describing the mural.

1 year. over 100 imprints. 1 unique art installation. community arts

2008-04-15T18:23:00.000-07:00

The Rotunda unveils Collective Imprints
1 year. over 100 imprints. 1 unique art installation. community arts

PHILADELPHIA - On Thursday, May 1, 2008, The Rotunda will unveil the
Collective Imprints art installation, a collectively-produced work of visual art that celebrates the life and history of The Rotunda, local history and folklore, and visions for future neighborhoods and communities.

This piece will remain on permanent display at The Rotunda (in a most interesting place), reminding audiences and performers that The Rotunda is a vital connector that inspires genuine dialogue and social change.

Collective Imprints, the first project of its kind in Philadelphia, is unique in that it employed dialogue, movement, music-making, and holistic collaboration from all participants. Everyone was welcome to brainstorm, move, make music, draw, paint, and collaborate on designs. Never before has such a long term multi-faceted and inclusive project been open to the general public in this city. We believe that future projects will be born of this, fostering long lasting connections between disparate communities.

About the Unveiling

Please join us on May 1, from 6pm until 9pm at The Rotunda, 4014 Walnut Street in Philadelphia.

The unveiling will kickoff with music, light refreshments, a photo slide show, and a short presentation by some of the Collective Imprints participants, followed by an open jam session (bring your own percussion instrument).

Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend as we celebrate this historic project.

More about Collective Imprints

Collective Imprints was conceived last year by, among others, local community artist, muralist, and activist Michael B. Schwartz, and launched its first collaborative session on November 6, 2007. The work did not stop until the paint was dry last week.

The project started off with eye-opening and inclusive conversations about notions of belonging, place, community, activism, The Rotunda's mission, the arts, power of the people, and more. We also brought movement into the work as we explored new ways of brainstorming, using exercises shared by West Philadelphia multi-faceted artist Jodi Netzer. In addition, Bill Feiger, of Stares to Nowhere and other local acts, shared his musical instruments from around the world as we used sound and music to evoke even more ideas.

Shortly thereafter, we began to draw and paint images based on ideas spawned during conversations and movement exploration. Nearly 150 people participated, seeking to strengthen connections within the greater Rotunda community while building a sense of ownership and interconnectivity to the surrounding area.

Participants ranged from 5 year old school children to college students, teachers, doctors, professors, truck drivers, homemakers, and much more. On Martin Luther King, jr. Day alone, nearly 80 people spent their Day of Service working on Collective Imprints!

Support for this project was provided in part by The Puffin Foundation Ltd. and the 40th Street Artist-in-Residence program.

Installation Time!

2008-04-07T11:28:00.000-07:00

Well its the final stage of the Collective Imprints project, more opportunities to finish up your project, eat, paint, listen to music and install the work!

THIS Wed, April 9 at 6pm at the Rotunda
We will be doing a final touch up paint night, and meeting to talk about the unveiling

Tues April 22 6-9pm at the Rotunda
We will be listening in to election night results and starting the installation of the panels.

Wed April 23 12-6pm at the Rotunda
Installation - we need your help! Please let us know if your available!

MAY 1 - at the Rotunda
Grand Unveiling and Celebration - time TBA

Hope to see you soon! Congratulations to everyone on a successful and beautiful project.

Day 11: Martin Luther King Day of Service Paint Day

2008-01-21T15:47:00.000-08:00

Today more than 70 people participated in our third Community Paint Day from 11am-3pm as part of the 13th annual Martin Luther King Day of Service.

You still have time to be involved in helping with this amazing community driven arts project Tuesday Jan. 22 from 6-8pm at the Rotunda.

Stay tuned to this blog for the installation and unveiling dates.

Here are some more great links to images that Bonnie Macallister sent in: (1) (2)

Day 10: Painting Builds Community

2008-01-16T10:16:00.000-08:00

As we enter the final mile of our project we invite everyone to come out to celebrate MLK Day by painting as a community. We are expecting a huge turn out, so bring your paint clothing and some friends and family.

Jan. 21 from 11am - 3pm at the Rotunda

To date more than 40 people from all walks of life have helped to design and paint this fantastic project. Each person brings their own style of painting, ideas and creative sensibilities.

The final workshop will be Jan 22 - 6-8pm, at the Rotunda, but it looks like we will add some more sessions to do final details, then install and seal the work. Stay tuned for information about the project unveiling as well.

Community Paint Days

2008-01-01T12:27:00.000-08:00

Just a reminder that we will be having three *community paint days* for Collective Imprints in addition to the Tuesday sessions. All workshops are at the Rotunda. Please bring your friends and family, open to the general public.

* Sunday Jan 6, from Noon - 6pm*

* Saturday Jan 12, from Noon - 6pm*

* Monday Jan 21, 11am - 3pm* MLK Day of Service

Images of the Rotunda

2007-12-20T12:09:00.000-08:00

Photo Essay by JJ Tiziou
http://www.jjtiziou.net/

Catalysis

2007-12-14T11:21:00.001-08:00

By: Peter Richman

“Taking understanding into action is dependent upon seeing that we are profoundly interconnected with the world. The notion of ‘I’ is emancipated. It becomes ‘we,’ integrated into a networked society in which we see ourselves in relation to ‘the other,’ a part of the world rather than a consumer of it.” – Anne Douglas and Chris Fremantle (1)

“Wow, I haven’t used my brain in such a long time,” Danielle, who works at a large insurance company, realized aloud. Twirling her pencil, she announced in a part-joking, part-earnest, part-urgently-serious voice, “Thanks you guys for making me use my brain again!” After a collective round of nervous laughter, Rashida looked up from writing in her notebook and said, “I wasn’t gonna come tonight – I’ve got a million things to do at home, but I told myself I had to come and be here for myself. This is important and my work can wait.”

The Project
Collective Imprints is a work of conceptual art, a sociological experiment, a social gathering, a healing process. It’s a public intervention and an intervention by the public, both a highlighter and a mitigator of difference. What I mean to say by this is that the complexity of the project resists a simple definition, or, more pointedly, that I myself am still struggling to figure out what, exactly, Collective Imprints is.

The brainchild of community artist Michael Schwartz in conjunction with West Philadelphia arts space The Rotunda (2) , Collective Imprints is a ten-week, community-based, participatory visual arts collaboration. The ultimate goal – but not the ultimate purpose – of the project is to create two 4’ x 40’ murals on masonite panels to be installed in front of the venue’s two overhanging balconies.

According to the invitation to participate, offered as an open call to all of Philadelphia, the project aims “to bring together diverse groups and individuals who make The Rotunda the vital venue that it is. In doing so, we will discuss The Rotunda’s mission statement,” which reads:

“Fueled by the belief that art is a catalyst for social change and that the arts can lead to the formation of meaningful partnerships between the University of Pennsylvania and its surrounding community, The Rotunda is a community gathering place for the promotion of arts and culture.”

What distinguishes Collective Imprints from most murals – a distinction especially relevant in Philadelphia, the mural capital of the world – is that it is not a paint-by-numbers project. Rather, all ideas are generated and converted into visual artwork by the participants. “We want people to broadcast here,” said Executive Director of The Rotunda Gina Renzi. “We want to know what they think of this city, what it needs, what their street sounds like on a Saturday night, and what The Rotunda’s commitment to community-based programming means to them.”

A Critical Approach
Community artists are often considered artist-activists, artists who use their craft as a tool to promote a certain kind of social change. This approach regards their art as purposive – hinging on and limited by its political concerns – and thus unavoidably suppressed, albeit in the name of reform. Rather than viewing arts-activism as merely diluted art, however, I argue that the artist-activist should instead be seen as a synthesizer – an artist and an activist – for although the two roles are inextricably linked, they are nevertheless two distinct, discrete roles.

To properly mark this distinction, community art demands critical assessment from two different angles: (1) that which focuses on the participants, the art they create, how they create it, and the effects the project has on the communities involved, and (2) that which focuses on the artist facilitator as navigator and captain, coordinating individuals (of their own free, and generally eager, will) into a grand artwork of an eerily divine scope and stature. The first approach is more apparent, more discussed, and, unfortunately, more often a reason for community art’s silent dismissal from the higher ranks of the art world. What many fail to see, however (the view through the second lens) is the artist facilitator as an artist crafting his medium – human beings. Community artists are sociologists, certainly, but they also extend beyond the reaches of sociology, for their work is an actively engaged, real-time, non-analytical, non-repeatable practice. Community arts, then, can be seen as a humanist extension of process art, for in their work, the facilitator’s people and management skills are his or her artistic skills, the very happening of the project the piece itself.

Collective Imprints: An Experiment in Democracy
Bill came to each session with a different instrument – one week a banjo, another week a zither, yet another a balalaika customized with parts from a sitar. He told us how he built instruments, how he engineered instruments, how he collected instruments. And while he was one of the few participants to come to almost every session, he never once touched the mural. Instead, he played, and he played wonderfully. While we worked on the panels, he transformed Collective Imprints into a concert.

Far from resenting or even dismissing the music, Schwartz – and the whole group – enjoyed and encouraged Bill’s playing. His music became ingrained into Collective Imprints, his contributions no more or less than anyone else’s, and it is this openness, this egalitarian stance towards people and their ideas that truly defines the project. Collective Imprints is space – physical space, social space. It is a weekly time and location and community that anybody can take advantage of any way they like. Most people do, in fact, decide to work on the mural, but if they choose otherwise, they are no less of a participant.

One week, a school teacher brought a group of students from low-income, high-problem homes to Collective Imprints, and one of the boys spent the two hours sitting by himself in the corner. He wouldn’t introduce himself during the icebreakers, he didn’t participate in the discussions, he didn’t even sit with the group.

And it was completely okay.

Nobody coerced or pressured him to participate; he wanted to sit in the corner, and so he did. “Who knows what he’s gone through today just to get here,” Schwartz remarked after the session. “This is a safe space, and that’s how he chooses to express himself.”

Another week, a different teacher brought a group of high school girls from North Philadelphia. Most of them spent the time chatting, but one girl sat to the side and drew a detailed boom box with a winding stream of musical notes going into the left speaker and out the right. Schwartz encouraged her to transfer the image onto one of the panels, and after feebly protesting, she took a seat in front of the boards and began to draw. Another woman was drawing a winding bike path on the same board, and soon their sketches began to overlap and intersect. They decided to work as a team – while some of the other high school girls stopped chatting and started listening to their iPods – and after an hour of collaboration, the two had fused their ideas into one inspired image. The boombox became a building with a group of dancers bursting through its cassette-deck doors, and the bike path – now with both bicycles and musical notes – winded through the building’s speakers. In the open space of Collective Imprints, these two strangers – a black teen and a white adult – were free to work together, and the inventiveness of their joint effort testifies to the potential of such freedom.

Such space, of course, does not just happen, does not exist solely because a group of people are in a room. The space is organic yes, but it is certainly not spontaneous. It requires maintenance and preservation, constant attention but not too much attention, a direction firm enough to ensure its sustainability but also open enough to ensure its sustainability. In short, it needs a gardener, and this is Schwartz’s role as artist facilitator. He cultivates dialogue and fosters creativity, all the while ensuring that his plant – the project, the mural, the participants – continue to grow. Schwartz nurtures people, but to best appreciate the theoretical implications of his work, I find it useful to begin by looking at another community artist.

Tim Rollins Plus K.O.S.
Two artistic practices take place in the Art of Knowledge Workshop: that of Tim Rollins, and that of Tim Rollins + K.O.S. The latter, a collaboration between the artist Rollins and the “learning-disabled” Kids of Survival, is more evident, more approachable, and more acknowledged. The group reads literature from the Western canon, from The Wasteland to The Autobiography of Malcolm X, discusses their reactions, and transfers “these fragments of literary criticism […] onto the large, flat grid, or field, of printed pages” (3) (Tim Rollins + K.O.S. cover their panels/boards with the pages of the book they are exploring).

This side of the workshop – the art of Tim Rollins + K.O.S. – can be seen as the activist side, the political side, and we can easily compare it to Collective Imprints. Both collectives discuss their ideas, distill these thoughts into images, and combine the different pieces into a cohesive whole. One aspect where the two differ, however, is that Rollins brings art to the socially disadvantaged; he provides a legitimate voice to those whose voices are all too often considered illegitimate. In this respect, Tim Rollins + K.O.S. has a greater immediacy, urgency, and sentimentality. Schwarz, on the other hand, gives a voice to those who have been delegitimized for entirely different reasons. The participants in Collective Imprints are not marginalized because of who they are, or how they are (after all, the group is an almost-close-to-representative cross-section of the sixth most populous city in the United States), but rather because of where and when they are.

Tearing Down the Art-Industrial Complex
During one of the earlier sessions, I admitted to Schwartz that I dislike drawing. I told him that whenever I try to draw, or map, or chart my ideas into something visual, I feel like I run into a brick wall. I’m an okay thinker, I said, but when it comes to the visual creative manifestation of my ideas – nothing.

I’m not sure what I was expecting him to do, how I anticipated he’d advise me. I assumed it would be an art lesson, a basic drawing tutorial, maybe even a concession that some people just aren’t visual artists. But instead of teaching and instruction, he offered me a diagnosis and a prescription.

We performed a few technical exercises designed to separate my hand (and the act of drawing) from my mind (and the act of thinking). And after just a few minutes, Schwartz told me the problem – I was too critical, too analytical, too concerned – not even concerned, but obsessed – with what the final image would look like, that before I even picked up my pencil, I had already stifled my imagination.

And he was right. (4)

Schwartz explained that this blockage is the result of what he calls the art-industrial complex, so named because the primary focus is on the finished product, the final piece. Creativity is not an innate talent, but rather a skill to develop, and the art-industrial complex suffocates that development. Instead, Schwartz argues – and this is a crucial component of Collective Imprints – the emphasis should be on the very process of creativity itself. To move towards a more egalitarian society, we need to unlock people’s imaginations, free their minds to envision that such a society could even exist.

The first step to accomplishing this is to unshackle individuals from the confines of that complex, to generate a democratic space free of social, political and economic barriers. And this act of generation brings me to the second artistic practice that happens in the Art of Knowledge Workshop.

Tim Rollins Minus K.O.S.
Tim Rollins + K.O.S. should be considered a work by Tim Rollins. For, as obvious as this claim may be, such a collaboration does not just materialize. From the bureaucratic side of organizing the collective to the pragmatic side of organizing the kids, the very existence of Tim Rollins + K.O.S. is, I believe, a work of art.

What makes the analysis tricky, however, is this: I imagine that Rollins faces any number of issues on any given day when working with his students. I am sure that he has to coordinate, that he has to respond, that he has to maneuver, and while all of these actions are his artistic practice, none of them can be appreciated from an outsider’s perspective. I know that Rollins has to be a captain, but because I am not a part of his team, I can only speculate as to the nature of his leadership (i.e. his art).

Collective Imprints: An Experiment in the Arts
That insider’s perspective, then, is the view through the second lens, the approach that regards the method by which Schwarz guides the group as a processual artistic practice. I can appreciate it because, and only because, I am a part of it, for the work defies any form of documentation. The mural itself is, in many ways, simply a residue of the process – the final product, as it were, deserving secondary attention at best. Photographs miss the interactivity, description misses the vitality, even a video of the group dynamic falls short, for anybody watching would only be seeing somebody else participate in the work.

This evasion of, even indifference to, formal recording comes as no surprise because Schwartz’ work is born of a different artistic framework than that which values documentation. Collective Imprints is not a piece to be seen, or to be understood; it is a piece to experience, and it is this human element – the inconsistency, the unpredictability, not knowing if enough people will show up one week to even have a session – that gives it its life.

An Undocumented Artist?
This inability to document the project ultimately leads to perhaps the most pressing issue – what does Schwartz, as a fine artist, sacrifice to do a project like Collective Imprints? Or, in his own words, “can [this] process produce aesthetically pleasing results?”

These are the primary issues facing community arts today, and they address the necessity of striking a balance between the creative process and the finished product. Community-created murals are often criticized as looking “amateurish,” but is this really such a criticism? A final-product approach to art leaves little room for anything that looks crude, unsophisticated, or disproportionate. But when the finished piece is seen as the result of a certain kind of process, the irregularity in a mural comes to mirror an irregularity in society. A defect here, a peculiar combination there – these deviations from the accepted vocabulary come to signify more than simple visual images. In so doing, community arts can then force us to redefine our aesthetics, to align them not with an institution but with ourselves. As Danielle noted during Collective Imprints, if we’ll allow it, community arts can force us to use our brains.

Notes:
1. Leading Through Practice. March, 2007. Accessed from http://www.a-n.co.uk/
2. The Rotunda presents over 250 events annually, ranging from rock, electronic, jazz, and hip hop, to music from around the world, ambient, activist, spoken word, theater, panels, film, exhibits, dance, education, and various experimental forms of art and performance. National acts often perform side by side with local artists, illustrating Philadelphia's eclectic and robust music scene. As an alcohol-free, smoke-free venue, The Rotunda provides a critical social alternative for all ages, and opens its doors to the public [usually for free] for cultural events as well as a meeting, rehearsal, classroom, and workshop space for various West Philadelphia and citywide organizations, after-school, and youth programs. http://www.therotunda.org/foundation.html.
3. http://shs.westport.k12.ct.us/jwb/Collab/KOS/Rollins.htm
4. A tangential, anecdotal, but still very-much-related aside: My first (and only) memory of trying to draw is from when I was six or seven years old. I remember it vividly – I wanted to draw a sunset I had seen on the beach in Florida. The image was crystal clear in my head (and it still is), but I struggled to put that vision onto paper. It’s not my happiest memory, to be honest – it ends with me tearing paper and throwing markers, but I’m sure that the clarity with which I still recall it indicates the magnitude of its impact on my psychology. When Michael diagnosed my hyper-criticality, it was the first thing that came to mind.

Day 6: Collective Design

2007-12-11T20:38:00.000-08:00

Today we continued to develop the layout of the project, transferring ideas to panels and painting in lines. The project is really moving along nicely, with many ideas and stories being combined and developed. We also talked about symbolic color and reviewed basic color theory.

Here are some images Bonnie gathered that are being used as source material for one panels. They represent they a few of the many things that happen at the Rotunda.

Next week we will be using music to help design the rhythm and tempo of the work.

Day 4: Drawing Consensus

2007-11-29T18:19:00.000-08:00

This week will be a visual essay with images provided by Danielle Hannah.

Working in our journals... combining ideas...

Through dialogue we began to combine ideas.

We started to transfer our images to the panels.

It's simple. Move.

2007-11-25T16:48:00.000-08:00

By Gina Renzi

November 14, 2007

Gina Renzi is the Director of The Rotunda, a vibrant arts and culture community venue in West Philadelphia. The Rotunda is fueled by the belief that art is a catalyst for social change and the arts can lead to the formation of meaningful partnerships between the University of Pennsylvania and the surrounding communities. Over 300 events are presented annually, including live music, spoken word, theater, film, art, dance, and education.

When you were a child, you probably skipped, jumped, and imagined. Now that you are grown, do you pause to pretend that you are a sunflower or a fire engine peeling away to a barn fire? Or do you shuffle sleepily from home to work to home, and, on occasion, a restaurant or theater? If the latter, creative movement will save your life as it will shake loose the ideas that are somewhere in your brain but never reach your tongue or pen. I am not talking about dance. We with no coordination and short legs can still explore our bodies, and not in the way that my 6th grade Health book suggested.

In my work, I witness and/or participate in hundreds of critical events, from ten year olds on African drums, to Central Asian throat singers on stage with Sun Ra members to HIV patients sharing a Thanksgiving meal. These events nourish me, despite the hours spent producing them. I cringe when I imagine living without this constant inspiration.

Recently, my mind was blown during a session of Collective Imprints, a new participatory community arts project at The Rotunda. This project, a first for Philadelphia, is the brainchild of artist Michael B. Schwartz, who has facilitated community-building projects elsewhere in the country. Last year, he approached me with the idea to create at The Rotunda a large art installation that will manifest The Rotunda's mission statement and concepts of community and place. We quickly shared this idea with dozens of diverse groups from the communities that have developed at the venue over the years.

In Collective Imprints, input is crucial and everyone gets to paint, draw, write, and speak. Inspired by this, West Philadelphia activist and artist Jodi Netzer became a facilitator of Collective Imprints and suggested that we use one session of this weekly project to MOVE in order to inspire ideas that we will eventually paint into the piece. While I pride myself on enjoying challenges, I hid from this idea. After all, I'd flunked Ballroom Dance in college. However, when she took us through an hour of movement exercises that were powerful examples of play at work, my mind was so enlivened that I developed a pleasant headache. Instead of dance as so many of us know it, this was the building blocks of dancing, foundation of problem solving, and thought unhindered.

Jodi's exercises were inspired by Viewpoints, a system first articulated by Mary Overlie and expanded upon by Anne Bogart and Tina Landau. Its principles are tempo, duration, repetition, kinesthetic response, shape, gesture, architecture, spatial relationship, and topography. Sounds scary, right? Each principle is so intuitive that we quickly adapted. Moreover, the shyest of us relaxed in that many of the exercises were done with eyes closed, as the goal is to invigorate one's own space.

Using each principle, we created gestures, mimicked those of the people around us, traced imaginary paths along the floor, bent our bodies into untested shapes, and used movement to act out the themes that we've been developing throughout Collective Imprints. All along, our movements were sharing stories that our words couldn't. Eventually, we formed smaller groups and chose themes such as West Philadelphia's origins, perceptions of the neighborhood, and local Hip Hop. Incorporating the Viewpoints principles, we created movement skits, each of which differed significantly from the last. In doing so, we taught and were taught.

After participating in this freely creative process, we hurriedly tapped our concepts for the artwork that we will eventually create in Collective Imprints. We were abuzz with newly found, or rediscovered, creativity that produced thoughts that we could not have had otherwise. Clearly, Viewpoints was a new concept to most of us, yet we found that it is an important one in that it unlocks forgotten parts of our imagination. The next time your idea well is dry, save your head from the wall, clear your living room or office floor, and, simply, move.

Day 3: The Elements of Art

2007-11-20T18:08:00.000-08:00

Today we learned about the basic elements of art. For those of you at home try to do a drawing of your idea for the project using these elements:

Line
Shape
Color
Texture
Form
Space
Value

We used this information in our drawings - mapping and combining ideas while looking for connections between each persons concepts.

Consider:

1) How does your idea overlap or connect to others?

2) What interconnections do we see?

3) What sort of visual research do we need for this project?

Please bring visual research materials to next session.

The participants in this project are designing and painting Collective Imprints. This project is a unique and refreshing approach to creating art WITH people. As artist facilitator for this project my role is to lead the process and transfer technical knowledge. The participants are the lead artists.

Bring your friends to the workshops. You can use this site to add your ideas and visual contributions. See you Tuesday.

Day 2: Using Movement to Brainstorm Ideas

2007-11-13T22:24:00.000-08:00

Tonight performance/new genre artist Jodi Netzer led us in a workshop where we used movement to brainstorm ideas for Collective Imprints. As far as I know this was a first ever for Philadelphia, and it was really fun. One participants commented it made them feel like we were kids playing together. Exactly! We were playing out our brainstorm ideas, developing a collective vision for the project. There were presentations by three groups of participants. Each group combined ideas from Day 1 into a visual movement based narrative. The process really helped synthesize ideas for the group.

The four themes that are emerging are:

1) Rotunda as a Hub (overlapping, meeting points)

2) Music

3) Perception of West Philadelphia (inside/outside)

4) Underground (history, creek, activism, unearthing our story, growing up from the Rotunda)

Will you share your ideas with us?

By Jodi Netzer

We made history this evening in Philadelphia at the Rotunda by creating a movement-based workshop which inspired visual ideas for the mural that will be there. This cross-disciplinary approach was an unique and effective way to generate materials and discussion for the project, which may not have been otherwise realized. It also got people on their feet to play and emerge with engaging and synchronistic actions. The youth was wonderfully well-represented at this session. We are also thankful to have had a banjo player there to provide the space with music.

First, I introduced Viewpoints, a system derived from the natural principles of movement, time, and space first articulated by Mary Overlie and further expanded upon by Anne Bogart and Tina Landau. Originally developed for theatre artists, Viewpoints are also used by dancers, but I believe they could be used by musicians, visual artists, ways of being/seeing, and other educational and creative forms. The principles are tempo, duration, repetition, kinesthetic response, shape, gesture, architecture, spacial relationship, and topography.

After introducing Viewpoints through a series of exercises, we built stories through movement. Here is how it worked: One volunteer picked a theme that was developed from the previous session and created a movement based on that theme. A second person picked another theme and created a movement that was of opposite nature in relation to the first person. Then a third person picked a third theme and created a movement that built story off of the previous two people. The result was a story that none of the people could have created by themselves.

Then we split into three groups to create movement or theatrical shorts. Each group agreed to work on a specific theme or to combine multiple themes. They wrote about the themes, discussed out loud their ideas, combined elements, and created scenarios using Viewpoints as a tool for movement generation. The variety of the group shorts were astounding. One was theatrical, one was abstract, and one was a mixture. The first was a theatrical story about how the youth saw hip hop on TV, went to a party, got drunk, littered irresponsibly, got into a car crash due to intoxification, and then became the smog that polluted the air. Their themes were Hip Hop, the environment, and origins. It was a commentary on the highlights and the pitfalls that hip hop culture manifests. The second group performed an abstract movement piece with a chair representing Rotunda as a central hub. The participants moved in circular floor patterns, occasional crossing paths and occasionally meeting together at the hub. Based off of a Viewpoints strategy, they drew a floor pattern (topography) and responded to each other with focus on tempo, duration, repetition, spacial relationship, and kinesthetic response in relationship to architecture (the chair representing Rotunda). It was a great example of utilizing the Viewpoints principles. Their themes were Rotunda as an activity hub, music and words. Their movement was the music and words. The third group had one person digging, another person who represented the underground (Mill Creek, cemetery, Underground Railroad) growing and transforming into an activist, while the third person was discovering/observing the transformation taking place. Their themes were the underground culture, origins and activism. It was a very visual performance work which inspired many drawings.

There was a moment of disagreement in the process when one participant broke from a group to do her own thing. She did not like the portrayal of Hip Hop with drinking and reckless behavior. To keep her engaged, I encouraged her to write a wise statement about cultural pollution and distinguishing between the positive and negative effects of Hip Hop culture. This is where dialogue about the process can reveal more depth and insight into the topic.

From these scenarios and in combination of the previous exercises, everyone documented their experiential responses in their journals. When discussed as a group, further visual ideas and themes were developed from this process. For example, one person drew musical notes as if they are the sun growing a flower rising from the underground with words such as "growth" in the stem and "coming together" in the petals-- based off of the environmental and hip hop theme of the first group, the floor pattern and musical theme of the second group, and the underground theme of the third group. It is very reassuring that people who have little to no movement experience can make the connection from a time/spatial-dimension to create a drawing on a piece of paper, using Garner's theory of Multiple Intelligence.

This was a very exciting process in which participants had surprised themselves that creating visual forms from movement would be possible. It's not only possible, it can inspire a piece of art that may not be possible any other way.

Collective Imprints: On Community and the Rotunda

2007-11-07T14:02:00.000-08:00

by Bonnie MacAllister

"Self-Portraits" 36" X 48" oil, spray, ink on canvas

"Chromatic" 9 X 12 oil and spray on canvas

Both of these have hung at the Rotunda at several events.

When first moved to Center City, I was very detached from the people in my neighborhood. I would see them at the grocery store but never at events or shows. My coworkers from the art museum became my only friends, and they were not my neighbors. I was a girl who had never taken the trolley, who hadn’t made it further west past the U Penn animal hospital, and who’d never taken the El past City Hall.

When I met Denice Witkowski (Vitamin D Productions), she invited me to be a part of her festival, Womynsfest at the Rotunda in West Philadelphia. I knew Clarity Haynes, a woman artist who made a powerful impact with her Breast Book, and Vitamin D had collaborated with her on a film. I met Gina Renzi, and I was struck when she said, “It’s amazing that people don’t know that we’re doing these things in West Philadelphia, and that they’re free.” Instantly, I felt at home.

A few of my friends from the Women’s Caucus for Art, Philadelphia Chapter decided to have a table at the two day event at the Rotunda. We would continue to come back at various events including the F-Word issue launch and Zine Fest, and at both events (and many others) I performed my poetry on the Rotunda’s old and new stages. Over the last few years, we hung our artwork on the wooden walls, on the pillars, and once, I even attempted to hang mine from the balconies (though it wasn’t as successful.) The Rotunda always remains a place of which our art group praises, for its ingenuity and openness in art exhibits.

Not even two years later, I would move to West Philadelphia, just a few blocks away from the Rotunda, and my husband and I would come down often to see the free programming and the West Philly artists who had become our friends. We’ve attended everything from experimental music produced by children’s toys, rare films projected high above the stage, minimalist dance, spare drama, performance poetry featuring robotics and puppetry, and art bazaars with crafts both delicate and diverse. How amazing to have a venue so open to personal growth and with a bravery to showcase such rich programming of the fringes and the underground.

Day One: Brainstorming Ideas

2007-11-06T18:57:00.000-08:00

We came up with tons of ideas and broke them down into the following themes;

Cultural Fusion's
A fusion of reality and vision
Positive Unity
Colors
Neighborhood Bonds
Cancer (cluster)
Penn Power Hmmm?
“Safety” Net
Melting Pot/ Salad Bowl
West Philly Locations
Utilitarian Places
Arti$tic In$piration$
Words
West Philly Music
Origins - of Rotunda/undercurrent
West Philly Activities
Youth
Environment (local-global)
Activism/ Rock the Boat
Origins- of neighborhood

Next week we will be making community arts history in Philadelphia. For the first time movement arts will be used in the community input/ design phase of mural making. Movement artist Jodi Netzer will be co-facilitating the workshop as we develop more ideas and images for our group work of art.

Welcome

2007-11-06T12:17:00.000-08:00

You can post your ideas for the project on this site.

Also check back for project updates.

Here are the dates for the project:

What to bring: A smock, clothing you can get dirty, Photographs, images, poems, posters any creative material that best describes your experiences at the rotunda.

Journals: Each session includes time to work individually or as a group. Information in your journals is personal your own. We do ask that everyone leaves their journals from session to session to insure continuity, and fold the corner of the journal to “lock” it.

11/6 Workshop 1 Brainstorming as a group and individually:

Who you are, what you do and favorite food
How would you describe the Rotunda?
What would you like to see in this work of art?

11/13 Workshop 2 Using Drawing and Movement to Combine Ideas

Basic drawing tips
Movement based brainstorming

11/ 20 Workshop 3 Combining Ideas, Developing Design

Expressive Line
Integrating Ideas

11/27 Workshop 4 Transfer Ideas onto Artwork Surface

Working with Consensus to Integrate Ideas
Using Shapes and Forms in Drawing

12/4 Workshop 5 Transferring Ideas, Checking for Consensus .

12/11 Workshop 6 Color Theory Made Easy/ Design Adjustments

12/18 Workshop 7 Painting, Music, Food and Poetry

12/25, 1/1 No Sessions/ Holiday Break

1/ 8 Workshop 8 Painting, Music, Food and Poetry

1/ 15 Workshop 9 Painting, Music, Food and Poetry

1/22 Workshop 10 Final Touches/ Celebration

Unveiling Date Tentatively Scheduled for MLK Day January 21, Times TBA