Class minutes 2-24-10

*Amanda talked about the quilt project (will added info from Austyn and Kurt) and showed her completed quilt top—talked about working in conjunction with Americorps and the Build-a-Bed Foundation, the process of quilt making, the quilting bees, and how the quilts will be on display for a day in Marty’s N. Limestone store.

*Austyn explained the This I Believe essay projects, and Amanda read her 1^st essay.

*Paul talked about the oral history projects and how they related to building community and preserving unique histories of our communitites.

-Kathleen shared some stories about Spalding’s Bakery that her group may be using:

* One lady said that it was annoying to live so close to the bakery because all the cars lined up to get doughnuts in the morning would block her driveway. Another person said that no matter how many shootings occurred in the area, people from the “nice part of town” would still come to the bakery because the doughnuts were so good.

*The Louisville Class

-collaborativeprojects2010.blogspot.com

-UofL students can take studio courses up to 3 times, some students have taken this class twice already.

-Students Jimmy and Lucy started by talking about past projects of the class (some of which were inspired by an earlier photography class some of the students had taken)

*Volunteered at St. Joseph’s Children’s Home/Hospital: The children were taught photography. One project involved children taking pictures with toy cameras—the pictures were then combined to make a bigger picture. Another project where the children were able to dress up as superheros. The pictures were put on display in a gallery and the children were invited to see the exhibit showcasing their photos.

*Some photos of children included a Basketball Playing Banana, as well as the variety of unique superheros.

-At one time, the class had a grant and the money was spent on bus shelters and printing. A lot of the students donate supplies, go to goodwill, contribute personally, etc.

-We looked at images on their blog

-Impactproject.org: Will be sponsoring a project similar to the film “Born into Brothels.” Children will be giving cameras and taught how to take meaningful pictures, a 4 week project.

-The Walnut St. Then and Now Project: Photos from archives juxtaposed with “now” photos

*A poor inner city area (similar to our N. Limestone neighborhood). The students are working to revitalize the area and bring positive attention back to it. Get students to go to an “intimidating” part of town. A project to “create dialogue” via interaction with people in the neighborhood.

-Lexi’s Music Project: “The Sight of Sound.”

*Art and sound installations: included a mock Tesla coil, 4000+ paper airplanes in a corridor where movement through the corridor triggered certain sounds

*Dial-a-Screamer Project: will work with human, mountain top removal, and other organizations (may eventually work with soundscapes) to broadcast messages throughout the city.

*Q&A:

-Q: What is the value of collaborating? A: Learn to relinquish control and listen to others; helps you learn about yourself and others—Learn empathy, new perspectives

-Q: Why retake the class? A: It’s enjoyable; good practice for future goals of the students (Lucy) The class changes with each new group of students; not necessarily the same class twice.

-Q: How are we received in the N. Limestone community? A: It seems like the community has been responsive, maybe because it has been seen as Transy reaching out to the neighborhoods, trying to be a better neighbor. An attempt to integrate neighborhoods, trying to build connections between Transy and the north side.

*The Louisville class gives us an assignment: Create “art” for an unexpected spot in the N. Limestone neighborhood/community. We have a week from Friday, and we must document it to be posted on the blogs.

*We give the Louisville class an assignment: Write a This I Believe essay to be read in their class, and submitted on our blog. Due a week from Friday.