Since 2006, Red Dress Productions has partnered with Bleecker Co-op and more than 300 co-op member contributors on the creation of three large-scale community-engaged public artworks. The most recent work, Dwelling, emerged from the Bleecker Co-op Memorial Project that celebrates and memorializes founding co-op manager and human rights activist Diane Frankling.
Dwelling represents an evolution of form into visual interdisciplinarity. Beyond the 2-dimensional mosaic mural that had been originally conceived, the 14’ x 4’ piece is an architectural mixed media work that includes wood construction; custom-colour fabricated glass, and clay fabricated tiles (using a cartoon and slab technique), paint, and mosaic.
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Dwelling, detail. 2012.
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The artistic and
community accomplishments of Bleecker Co-op members reflects a community of practice
that has been cultivated over time. While Bleecker Co-op is attuned to “basic”
needs (safe and affordable housing), it also recognizes that people need beauty
and art; a sense of place and belonging that is about more than our
dwellings. We need bread and roses – equity and beauty; safe
places to explore our (sometimes) dangerous realities; and opportunities to
pursue our creative and aesthetic capacities.
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Dwelling, detail. 2012.
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Dwelling, detail. 2012.
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Some important
articulations and questions emerged during the conceptual development
phase of the Bleecker Co-op Memorial Project:
phase of the Bleecker Co-op Memorial Project:
How can we reflect our legacy of artistic and community
collaboration beyond the Bleecker
Street Co-operative neighbourhood?
Street Co-operative neighbourhood?
What is the impact of community engaged artistic collaboration
at Bleecker Co-op?
What does it mean to be reflected in the Bleecker Street
Co-operative neighbourhood when the neighbourhood is rapidly changing?
Who do we create for (past, present, future)? Who do we
remember? How do we want to be remembered?
Beyond materiality (the “product” that is made), what are
ephemeral ripples of collaborative art? What does it mean to contribute (at the
time of contribution), and what does it mean afterward?
Do we come to know ourselves and our communities differently
through collaborative artistic practices, and if so, how?
What stories would we like to tell about artistic and community
collaboration? Why does they matter?
How can we make room for more voices?
What are we cultivating beyond shared artistic experience?
The Legacy Project: A Community Storytelling
is the creative exploration of these questions and articulations through a series of 12 art workshops, and
oral history research (interviews) with 20 to 30 contributors. It’s our hope
that this work will lead us to a vision (form and content) for the production phase
of The Legacy
Project: A Community Storytelling.
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