Installations

For Victory

Elizabeth Isakson-Dado

 

For Victory, will be a typographic installation of mixed-­‐media letterpress printed signage on the grounds and in the planters of the papermaker’s garden.  The text will be a two part investigation into the internal voice of wartime life and the external voice of  World War Two propaganda posters through individual signs. Each sign will be letterpress printed on paper with transparent ink using vintage wood type, then flocked with found materials from the papermaker’s garden (dirt, leaves, city debris, etc.).  The language for each sign in the garden planters will be borrowed from my grandmother’s letters and journal entries, during the time she was an officer in the USO.  The text for each sign outside of the planters will be borrowed from WWII propaganda posters encouraging women to plant, grow and can food to help the war effort.  The propaganda signage should be visible from the street and sidewalks on Wabash, while the personal signage requires investigating the raised beds and walking through the garden.  

 

 

Follow Me: Labor for Victory

Eden Unlüata

During the Hellenistic period, people in the sex trade would often wear shoes with the words “follow me” embossed on the soles. As they walked the dusty streets the shoes would leave a print behind. This discreet marketing technique afforded them a medium to convey a message to a clientele that was better educated.

 

The South Loop area of Chicago was once the epicenter of the sex trade in the city. Its proximity to the Loop, some industrial areas, transportation, and distance to the neighborhoods made it an ideal location for the trade to flourish.

 

In a series of interactive works that consists of crude shoes with words embossed on the bottoms of them using upholstery nails. These shoes will afford the participants to strap them over their regular street shoes. Once strapped on, the viewers will walk down a path made from sand that is poured over the ground gravel. Each shoe will have a different message, each one raising awareness about food production, and bio-diversity, inviting viewers to take steps to create their own victory gardens, while honoring the under-acknowledged labor of countless people throughout history.

 

H O L D

Heather R. Buechler

HOLD from below HOLD is a durational performance that explores the roots of the word

SUSTAIN—a word that speaks directly to the history of Victory Gardens as both an idea and an action. It is driven by two powerful symbols from American cultural history: the Victory Garden and the Quilt.

 

The project begins by turning over the old soil in a garden bed at the Columbia College Chicago Papermaker’s Garden. Turning over incorporates new organic compost and straw in preparation for new crops or wintering over. After this first turning, the bed will be turned a second time to incorporate scraps of new and old cotton yardage. The yardage will sit in this idle soil for a period of several weeks and through multiple rains.

At the end of this period I will unearth the now-stained yardage, and prepare a simple pattern for a small quilt square. The design will be informed by the colors of the yardage and the beds themselves, as well as research into traditional quilting patterns that embody the resilience of communities.

 

Paper Tamales | Tamales de Papel 

By Maggie Puckett

The traditional Mesoamerican dish will transform into an edition of paper tamales to be distributed during Terrain. Historically, tamales provided on-the-go food for Aztec and Mayan armies. In this way they connect with the idea of Victory Gardens, as they provided nourishment during times of social conflict.

Paper tamales consist of the outer wrapper (handmade corn husk paper) and a filling of indigenous corn seeds paired with a small paper scroll. The scroll contains information about the struggle of indigenous American peoples to preserve their autonomy and culture in the face of genocide and homogenization and rare seed varieties, which can be planted for the purpose of preserving the rich cultural and biological diversity that is required for sustainable living.

 

Workshops/Events

Amy Leners

‘Color Collecting’ is a 12 page pamphlet on creating natural dyes from plants in the Chicago area. The pamphlet will address topics such as; foraging for dyestuffs native to Chicago, responsible collection of materials, safe and responsible mordanting, planting an annual dye bed suitable for small urban spaces, basic dye techniques and a materials list to get started.

A small natural dye demo session in the garden could be coordinated with the other programming. In this session I would use marigolds from the Papermaker’s Garden to create a dye bath in which attendants could make test swatches using different fabrics. I would be available during this session to talk about the pamphlet, discuss natural dye techniques and to provide resources for those that wish to learn more. I can also bring books, tools and images of urban dye garden spaces I have created.

 

Objects of Desire: A One-Day Workshop of Papermaking, Remembrance, and Reflection

Don Widmer

I propose a one-day event where people in the community are invited to make paper, create pulp-painted imagery, and remember Chicago-area children who have died from gun violence.  

The project consists of pulp-painted images of guns on handmade sheets of paper.  The gun images come from catalogs of readily available firearms.  When held up to the light, the name of a child appears embedded within the paper as a watermark.  This project relies on handmade paper’s history as a transformational and spiritual medium of expression.  Paper was invented in China where the concept of “spirit paper” is still practiced.  Objects are fashioned from paper and burned during funeral services.  In other cultures religious texts have been recorded and preserved on paper.  In keeping with these traditions, the individual pieces in Objects of Desire are created to be memorial objects which change our perceptions with the changing light.  

I plan to set up a papermaking station.  Many of my completed sheets will be on display along with a description of the project.  Individuals will be invited to take part in one or more aspects of art creation and reflection.

I will also have finished pieces available for purchase.  50 percent of the price paid for the artwork will be donated to After School Matters, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing resources and support for Chicago teens.

 

The Mobile Mill + Victory Gardens

Jillian Bruschera

As part of a national U.S. road-tip this Fall 2015, The Mobile Mill proposes to make a pit-stop in Chicago, Illinois to participate in Sabina Ott’s Terrain Biennial. Revisiting its debut workshop location, The Mobile Mill returns one year later to the Papermaker’s Garden space at Columbia College Chicago to offer a free, public ‘Make and Take’ papermaking workshop on Tuesday, September 15, 2015 (*or October 18-23). Aiming to create an inclusive space for art-making that engages a diverse community of learners, The Mobile Mill will harness this active, open-access location as space for visibly public papermaking by setting up studio on the garden’s cement-top or gravel-ground. Placing a mobile studio in a visible landscape allows the public to engage in this little-known art form and consider it in relationship to everyday materials that can be transformed into handmade paper. Further, by taking the craft outside of the traditionally static studio space, this project democratizes the papermaking experience by giving local access to the expensive, cumbersome, and even rare, equipment required to make paper.

 

Within this experiential learning environment, I will incorporate themes of ecology and sustainability by working with papermaking fibers sourced directly from the local Chicago environment. There are plenty of naturally growing plants in the area that can be harvested and transformed into pulp material for papermaking. Additionally, there are limitless opportunities to make use of consumer paper waste. Persons who become involved with The Mobile Mill ‘Make and Take’ workshops become part of a workflow that results in community-generated paper artworks. As part of the Mobile Mill’s ‘pay-it-forward’ ethos, participants make their own paper but will leave with paper made by a stranger. This proposed workflow connects directly to historical models of communal labor contribution during the Victory Gardens era.

With an emphasis on social-based process, this art-work blurs the line between art and experience, making the radical effort to push beyond studio walls. In this way, The Mobile Mill is not just about making things, but also it is about making things happen. Following this proposed work, The Mobile Mill will continue travelling east, eventually landing in Aurora, New York for a Residency project at Wells College. All papers made at the Victory Gardens workshop will be paid forward as “take” papers in the New York workshop series.