"What's in a Story" exhibit at Haley House Bakery Cafe

Last week I installed my exhibit "What's in a Story" at Haley House

Bakery Cafe:  haleyhouse.org/bakery_cafe  It feels great to be 

showingat local venue for a change,  especially one which is so 

supportive of building community. Their website says it all, "We 

believe in Food with Purpose and the Power of Community."  

Have fun exploring their website and facebook page. Haley 

House's story is inspiring.It started as a soup kitchen and today

includes the soup kitchen, an in-community housing program, a 

farm, one-the-job training,classes, the cafe and more.  The cafe

has become a busy venue for all sorts of  events including music, 

art, poetry, readings with regular open mics.  The folks that 

gather and work there demonstrate the wonderful diversity and 

creative energy in our neighborhood.

Celia Grant organizes the gallery in the cafe.  When she asked

if I'd be interested in showing, I jumped at the chance. The

challenge was to present 3-D work in a space  where two 

dimensional work is usually displayed. But hey, I've  never

been one to avoid a  creative challenge...Windows were

adapted for flying books, storytellers and large journals.

and shadow boxes and posters were hung on the walls. 

There is a large screen which comes down in the middle of the 

back wall  so nothing could project out very far in the center.

We set up small shelves (made by my hubby for my recent

NYC show) to the right and left and put posters between.

The creatures and figures thought they looked good against

the brick walls.

 

An overhead support was perfect for Snarval,the large dragon.

 

The opening was last Friday eve announced via the flier

above, plus various social media networks, emails, and 

ad in the Bay State Banner. My thanks to to Bing Broderick

and Celia for PR and helping brainstorm setup, Sandie 

Fenton and my hubby for photos of the opening and to 

everyone who came. 40-50 people showed up, young, old 

and in  between from  many different connections.  Also

thanks to all the folks at Haley House Bakery Cafe who have

been talking about my work to customers since the opening.

Snarval was noticed: 

 There were lots of stories shared, questions and good 

Haley House sweet potato pizza.

 

 

I discussed techniques distributed a few stories, talked with
friends including kids I have worked with and met new folks.
A "Can you name a dragon that is not in Wendy's Great
Book of Dragon Names challenge" resulted in two more
names to ad to my book which had 451 dragon names.

 

Haley House cafe is a place where going beyond comfortable

boundaries is supported, so I stepped up and read from "Sophia's 

Quest" the mythic folk tale I have been working on for a long time. 

I'm hoping to get it into a finished form by the end of the summer. 

The story was  inspired by the cupola of a run down Victorian 

house in the  neighborhood. I kept looking up at the cupola 

wondering what  was up  there. A nest ? perhaps the nest of a 

phoenix? I didn't know if  my creatures would show up  in the 

tale, but of course they did as well as a library of flying books.

 People asked what next ? Good question. Next post I'll show
some of the posters I had in the show..and soon will  begin
to give a peek at some of Sophia's travels.

Meanwhile, if you're in the Boston area, drop over to Haley House
Bakery Cafe at 12 Dade Street, Roxbury for conversation, good
food and to contemplate "what's in a story".  

Adventure on!  Wendy

HYCC - Make Ours Green project

"Make Ours Green" was the title of this Spring's Green architecture
project at Hawthorne Youth and Community Center's after school
program. It was made possible through a Boston Foundation
for Architecture grant bfagrants.org and supported by Friends of
the Dudley Library and the Dudley literacy center. As usual the
final exhibit is on display at the Dudley library for all to enjoy.
The photo above shows how the display looks in the library.

With the help of mentors from archventures.org HYCC kids
learned about "green" architecture I accompanied them on trips
and helped  facilitate. Three sites in our Highland Park
neighborhood are slated for green architecture projects so
the time was right to discuss green building and energy
saving concepts with HYCC  youth and families.

Construction is under way at "Powahouse" a PlaceTailor.com
project, just a short walk from HYCC.  The kids loved
seeing the "bones" of the house and everything that is
hidden behind the interior walls of a house. The Archventures
mentors did a great job of explaining various aspects including
the "light wells" the air exchange, the super insulation, the
"bridge" feature in one of the units, the plumbing and the
plans for solar panels etc.   The kids especially enjoyed the
view from the roof deck. Check out the powahouse blog
for May 25: http://www.powahouse.org/2012/05/25/archventures/
it shows some of the kids on tour.  The blog is written
from the perspective of the house which might explain
the confusion that these are elementary school, not
middle school children.  Sometimes houses, even smart
green buildings can't distinguish school levels very well.

One of the other designated sites, but one which doesn't
yet have construction started, was chosen by the kids for
their imagined houses.  It is across from Marcella Park
which the kids know well.

They decided to design two units - one for 5 people,
and one for 10 with extended family possibilities. Each
house has a bedroom and bath on the first floor for a
grandparent or two. As a grandparent myself,  I was
pleased to hear them take us into consideration.

After sketching some floor plans, they refined their
ideas using blocks and legos. Working with the blocks
they determined the large unit should have 2 compact
bedrooms for the 4 children and a large playroom
(complete with flat screen TV).  Ingenuity soared as
one student designed a toilet which would be both comfy
and include the idea of composting. He had never heard of 
composting toilets. I brought in some materials about them
so he could do further research.

Archventures brought laser cut cardboard

pieces and model construction began.

 

The buildings grew, floor plans were created,
and colorful exterior walls painted.

These would definitely be houses noticed from a distance.
Every floor had its own color. Outside walls were insulated
(polyester simulating cellulose..)  and colorful interior walls
added. The mentors explained why it was important to think
through which rooms should be facing south to get the most
light. The kids put in the largest windows there.
This is the south face of the finished model:

Complete with solar panels facing south, backyard
sculpture, a meditation space and third floor open
space adjoining the master bedroom (and hot tub room).
This is the North Face:

And the aerial view which shows common roof
garden  and/or green roof:

Wonder if the Archventure team got any ideas for
future designs?

At the presentation, kids explained to parents and
community about the model and what they had learned.
Archventures provided some intriguing maps of the
neighborhood and comparisons with downtown Boston
which were displayed along with sketches by the kids.

Certificates and green necklaces were handed out and
dinner enjoyed with family, friends and library staff.

Unfortunately with end of school logistics, not
too many of the youth could be at the presentation,
but they will be able to take their parents and
friends to see the display at the library all summer.

In the Fall, we'll take the youth back to Powahouse
when it is completed in September. They will watch the
empty lot they chose as green construction begins there.
It will be fun for them to compare their designs  to
what is built and to watch for construction on the third
site just around the corner from HYCC. Building
should begin there soon as well.

The HYCC kids invite everyone down to the Dudley
branch  library to see their exhibit and learn a bit more
about green architecture.  HYCC staff and kids thank
everyone for making the project possible.

For now, I'm off to New Jersey, to help one of our
daughters and family get ready to move to Ecuador.
Looks like South American travel will be in our future
again. Then home to set up a show of my work at a
local cafe in early July.

Adventure on.     Wendy   

HYCC kids create thrones

 
Hawthorne Youth and Community center is one of the
organizations connected to the Community Partnership
Program of the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum www.isgm.org

Last year after noting all the mythic creatures at the museum,
the HYCC kids created Sedred, the dragon for the
Community Creations exhibit. See my blog post:
www.wendyellertson.blogspot.com/2011/06/hycc-kids-sedred-fire-biter-silver.html
This year during the visits to the museum, the kids took
special notice of all the chairs, seats, and thrones in the
museum and decided to create their own seats for royalty.

We took two chairs which had been pulled from the trash
and transformed them.

They used rolled up cardboard and tape to create arms
and extended the height with more cardboard that they
painted gold. They  wrapped the "arms" with polyester
and cloth.




  Then created two "shields" - one for a queen, one for a
king. ...and decorated, decorated, decorated:

 

Of course what is a project without hot glue?

 


...and lots of stitching...satin pillows and covers

 

 and final fringe:

The King's skirt seemed a little plain, so more decoration was added:





Then of course, the chairs had to be tried out.  To see if
they felt sufficiently royal.  They passed.

The final touch - two peacock feather each...and off they went to
the museum for display:

 



and celebrating with family and friends in the new bright
artspace in the new addition to the museum.

 

 The entire Community Creations exhibit including the work
made by the youth of all the partnership organizations will be
on display  through August.  If you are in Boston and haven't
been able to visit the Gardner Museum since it reopened
with its spectacular new wing, I recommend strongly
that you do.  It's beautiful.  The HYCC thrones await you!

With the school year wrapping up, I'm helping with just
one last HYCC project - a model of "green architecture"
in collaboration with Archventures and students at the
Boston Architectural Center.  I'll let you know what they
come up with.

Adventure on!   Wendy