About this project
illuminate
vb [ɪˈluːmɪˌneɪt]
1.(tr) to throw light in or into; light up to illuminate a room
2.(tr) to make easily understood; clarify
3. to adorn, decorate, or be decorated with lights
4. (Bookbinding) (tr) to decorate (a letter, page, etc.) by the application of colors, gold, or silver
5.(intr) to become lighted up
Illuminate, a week long, site-specific installation in Scripps Park, opening on Saturday, May 14th, 2011, will feature messages from Detroiters attached to thousands of glowing LEDs that will shed light on the energy that is surrounding the revival of Detroit.
The project is made possible by Foward Arts, Woodbridge Neighborhood Development Corporation and Friends of Scripps Park through Access Arts, Forwards Arts' Visual Arts & Education Program with financial support from the MCACA, Lear and community donations
This installation is in two weeks, and I really need your help to make this public artwork a success!!!
How it works:
I will invite participants to write a message on a slip of handmade paper. This message can express their view as a citizen of Detroit, or answer a posed question, such as:
Why do you believe in Detroit?
What is a way to make Detroit a better place?
What do you want the rest of the world to know about Detroit?
The messages will then be encased in a layer of waterproof contact paper, and attached to a small, colored LED light and placed in the park. The end result will be an illuminated park that also serves as a manuscript, and viewers will be invited to interact with the lights, reading messages and re-arranging them throughout the space.
By including messages from Detroiters of all walks of life, I will exhibit a cohesive bond in the community through a collection of glowing ideas that will be visually and conceptually vibrant.
The LED message lights in Illuminate will be attached to objects throughout Scripps Park- hung from trees, scattered on the grass, magnetized to the playground equipment and the iconic gate surrounding the perimeter. The ideal result will be noticeable to street traffic from Trumbull, Grand River, and Martin Luther King Drive.
The messages, process and final installation of Illuminate
will be photographed and formed into a print-on-demand artist’s book,
which will be available for sale online, with a portion of the proceeds
donated to the Revitalization of Scripps Park and to the Greening of Detroit. A limited edition artists book will also be made in later months and copies of this book will
be donated to the Detroit Institute of Arts, MOCAD, The Detroit Public
Library, The School of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts at
Wayne State University, and the Center for Book and Paper Arts at Columbia College Chicago.
I will use the funds provided by Kickstarter backers to fund my travel
to Detroit (via Megabus!), purchase LEDs, magnets, tape, batteries and
signage, as well as in the photographic documentation of the exhibit,
and to create the print on demand artist's book and limited edition
handmade artist's book that will document the entire installation of Illuminate.
*Access Arts has generously given me a stipend to live off of for the week of the installation, so all backer money will go straight into the installation and artists book!! Thank you Access Arts Detroit!
On a Personal Note:
Until
this summer, when I relocated to Chicago for graduate school, I lived
in Detroit for 10 years. I spent a year of that time living in
Woodbridge, on Trumbull between Alexandrine and Selden, right around the
corner from Scripps Park. I always dreamed that the Park could be as
alive and vibrant as the burgeoning community around it, and I
participated in several clean-up initatives in and around Scripps. This
installation would allow me an opportunity to work in this area again,
and give back to the community, as well as voice some of the community’s
concerns through the messages of light.
FAQ
Have a question? If the info above doesn't help, you can ask the project creator directly.
40
Backers
$1,550
pledged of $1,500 goal
0
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Funding Successful
This project successfully raised its funding goal on May 14, 2011.
Pledge $1 or more Pledge $1 or more
A Thank You on the Illuminate project blog: http://illuminatedetroit.blogspot.com/
Pledge $5 or more Pledge $5 or more
Thank You on website, and a hand printed letterpress Thank You note
Pledge $15 or more Pledge $15 or more
Thank You on website, Letterpress Thank You note, Your own pack of LED throwies to make your own art!
Pledge $25 or more Pledge $25 or more
THE THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU PACKAGE Thank You on website, Letterpress Thank You note, LED throwies pack, Your message included in the project with a photograph of the installation, AND Your name included in the Print on Demand Book
Pledge $40 or more Pledge $40 or more
THE PRINT IS NOT DEAD PACKAGE Thank You on website, Letterpress Thank You note, LED throwies pack, Your message included in the project with a photograph of the installation, Your name included in Print on Demand Book, AND a copy of Print on Demand Book
Pledge $50 or more Pledge $50 or more
THE DETROIT ARTS PACKAGE Thank You on website, Letterpress Thank You note, LED throwies pack, Your message included in the project with a photograph of the installation, Your name included in Print on Demand Book, a SIGNED copy of Print on Demand Book AND a signed copy of Paris of the West, a limited edition zine with postcards from 5 Detroit Artists.
Pledge $75 or more Pledge $75 or more
THE PATRON PACKAGE Thank You on website, Letterpress Thank You note, LED throwies pack, Your message included in the project with a photograph of the installation, Your name included in Print on Demand Book, a SIGNED copy of Print on Demand Book, signed copy of Paris of the West, your name included in colophon of Handmade Limited Edition Artists Book
Pledge $100 or more Pledge $100 or more
THE BOOK ARTS PACKAGE Thank You on website, Letterpress Thank You note, LED throwies pack, Your message included in the project with a photograph of the installation, Your name included in Print on Demand Book, a SIGNED copy of Print on Demand Book, signed copy of Paris of the West, your name included in colophon of Handmade Limited Edition Artists Book, AND a copy of Handmade Limited Edition Artists Book
Pledge $200 or more Pledge $200 or more
THE SPECIAL COLLECTION PACKAGE Thank You on website, Letterpress Thank You note, LED throwies pack, Your message included in the project with a photograph of the installation, Your name included in Print on Demand Book, a SIGNED copy of Print on Demand Book, signed copy of Paris of the West, your name included in colophon of Handmade Limited Edition Artists Book, AND a copy Handmade Limited Edition Artists Book, SIGNED, with Personalized Message inscribed to you in Handmade Limited Edition Artists Book
Pledge $500 or more Pledge $500 or more
THE DETROIT PUBLIC ART TOUR PACKAGE Thank You on website, Letterpress Thank You note, LED throwies pack, Your message included in the project with a photograph of the installation, Your name included in Print on Demand Book, a SIGNED copy of Print on Demand Book, signed copy of Paris of the West, your name included in colophon of Handmade Limited Edition Artists Book, a copy Handmade Limited Edition Artists Book, SIGNED, with Personalized Message inscribed to you in Handmade Limited Edition Artists Book AND An artist led tour of public art in the city of Detroit, including Heidelburg Project, Hamtramck Disneyland, Africantown/Dabls, and site specific art spaces including Popps Packing, The Lot, and the Powerhouse Project, and dinner and drinks at Slows Bar BQ (a restaurant that greatly supports arts initiatives). Tour will take place in June or July 2011.
Project By
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I am an artist and musician from Detroit, currently residing in Chicago, where I am an MFA Candidate at Columbia College Chicago's Interdisciplinary Book and Paper Art's program.
I create paper, objects and artist's books based in two inter-related series, Palimpsest, and Ornament/Monument. I write and sing noir-folk songs and play the autoharp in performative outlets.
My artwork is born out of the need to document life, and to leave something beautiful behind, a need that is complicated, layered, and ever changing.
