stereoscopically<\/a>.<\/p>\nThe chosen location has extensive foot traffic on any given day, which includes pedestrians in route
\nto work downtown, sports fans, art lovers walking from the Warhol Museum (the projections would
\nbe visible from the front door of the Warhol Museum) to the Mattress Factory, as well as residential
\nfoot traffic. This diverse group of people moving through the Northside shares the common thread
\nof intersecting with this historical space. It is exciting to imagine the footsteps of history overlapping
\nwith the activities of contemporary culture.<\/p>\n
We wish to poetically illuminate a bit of this history, while at the same time standing as a model of art practice in the 21st century\u2014a practice that understands that art, history, environment, and audience experience exist symbiotically. The location was also selected based on its southern orientation for prime solar exposure, and yet perpetual shade at the plane of the projection. These two elements existing together is quite unique and perfect for the use as video art space. It easily turns a once blighted space into a neighborhood asset that has relevance to a broad audience.<\/p>\n
The inaugural video projection to be debuted on New Year\u2019s Eve 2008 will be created by Elizabeth Monoian and Robert Ferry and will be a stereoscopic design that metaphorically references Plush Alley\u2019s history as researched at the Heinz History Center. We believe that Plush Alley meets the Charm Bracelet\u2019s goals of innovation as well as enhancing the experience of the residents of and visitors to the Northside.<\/p>\n
We perceive of the Plush Alley installation as Phase 1 of a larger community outreach project, eventually incorporating the Charm Bracelet\u2019s other focus area of Educational and Youth Programming
\nas Phase 2.<\/p>\n
Phase 2
\nEducational and Youth Programming (beginning June 20, 2009):
\nMerging the history of the Northside into educational programming with the children of the neighborhood. We will organize 2-day art day camps every other weekend in June and July pending availability of space. Potential spaces that we will approach include Northside churches, the Children\u2019s Museum, and the New Hazlett Theater. During these 2-day art camps children will be introduced to various histories of the Northside, art making techniques, and the works of artists such as Jacob Lawrence. The children will have the opportunity to express their responses to these histories through art making.<\/p>\n
The projects that the children create will be archived into a projected video at Plush Alley, as well as
\ninto a growing archive contained on a website designed and maintained by Elizabeth Monoian. The value for the youth participating in these day camps and the public presentations of the artworks created during them are far reaching. The end results, we believe, are of self worth, neighborhood pride, and community accountability.<\/p>\n
The specific histories that we will research and present to the children will be as follows:
\n1: Underground Railroad
\n2: Northside Architecture
\n3: Personal Histories<\/p>\n
Phase 3
\nCurated New Media Space with Online Posted Weekly Programming Schedule
\n(beginning December 2009):<\/p>\n
Taking Plush Alley to the next level, the videos projected during each day would be scheduled for
\nsmaller periods of programming time. The schedule would be posted online and would be programmed
\nand updated weekly. An example of a typical day would be as follows:<\/p>\n
6am-9am
\nVideo Blog: Scrolling Text of Stories Told by Neighborhood Children<\/p>\n
9am-12pm
\nLocal Art Day Camp Production, Ages 6-8: A History of Charles Avery<\/p>\n
12pm-3pm
\nLocal Art Day Camp Production, Ages 9-12: The Underground Railroad in
\nPittsburgh\u2019s Northside<\/p>\n
3pm-6pm
\nVideo Artwork by Local Artists – Documentary<\/p>\n
6pm-9pm
\nVideo Art by Pittsburgh Students Age 13-18<\/p>\n
9pm-12pm
\nVideo Artwork by Local Artists – Avant Garde<\/p>\n
12am-3am
\nConcept Pieces of Independent Artists: International Forum<\/p>\n
3am-6am
\nVideo Blog: Scrolling Text of Stories Told by Neighborhood Adults<\/li>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Below is the description of a project that Beth and I worked on with the invaluable assistance of my sister, Sarah. We had proposed the installation for the Northside Charm Bracelet grant and the text is taken from the grant application. Unfortunately, the grant was not received and the idea remains unfunded. We have had … Continue reading “Plush Alley”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":244,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.journalarabia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.journalarabia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.journalarabia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.journalarabia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/244"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.journalarabia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"http:\/\/www.journalarabia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51,"href":"http:\/\/www.journalarabia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions\/51"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.journalarabia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.journalarabia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.journalarabia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}