'Real' Chicago

In If These Walls Could Talk, Unit 2, we learned about revolt murals, different types of mediums and techniques. Artists who were inspiring that we studied are JR, who uses different media - mostly wheat pasting - in each country he visits, and Banksy, who uses spray paint and the trompe l'oeil technique. We practiced the mediums and techniques of watercolor, block-printing, wheat pasting, gels, acrylic paint, and more which helped in deciding what to use in the action project. For the action project we were put into a group of five to sketch a mural idea, and then each member chose a media to use to recreate two parts of the mural on swatches. My medium, watercolor wash, was fun to use but became difficult when it came down to small details. Another problem I faced was with my group when we had to come up with a finalized sketch. Eventually we were successful and with the help of our teacher we were able to create a mural conveying the message we wanted. It was a lot of fun experimenting with different mediums and techniques and to create a mural of our own. I'm definitely looking forward to creating this mural full-scale. Please enjoy our sketch, my swatches, and my artist statement below.

TS
'Real' Chicago
12/15
11" x 3.5" and 11" x 3.5"
Watercolor Wash

AJ, JM, MS, TS, TC. Sketch. 12/15

In our groups sketch you see the skyline of Chicago and five tears with something different inside, burning money, the CTA train map, gang signs, the bean, and signs/flags. This is meant to be what people see as the 'real' Chicago and what actually is the real Chicago. Each tear has a different meaning, three good and two bad. The two negatives are the one with burning money, which is supposed to be a representation of the corrupt politics and brutality, and the one with gang signs, which represents the gangs and violence that is present in the city. The three positives are the one with the CTA train map, showing the great public transportation system we have, the one with the bean, proving we have more beautiful architect and culture then what is popular, and the one with many signs/flags, representing the acceptance our city has regardless of race, religion, or sexuality. We were strongly inspired by Banksy and his use of trompe l'oeil and our unit 1 action projects. The aspects that had been taken from our previous action project had been the skyline, trompe l'oeil, and CTA train lines. It took a long time to finalize our sketch since there had been so many aspects we wanted to cram in. The only idea that we originally wanted that ended up not incorporating had been the use of chains AJ used in her previous action project. It was a really great concept, holding Chicago down to what outsiders want it to look like, but was unable to fit in the piece in a fluid way. We did love the skyline and the trompe l'oeil like tears. Since there had been five tears we gave one to each individual to come up with something to represent the tear. It gave us the freedom to include something each of us wanted adding a unique touch to it. This mural is both a revolt mural against the steriotypical view of Chicago from an outsiders perspective, and tribute mural of the true essence of Chicago and who we are as a city.

TS. Swatch One. 12/15

TS. Swatch Two. 12/15

The material I chose was watercolor wash because I have past experience with it and I've seen beautiful watercolor paintings. It gives bright vibrant colors and adds depth, very important to our piece, to the image. In class we learned how water colors are best for giving a painting or drawing depth and texture, also its ease to mix is a great asset. It helps convey the message through its depth which shows we are more than what is on the surface and the colors that blend show we are one. The swatches ended up looking messy and with smudges in places that had lots of detail. It was very difficult to control my medium because of how easy it is to blend and I did not have a small enough brush for the small details. In the end the swatches did not turn out how I hoped because the colors weren't as bright as I hoped and the details were far to difficult to paint. I believe if I had a smaller finer brush I think it would have worked. We will not be using this in our final mural because of the lack of bright colors and difficulties with the detail, which is a major part of our mural. It also didn't present the realistic look we were going for with the skyline.

JM. Swatch One. 12/15

JM. Swatch Two. 12/15

AJ. Swatch One. 12/15

AJ. Swatch Two. 12/15

My group decided on using wheat pasting with a laser print image and stencils with sharpie oil based markers as the final medium because those seemed to of worked best out of all the mediums chosen. We are still doing the trompe l'oeil technique because we believe it is the best way to get our message out. The wheat paste will give the realistic feel we were going for and would be used for the entire skyline and water. Since the image would be laser print the colors would already be there bright though slightly matte. Stencils would then be used for the small details that were too difficult to do with watercolor, pumice gel, or acrylic paint. It would create a clean cut images for our representations and tears with eye catching hues. We highlight the city for what it is with the skyline and positive traits in bright and vibrant colors while the negative traits will be in darker more matte like colors.

Ή τάν ή επι τάς (Either We Win or We Die)

In If These Walls Could Talk, Unit 1, we learned about murals from Prehistory to the Renaissance. We observed the changing styles throughout time and identified the reason each culture had for creating murals. For our FE we went on a tour of the Pilsen murals to both tie together what we learned and to see how murals still affect people today. This lead us to our first action project, pick a neighborhood in Chicago and create a sketch for a mural addressing an issue of that neighborhood. I choose Greektown which has, like many other neighborhoods, been a victim of gentrification. Originally I planned on doing a neighborhood in the south side, but wasn't inspired causing me to bounce from neighborhood to neighborhood forcing me to rush to complete the action project. I am very satisfied with the neighborhood I chose and my mural portraying their problems. Please enjoy my mural and artist statement below.

TS
Ή τάν ή επι τάς, 11/20/15
11" x 14"
Digital Image

 
The first Greeks in Chicago arrived during the 1840s becoming food peddlers, and naturally became restaurant owners. Around the turn of the century many Greeks were found in, what was originally named, Deltaîbut which was defined by Harrison, Blue Island and Halsted areas. It was later renamed to Greektown and during the 1960s was moved north a few blocks in order for University of Illinois and the Eisenhower Expressway to be built, shrinking the size of the neighborhood. In 1968 gyros and saganaki were introduced instantly becoming a big hit; starting a chain of success for the neighborhood. Most businesses and restaurants opened from 1970 to 1990, and the summer festival, Taste of Greece, became a tradition. The city of Chicago finally recognized Greektown's contributions to the city in 1996 and, with the Democratic National Convention being hosted in Chicago, poured millions of dollars into renovations for the streets and to create a traditional Greek temples and pavilions.

Today, Greektown sustains many old world traditions, prevalent in the establishments throughout the neighborhood. The language is still heard, and the people of the community have strong pride for their heritage, coming out full force during the annual Greek Independence Day parade, the Taste of Greece and the days around Greek Easter. Chicago's Greektown has grown into a renowned attraction, being the place to go for authentic food and culture outside of Greece. Though I don't want to focus on positive of Greektown's outstanding success, but rather the gentrification of the residents of the neighborhood it has caused. Due to the rising popularity it became extremely expensive to live in and many residents left and have spread out across Chicago and the suburbs. This issue is apparent and seen not only in Greektown, but across the city.

People should not be forced to move from their neighborhoods just because they can not afford the growing rate to live there. I wanted the mural as a revolt against gentrification. In the sketch I drew an outline of the city of Chicago with a Greek soldier holding a spear fighting a businessman holding a one hundred dollar bill. The businessman represents the success places has that cause the higher cost for living in an area. They hold the one hundred dollar bill as a weapon showing that in order to still live in the neighborhood they must pay. You then see a traditional Greek soldier who represents Greektown and the want to lower the house fees so they can remain in the neighborhood. Underneath these two people a silhouette of the city can be seen to show that this is a problem around Chicago. The main color theme of blues and golds was inspired by ancient Greek murals; the colors are meant to bring in a reference to water since it is such an important part of their culture.

This mural would be located in the heart of Greektown's businesses, the place with the highest influx of people guaranteeing that a large amount of people, both Greek and non-Greek, would see it. For this mural I want people to realize that we can fix this gentrification, whether it be by talking to the mayor to lower living costs in these business dominate areas or by extending neighborhoods by a few blocks to get back that missing residential factor. People will be able to live comfortably in a community that supports them, that is my hope.

The Ground Hog 2.0

          In Design and Engineering we learned about simple machines and how they form tools. To better understand how tools work we were taught about mathematical notions of forces and leverage. For one of our FEs we went to Home Depot to see current tools, many used by gardeners, and what they were designed to do. On our other FE we had gone to Gravity Tank which help other companies improve their products. Going here had taught us of the design processes. This lead us to our first action project, to improve on a tool and redesign it, with a partner, so an elderly person has less trouble using it. My partner and I had chosen the post hole digger coming up with a design meant to have less difficulty when bringing dirt out of a small hole. There were some difficulties we had along the way, but the biggest one was having to scrap our original design and start from scratch. Though now I am proud that we had overcome this challenge and to of made a better design. I learned that when designing, or redesigning, anything expect a long process that might not succeed every time.

      Empathy, when a person tries to relate to another's situation without experience. This is the basic guideline in coming up with any design, whether your target is young or old. In todays world everything may be designed to be simple and quick to use for everyone, well almost. The elderly were not considered when making the new iPhone or refrigerator. A group of people considered to be outdated when in reality we don't take them into consideration when coming up with a new design. During my interview with a gardener he told me about different types of tools, both good and bad. He went on about how good tools were crucial to any type of job and if they were bad they became stressful to use. However what really struck me was when he said "tools are meant to make a job easier no matter what the job is or the person doing it". So my partner and I decided that we could redesign the post hole digger to make it easier for an elderly person to use. Thus the Ground Hog was born.

TS(2015).Ground Hog

       Before designing the Ground Hog we had to research the original post hole digger. Through this research I found how it's main connecting point was its pivot, which is the base of the entire tool having it open and close. Though I also discovered its two main weaknesses- digging time and strain on the body. Since it is a human powered machine it takes large quantities of time to dig holes deep enough to support posts; causing an extreme amount of strain on the back, arms, hands, and shoulders which often lead to injury. The Ground Hog will be easier upgraded version of this tool that will put less strain on joints and make digging time shrink. This version incorporates horizontal gel handles, one pole, snow blower's arm, charging dock, and buttons to make the process faster. These buttons turn the drill on/off and opens/closes the hatch. The hatch is designed to protect people from the sharp blade of the drill and to hold dirt when lifting it out of the ground. Gel handles are meant for comfort when using this tool this way hands won't become cramped when lifting and pushing the tool. The snow blower arm is meant to toss dirt out of the machine if it becomes too full, this way a person can keep digging if the depth is too hollow.

NOA(2015).Story Board Part1

NOA(2015).Story Board Part 2

      Considering the strain the elderly would have, by driving the tool into the ground and needing to lifting both the tool and dirt up without much force or resistance, the tool we designed would be perfect for them and others. The Ground Hog needs little force going into the ground due to the wedge/incline plane of the drill. Since the incline plane wraps around the cylinder shaped body it allows objects around it to be moved when rotating while the sharp triangle theme of the wedge splits the ground apart so it can do its job. This tool is time efficient because the drill is doing most of the work at a faster pace with higher accuracy. Last but not least it will cause less strain on the joints previously mentioned which results in less injuries.

TS(2015).Ground Hog, Forces

      Throughout this process, like all designers, we encountered challenge after challenge. Our first design had too many errors within the building process even though on paper it was a brilliant solution. We did include some key points from the first design to the current one such as the drill and singular pole instead of two sticks. A problem we ran into with the current design was how dirt would be released from the tool. We came up with the hatch for easy release and the addition of a snow blower's arm for when the container becomes full.

TS(2015).Ground Hog, Arm