Artist's Statement

While working on my final project and my service learning, I was able to learn a lot about the community and people who lived in the area. I was able to improve my skills in camera use and learn some things about video cameras. Overall I thought my time spent working on this project and my service learning hours was time well spent. My final project and participation forced me to go places I would never have gone, and use skills I didn’t know I had. At times it was frustrating and I had to overcome daily obstacles, but I really appreciate what I was able to take away from this adventure.
My entire final project documented my service learning hours. I was able to meet some really interesting people who live in the community and they were able to show me what they love about where they live. The two people that stand out most in my mind were David Boucher and Muneer Bahauddeen. Both these men were really cool people because they both shared a love for improving the community. Dave was focused on community health and eliminating the drugs in his neighborhood. Muneer was passionate about sharing his love for art and using it in a constructive way to help build a sense of solidarity for the people he worked with.
When putting my final project together, my camera played a huge role. I was able to capture all of my service learning sessions with pictures. These pictures helped tell my story about the people and places I went. Also as a group we worked on a video and I was able to learn a lot about the ways videos are put together. Since I had no prior experience working with video cameras, I was able to learn a lot about editing and recording footage from my fellow group members.
For my individual portion of my final project, I wanted to do something very different and I also wanted to have some fun. I put a lot of my photos that I didn’t necessarily use in my blog site, and put them in a scrapbook as a sort of brief collection of pictures and illustrations of my journey. I was happy to be able to use some of my own creative abilities to make something that I think represented the “story” of my experience in Film 150. I wanted my scrapbook to be simple but also enhance my photos.
Taken as a whole this project was challenging at times, but mostly was a good experience, and reflecting back on my small adventure, I am really thankful for what I learned. I did not know what to expect when I signed up for this class, and was apprehensive about any class that was focused on art. After reflecting on my entire experience I can say that the most important thing that I learned is that people who have a passion for what they do are the most content with their lives, and I hope to one day do something that makes me feel the same way.

Johnsons Park

Throughout the semester I have learned a lot about Johnsons Park Neighborhood Association. I have learned that it isn’t just about a park, it is about a community. The neighborhood has progressed significantly and I was very excited to be part of it. I was apprehensive at first before I knew what Johnsons Park was, but once I got to experience the park and neighborhood, I was impressed with the obvious transformations. To see a beautiful park in the middle of urban Milwaukee was very refreshing. I think that having a park as a staple for an organization and community shows the commitment to change in the inner city.

A Step Above the Rest Daycare

While in Johnsons Park, my groups members and I came across a women who runs a daycare out of her own home in community. She owned a new home which was one of the homes that were recently built as part of the initiatives for rebuilding the area that was once torn down so that a highway could be constructed. She remodeled her basement and turned it into a kid haven. She offered superior services and made a point to emphasize educational and social skills to the children.

Muneer Bahauddeen

Another person that I met while doing my Service Learning is named Muneer Bahauddeen. Muneer is a artist who specializes in ceramics. Muneer works with St. Charles, a Milwaukee Public School. At St. Charles he works with kids that are in detention and instead of just having them sit there, he brings his skills as an artist to the kids. He recently had each child design a symbol that represents them and put that symbol on a tile to be part of a large mosaic for the students. Muneer makes what could be a very bad experience for the kids, and turns it into something that is positive and enjoyable. I can tell that Muneer loves to share his work with people, and is very enthusiastic about encouraging others to express their creativity just like he does every day. Muneer also works with larger organizations to design artwork for buildings and memorials. Froedtert hospital recently hired Muneer to make two ceramic wall designs for their new Crane Cancer Outpatient Center. Muneer also worked on designing a memorial area called the “Wall of Heroes and Victims”, where children were honored that have died in the area over the past three years. Muneer’s work is beautiful and very creative and he offers classes on Tuesday nights to teach people how to make pottery and ceramics. Muneer Bahauddeen's phone number is (414)-241-666. He is located across the street from the Amaranth Bakery on 3329 W Lisbon Ave Milwaukee, WI.

The Amaranth Cafe and Bakery

The Amaranth Café and Bakery was started by Dave Boucher, an Urban Studies major from UWM, whose goal is to improve the area he calls home. Mr. Boucher lives on 34th street and West Lisbon, which is also where his bakery is located. Dave Boucher has gone through a lot of trials when dealing with the neighborhood that he lives in, but has faith that one day his efforts will be paid off and improvements in this crime-ridden area will be celebrated. The main goal behind the bakery that he opened was to expose the neighborhood to the healthy alternatives that can be made in place of fast food joints. All his baked goods and food is all natural and very healthy. On Tuesday nights, he offers “Pay what you can soup nights”, where he opens up his café to anyone who would like to have some healthy soups (which are delicious) for whatever they can afford. By having his café located where a drug house used to be, Dave Boucher is showing the public that change is a very good thing. Amaranth Bakery & Cafe is located at 3329 W. Lisbon Avenue Milwaukee WI. His phone number is (414) 934-0587. Email- amaranthbc@gmail.com. Amaranth Bakery & Cafe Hours are Tuesday - Saturday 7:00 am- 2:00 Tuesday nights are open late for "Pay what you can soup night"

Alice's Garden

Alice’s Garden was started in 2006 as part of the Johnsons Park Neighborhood Association initiative to revitalize the area. Alice’s Garden is located on N. 20th Street, right next to Johnsons Park. Individuals and organizations can purchase their own “plots” and plant a small garden in this plot. The Urban Open Space Foundation has also proposed that they create a shelter for classes to be held in association with UW-Extension’s gardening programs and Milwaukee Public Schools’ Brown Street Academy.
Personally when I saw Alice’s Garden I thought that it had a long way to go. This might be due to the time of year I visited. It was a fenced off area and you could see small square plots divided off. There were about 15 plots or so. I would assume that they will probably begin planting soon, with spring in full force, and this garden will really come to life.


Alice's Garden

Photo Essay Slideshow

Photo Essay Poem

I learned of a park,
not too far away
where pictures could be taken,
for a photo essay.
As a drove through the city,
To find this urban sanctuary,
I’m not going to lie,
I was a bit wary.
Upon finding the park,
I breathed a sigh of relief,
“This is what I’ve come for”!
A Film class 150 motif!
The park was so large and vast,
A hill so immense,
A shadow, it cast.
The sun was shining,
The air was clean,
The fears a had before,
Seemed rather obscene.
As I looked around,
There was not a soul in sight,
Except for my trusty group members,
And the birds in-flight.
It wasn’t before long,
That we heard a joyous sound,
The laughter of children,
We turned quickly around,
What we saw was unexpected,
A group of young ones,
With smiles from ear to ear,
And a woman who ran a daycare,
Was able to make it very clear,
That the area we were in,
Was not just a park,
This was her home,
A community landmark.
And when she went to bed,
She knew her family was secure,
And this was just one of the things,
She was able to assure.
From talking to this woman,
We were able to learn,
The history of this block,
So that it was easy to discern,
That this neighborhood,
Is able to inspire,
The sort of change,
We all can admire.

Photo Essay - Artist Statement

From doing this photo essay I was able to learn things about Johnson’s Park that truly made me understand how important this project really is. After seeing the park and where the park was actually located, it was amazing to me to see beautiful piece of land in the middle of a very urban area. It was like a mini Central Park for Milwaukee. After talking to a couple members of the community, my group members and I were able to hear the stories and experiences they had in this area. We talked to one man who bought his lot for a dollar, which was something that the city offered when they were rebuilding the area!
What inspired me to really get started on this essay, was a woman we came across while exploring the park. This woman ran a daycare right out of her home in the community. She had built her house recently, and was kind enough to let us in to see her daycare facility in her remodeled basement and also the rest of her home. The house was a beautiful and she went on to tell us how much the area has changed over the years. She felt confident in raising her family in an area that was once considered very dangerous. She told us how great it was for her to be able to sit on her porch at night, and not worry about her safety.
I put this essay together by just going to the park taking a bunch of pictures of the park and the houses that surrounded it. It was fairly simple to use my camera to take pictures, but I’m thankful to have it because it would have been hard to describe the things I saw with only words. By taking pictures I didn’t have to explain things in detail because I have nice illustrations to go along with my poem.
I choose to do a poem because I thought it would be something that was a lot different than what I was used to doing. The whole idea of Johnson’s Park and how far this neighborhood had come reminded me of a fairy tale, so what better way to tell the story! It was definitely harder to write a poem about my experience there, but I like the way it turned out; even if it was a little dorky.

Media Literacy - "The Irony of Advertisment"

Both of the photos that I chose to write about had very obvious similarities. Upon first looking at the photos the reader notices the billboard first. Large bold letters exclaim a message of enthusiasm and promise. But after looking further past the intial evident message, the viewer will start to notice the irony of the billboards’ roll in the photograph as a whole. The messages soon starts to take on a different form, one that is in stark contrast with the intended significance.
The theme that I am aknowledging in my essay is that of the billboards that appear in both photographs. So firstly I am going to address the message being delivered by the advertisment. In both billboards people who are clearly “Americans”, that is to say Caucasian, are expressing their nationalism.
At the Time of the Louisville Flood (Margaret-Bourke White, 1937) features the billboard saying “World’s Highest Standard of Living” and then a line of African Americans that appear to be waiting outside some type of homeless shelter. White took this photograph in 1937 in Louisville, Kentucky for Time magazine right after a flood that left many people homeless. Without really having to edit anything at all, she displays and even humiliates, the idea of the “American Way”.
Lighting is a very important part of this image. Our eyes are immediately drawn to the billboard because of its brightness and it’s darker contrasted bold letters displaying a proud message. This lighting which is done on purpose to contrast with the rest of the picture is used to create a happy feeling and puts a carefree aura about life in the United States. In contrast below the billboard there is a line of African Americans, who are dark and sort of in the shawdows of the billboard. This darkness creates of feeling of remourse and depression. Billboard (John Vachon, 1948) uses a billboard as a center piece similarly to At the Time of the Louisville Flood. This photograph is manipulated by lighting as well. The billboard is a light color captioned by dark letters that deliver a message of hatred for racist and religious prejudice.
Another key element to the photos is the people who appear candidly in the midst of these billboards. In the photo At the Time of the Louisville Flood most of the people are not looking at the camera but simply facing forward to see what awaits them at the end of the line. However, there are a couple faces that are directly looking at the camera. The look of oppression on the face of a woman who is looking at the camera embodied the gerneral feeling of the group she is with. My feeling is that most of the people in the photograph are so used to seeing propaganda like this billboard so they hardly notice that it is there. My absolute favorite part of this photo is the man that is looking at the billboard, not at the camera at all. To me its like this guy is looking at this advertisment for the first time and is completely confused as to why it is there. No one in the photo could relate to the message being delivered and this fact serves as retort to whoever placed the billboard there. The same is true in the Billboard image. The few people in the Billboard are obviously in a poor African American community where there could not be much relation to the small white boy featured in the ad.
Framing is also a very important part of these images. The whole span of the photograph is sure to include the entire billboard. This is done so that the viewer looks at that first, and then later sees the other hidden message. I feel as though the photographer is trying to say, “look at this great billboard. It would probably look even better if these people weren’t blocking it”. After I learned about the purpose of the photo I started to understand the message at a different angle.
The irony of both billboards featured in these images is that the people who are viewing these advertisments could never relate to these images and could not support the message being delivered at all. These advertisments did not promote cultural diversity, but by use of framing and lighting, photographers were able to use these billboards to promote the real message.