Rosa Parks (2010)

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Rosa Parks (2010) Partner - Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation archi-treasures held free mosaic workshops with residents of Bickerdike’s new Rosa Parks Apartments and their neighbors. Rosa Parks is Bickerdike’s first comprehensively planned energy efficient and environmentally friendly development with 94 newly constructed units. The goal of archi-treasures’ mosaic workshops was to create 3 floor to ceiling entrance panels and an entrance wall celebrating Rosa Parks and her life. We were also able to employ several community residents through the Put Illinois to Work Program.    

Humboldt Park Mural Arts Program (MAP)

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Humboldt Park Mural Arts Program (2009 – continuing) Partners - LISC/Chicago New Communities Program (NCP), Humboldt Park NCP: Building Community through the Arts Committee, Seabury Foundation, Illinois Humanities Council, ComEd About MAP The mission of the Humboldt Park Mural Art Program (HP MAP) is to create new murals, to restore old murals, and to develop strategies that use murals as a way to represent community issues, ideas, and vision. HP MAP promotes murals as local destinations and uses them as a tool to revitalize the health, well-being and vitality of Humboldt Park by developing neighborhood tours for biking and walking, a web-based mural guide, and a school-based curriculum for teachers to use on walking field trips with their students. Critical Reflection Workshops How can murals authentically represent community? By partnering with Dr. Ceasar McDowell and engaging his Critical Moments Reflection Methodology, archi-treasures is involving West Humboldt Park residents in telling their stories during a series of facilitated workshops. Professional artists participate in the workshops, listening, then translating and interpreting community narratives to create new mural designs. Untitled (Black/Brown Working Group), 2009 Los Vecinos, 4250 West North Avenue. archi-treasures partnered with DePaul University’s Egan Urban Center to develop the first mural in MAP. Reconvening participants from an initiative to encourage discussion between black and brown residents living in West Humboldt Park, archi-treasures invited artist Bernard Williams to participate in community workshops, then develop a mural design based on the conversations. Release, 2010 Corner of Grand & Tripp Workshops were held with ex-offenders participating in Association House’s Transitions to Careers program, and artist Damon Lamar Reed worked with the participants to visually share their story. Our Memories, Our Communities, Our Lives, 2010 Multi-generational residents convened by West Humboldt Park Development Council came together for Dr. McDowell’s workshops with artist William Estrada, who created a mural reflecting the ever-changing look and feel of Humboldt Park. The mural has yet to be installed Mural Restoration, 2010 Underpass at Pulaski & Bloomingdale In 1992, Youth Service Project and artists from Chicago Public Art Group painted a stunning mural on both sides of a Pulaski Street underpass. Over the years, the mural, “It’s Time to Remember,” fell victim to an accumulation of dirt, rust, and crumbling concrete. As part of MAP,  two of the original artists worked with community residents to restore the mural. www.humboldtparkportal.org/MAP

Westhaven Park Summer Design/Build Program (2010)

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Westhaven Park Summer Design/Build Progam (2010) Partner - Brinshore Michaels Development This summer, 15 teenagers who live at Westhaven worked to build a lush community park on a large vacant lot. The park features orgnically-shaped stainless steel flower beds, seating areas, and a sandbox. Westhaven is one of the Chicago Housing Authority’s new mixed income housing developments, located where the Henry Horner Homes once stood.    

Legends South (2010)

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Legends South Summer Design/Build Program (2010) Partner - Brinshore Michaels Development Youth at Legends South transformed an ugly vacant lot on Prairie Avenue into a multi-use space for the community – play areas for young children, and walking paths and raised garden beds for the seniors. For the past three years, archi-treasures has employed teens at Legends South.  

Germano-Millgate Summer Design/Build Program (2010)

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Germano-Millgate Summer Design/Build Program (2010) Partner - Chicago Community Development Corporation Germano Millgate Apartments were originally built to house steel workers in South Chicago. This summer 15 teenagers from low-income families that live at Germano worked to build outdoor areas for cooking and playing games. They also created a partner for last summer’s “Germano Man” – now that the summer program is complete, the community is protected by a feisty “Germano Woman.”    

BJ Wright Courts Summer Design/Build Program (2010)

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BJ Wright Court Apartments (2010) Partner - Chicago Community Development Corporation BJ Wright Courts is an affordable housing complex located on the near west side. For the past 11 years, archi-treasures has employed teenagers who live at BJ to design and build creative projects that enhance their community. This summer, youth built an outdoor dance floor with a mural backdrop designed by artist Damon Reed.    

Spencer TechYard Project

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Spencer TechYard Project (2010) Partner - CPS Office of Academic Enhancement In January of 2009, archi-treasures was invited by DePaul University’s Egan Urban Center to become involved in the Technology Academy Partnerships (TAP) Program, created to foster collaborative relationships between five technology schools and community organizations in their respective neighborhoods. With funding from CPS Office of Academic Enhancement, which oversees the technology school program, archi-treasures launched an ambitious new endeavor to design, build and celebrate a public art project on the school grounds that would highlight Spencer as a technology-focused school. archi-treasures partnered with Project SYNCERE and Neighborhood Writing Alliance (NWA) to utilize the arts, engineering, and technology while inviting school- and community-wide participation, strengthening community ties, and expressing the unique nature of Austin. In November 2009, archi-treasures began meeting with school and neighborhood groups, including the NCLB group and the LAC, in order to create an Advisory Committee to guide the project. Meanwhile, archi-treasures hired renowned artist Stuart Keeler to actualize the project. Stuart created three sketches illustrating various ideas, and after a very energized conversation, the Advisory Committee chose to integrate two of the ideas: adding a vibrant sculptural element to the building along with colorful window film in order to brighten the face of the school and stir curiosity. Stuart developed new drawings based on this conversation and archi-treasures worked with NWA Teacher Cynthium Woodfolk-Johnson to conduct a series of community writing workshops and a student workshop around the theme, “What is a Hero?”. These stories were personal explorations of real life heroes, and more often than not, writers recognized their own heroism. Experimental Sound Studio then audio-recorded the workshop participants sharing their stories. Meanwhile, Project SYNCERE led two workshops with 20 students, teaching the mechanics of building a simple computer and speaker system. This simple computer would eventually be installed in a small enclosure on the exterior of the school for all to hear the community stories. As the sounds and stories were coming together, archi-treasures installed the window film–some with text excerpted from the recorded stories–along with brightly-colored spun aluminum hemispheres. On Thursday, June 3, students, parents, staff and community members came together to see it all come together – the traditional façade of Spencer now dotted with bulbous protrusions in primary colors and portions of text visible in the windows. Passers-by, intrigued by the School’s transformation, can now press a button and hear someone from the Austin community showing pride and respect for their community and the heroes within it.  

Dumas TechYard Project

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Dumas TechYard Project (2010) Partner - CPS Office of Academic Enhancement In January of 2009, archi-treasures was invited by DePaul University’s Egan Urban Center to become involved in the Technology Academy Partnerships (TAP) Program, created to foster collaborative relationships between five technology schools and community organizations in their respective neighborhoods. With funding from CPS Office of Academic Enhancement, which oversees the technology school program, archi-treasures launched an ambitious new endeavor to design, build and celebrate a public art project on the school grounds that would highlight Dumas as a technology-focused school. archi-treasures partnered with Project SYNCERE and Neighborhood Writing Alliance (NWA) to utilize the arts, engineering, and technology while inviting school- and community-wide participation, strengthening community ties, and expressing the unique nature of Woodlawn. In November 2009, archi-treasures began meeting with school and neighborhood groups, including “Coffee And” and a group of teachers at a Professional Development Day workshop, in order to create an Advisory Committee to guide the project. Meanwhile, archi-treasures hired nationally renowned artist Stuart Keeler to actualize the project. Stuart created three concepts, but the Advisory Committee was clearly drawn to the idea of sending a message by “texting” on the front of the school building. Given that technology has altered the way we communicate, this new language, while having the potential to divide us, also has the potential to add a new layer of creativity in our expression; we need only understand that though our styles vary, our need to communicate about ourselves and our stories does not change. With the concept chosen, archi-treasures held a school-wide competition to generate text messages about the Woodlawn community; with over 100 entries, the competition was fierce. Five text messages that creatively encapsulated a range of ideas about “community” were chosen and each of these text messages became a theme for a community writing workshop led by NWA Teacher Cynthium Woodfolk-Johnson. Cynthium conducted writing workshops with a group of parents and community members, wherein she helped the participants to break down the concepts and write personal stories that reflected these concepts. Experimental Sound Studio then audio-recorded the workshop participants sharing their stories. Meanwhile, Project SYNCERE led two workshops with 20 students, teaching the mechanics of building a simple computer and speaker system. This simple computer would eventually be installed in a small enclosure on the exterior of the school for all to hear the community stories. As the sounds and stories were coming together, archi-treasures fabricated the winning text messages into 12-inch high aluminum letters and symbols, eventually installing them near the school’s entrance. On Thursday, June 16, students, parents, staff and community members came together during the school’s field day to celebrate the project’s completion. Passers-by, intrigued by the mysterious text showcased on the façade of the building, can now press a button that corresponds with a text message and hear stories that illustrate each concept.  

Westhaven Mosaic Project

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Westhaven (2009) Partner - Brinshore Michaels Ten years ago, not long after Neil Gaffney conceived of archi-treasures - while working on a proposal for Cabrini Green - the City of Chicago and Mayor Daley unveiled their new Plan for Transformation. Their goal was to transform our failed public housing system utilizing a new mixed-income neighborhood model, the success of which has yet to be determined. After working at Legends South, the new mixed-income community in the footprint of the old Robert Taylor homes, archi-treasures signed on to work in another one of these neighborhoods. Formerly the Henry Horner homes, Westhaven is located just north of the United Center on the near west side. The challenge of working in these neighborhoods, to which archi-treasures is particularly well-suited, is to work with residents whose lives are vastly different from one another, in order to facilitate real community. This project consisted of a series of mosaic workshops, in which residents of all ages came together to create a beautiful mosaic wall. We had an amazingly dedicated groups of residents of all ages, and we are eager to invite everyone out on Saturday, November 21 at 11am for our dedication ceremony.    

Legends South (2009)

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Legends South (2009) Partner- Brinshore Michaels 4034 South State Street Legends South is one of the Chicago Housing Authority’s new mixed income housing developments, located in the footprint of the former Robert Taylor Homes. In summer 2008, for the first time archi-treasures offered a summer job program for youth at Legends South and has been invited to return this year. Residents will participate in a design charette to brainstorm new art and garden projects for the community and then a team of 15 teenagers will implement those ideas.  

BJ Wright Courts Summer Design/Build Program

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BJ Wright Courts Partners - Chicago Community Development Corporation & After School Matters 1354 South Morgan Located on the Near West Side just south of the University of Illinois Chicago Campus, archi-treasures has partnered with residents of Barbara Jean Wright Courts, an affordable housing complex, for the past ten years, offering a summer job program for teens. Youth will assess the condition of past archi-treasures projects, create a plan for their repair, and will then work on their own design/build project to add to the BJ grounds.  

BJ Wright Courts Summer Design/Build Program

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Partners - University of Illinois Chicago and Chicago Community Development Corporation 1354 South Morgan archi-treasures has partnered with residents of BJ Wright Courts and Chicago Community Development Corporation for eight years, employing youth living at this affordable housing complex in the Near West Side to design and implement projects that enhance public areas within the complex. This year, youth will create murals through a partnership with the nearby University of Illinois Great Cities Institute, College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs. Program participants will also visit the campus weekly to discuss community building efforts and related career opportunities.