Here in the Big Bend

Living Library - Stumbled upon

2012-02-03T07:53:00.001-05:00

Evidence that no new idea is truly "new," stumbled upon this living library site:
http://www.alivinglibrary.org/allvideo.html

And another version of a living library-- "the same but different" - a human library:
http://humanlibrary.org/

And the big news is that, thanks to a consultation with Mike Winn at RB Oppenheim Associates, Lake Ella Living Library Collaboritive will soon have it's own dedicated website with various accoutrements that will hopefully serve as a catalyst to the synergy that will breathe life into the project.

2012 Community Art Project

2012-01-26T10:31:00.000-05:00

I believe that, in keeping with the experiment of putting small lending libraries around Lake Ella and the goal of compiling written and oral histories of Lake Ella memories, that the perfect project for 2012 will be the making of artist books. For inspiration, http://crowzenart.blogspot.com/2012/01/on-winters-day.html#comment-form

This will be developed further.

Lake Ella - Geneaolgy of Place

2012-01-04T20:19:00.002-05:00

Remember that Lake Ella was in existence long before Tallahassee (or was it--is Lake Ella a man-made pond?) Even if the lake is man-made, the land existed long before the lake, and before the city. What was the land like then? This is as much a part of the geneaolgy of place as the stories of the people who came after.

Jerry Apps: Old Farm - podcast (from Jim Fleming "To the Best of Our Knowledge" ttbook.org

Lake Ella Project - What if?

2012-01-03T20:10:00.002-05:00

What if one were to think of Lake Ella as a library community?

So much is there to be learned: Science, history, anthropology, sociology, journalism, audio and video production, art, music.

Start with the kernel: lending libraries spaced throughout the park.
"Big Reads" in which the community reads a book and discusses it
"Read a Book to a Child"
Story Telling
Call and Response Readings
Readings by the light of the full moon
The Reading Tree (Possible unifying symbol??)

Ultimately, expand the "library offerings" to include an oral history component.
An "urban/community scientist" component - (biologist, chemist, naturalist, etc.)

What if community "experts" were brought to the lake to teach community collaborators what they needed to know? How to compile an oral history, how to do an audio recording, how to participate in in-depth reportage, how to take a water sample, how to study ducks, how to know one tree from another." These community trainees then become an added library resource that can be "checked out" by others in the community for other projects

what if?

Lake Ella - Project symbol

2011-12-29T08:13:00.001-05:00

I believe that it would be a lovely thing to have a graphic logo symbolizing the Lake Ella project. This image could then serve as a springboard to further design ideas. Image thoughts: gazebo, circle of trees, crape myrtles, oak. Perhaps this would be a starting collaboration - a call for submissions and for the design selection to consider. Possible further use of the design: permanent or seasonal banners, quilt (s)(but where to display?), tees, postcards, artist books, journal covers.

An additional link to Judy Martin's inspiring Manitoulin Island community project.

Lake Ella - Developing a vision?

2011-12-25T06:55:00.003-05:00

I've been turning over in my mind the concept of goal vs. process. For most of my dabblings, I would argue that the process itself is the goal. When I make this argument, then I proceed to say, well, but intrinsic within the process are goals. (For example, with Lake Ella, I would suppose the overall goal is to serve as a catalyst for and participate in a year-long collaborative art/history project with the idea of producing a permanent art object of some sort that can reside somewhere in the environs of the lake, install little free libraries around the lake, and produce an intensive study of the lake, its history, ecology, present-day use, and stories associated with it, which study would be available to the public, either in print or digital form or both.) However, for myself, individually, participating in the process itself is the attraction.

Preliminary planning - Project structure - Lake Ella

2011-12-21T08:47:00.000-05:00

The project for 2012, as conceived at this point anyway, is the Lake Ella Extravaganza, a/k/a "Looking for Lake Ella." There's a lot to be learned from Lake Ella--its history, ecologically, anthropologically (is that a word?), and culturally--the people who have been associated with the Lake in the past and who currently use the lake; the institutions and businesses surrounding the lake. Individual and collective stories to be told.

More discussion on that later. At present, a few links that may inform the structure of the project:

http://manitoulincircleproject.blogspot.com/ (Judith Martin)
http://abstractions.deidreadams.com/2011/12/evolution-of-a-commission-%E2%80%93-part-6/
(Deirdre Adams)
http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/index.html (Free Libraries)
http://www.oldcityhallgallery.com/portraitofmaquoketa.html (Rose Franzen)
http://vector.tutsplus.com/articles/theory/core-art-skills-part-2-the-sketchbook/ (scroll down to the section on "Reportage"

The first goal should be to get the necessary permissions. Actually, that should be the second goal. The first goal should be to create some sort of simple, but formal presentation packet so that when I contact folks for permissions, they will see that there is some method behind the madness.

Sidenotes: Think about collaborating with SAIL and perhaps the charter school for the Arts and Sciences.