About the work
To someone who is unfamiliar with urban planning, I would say it is a combination of many components that make up an urban area. The component that my artwork reflects is the Arts and Culture Element. It is a broad topic, so my partner Kelly Hickler and I tackled a few main points each that are inclusive of that element. Mine included the visual arts, language and theatre.
Rather than create a two-dimensional art piece, we decided it would be more fun to go the three-dimensional route. Thinking along the lines of a pop-up book, we decided to go with an interactive approach, with the hope that it would engage both adult and child audiences. We used many recycled materials, bits and pieces of various odds and ends we collected and/or found. As in planning,, the work is made up of layers and each layer influences the next. It is an intertwining story about history and culture and with care, support, money, materials, volunteering, fundraising and continued effort and planning, the spectrum of the arts can continue to flourish in our communities and beyond.
I would love for the audience to just dive right into the piece and explore it all - open all the small doors, lids, and pages and inspect every inch of it. Interaction was a key concept in creating the piece and I’d like the audience to think about all the information in the work and see how much of it is directly from things that influence all of us every day. In order to change things in our communities for a more educational and artistic experience, one has to become involved and participate at some level.
For me, the collaboration affected the artwork tremendously because I wouldn’t have taken into consideration the different steps from a planner’s point of view. I made an effort to understand what urban planning means on a very basic level and though I certainly have much more to learn about the topic, I definitely appreciate all the expertise one needs to go into such a diverse and specialized field. I believe the experience would have been different with two artists or two planners because the thinking is a little different. Both artist and planner have to contribute to make it an artwork that makes sense to the urban planning community and because there are so many specialties included in the planning field, this allows an artist to unleash their creativity and see where they can contribute to the work, depending on their field of expertise.
I had a fabulous time with the experience and enjoyed creating our final artwork. It was definitely a lot of fun and much of the information that I learned in talking with my partner and reading on my own were included in the piece. I am hoping that the audience can pick up on these concepts and that they are encouraged to further explore the arts and planning and see just how much they are in our lives already.
-Lisa Cabrera
Rather than create a two-dimensional art piece, we decided it would be more fun to go the three-dimensional route. Thinking along the lines of a pop-up book, we decided to go with an interactive approach, with the hope that it would engage both adult and child audiences. We used many recycled materials, bits and pieces of various odds and ends we collected and/or found. As in planning,, the work is made up of layers and each layer influences the next. It is an intertwining story about history and culture and with care, support, money, materials, volunteering, fundraising and continued effort and planning, the spectrum of the arts can continue to flourish in our communities and beyond.
I would love for the audience to just dive right into the piece and explore it all - open all the small doors, lids, and pages and inspect every inch of it. Interaction was a key concept in creating the piece and I’d like the audience to think about all the information in the work and see how much of it is directly from things that influence all of us every day. In order to change things in our communities for a more educational and artistic experience, one has to become involved and participate at some level.
For me, the collaboration affected the artwork tremendously because I wouldn’t have taken into consideration the different steps from a planner’s point of view. I made an effort to understand what urban planning means on a very basic level and though I certainly have much more to learn about the topic, I definitely appreciate all the expertise one needs to go into such a diverse and specialized field. I believe the experience would have been different with two artists or two planners because the thinking is a little different. Both artist and planner have to contribute to make it an artwork that makes sense to the urban planning community and because there are so many specialties included in the planning field, this allows an artist to unleash their creativity and see where they can contribute to the work, depending on their field of expertise.
I had a fabulous time with the experience and enjoyed creating our final artwork. It was definitely a lot of fun and much of the information that I learned in talking with my partner and reading on my own were included in the piece. I am hoping that the audience can pick up on these concepts and that they are encouraged to further explore the arts and planning and see just how much they are in our lives already.
-Lisa Cabrera