09 . 14 . 18

Green Roof Culture – Update September 2018

Posted in Artizan Made, Blog, Go Green, Green Roof Culture House, Paducah, TAFA: The Textile and Fiber Art List

Rayela Art > Blog > Artizan Made > Green Roof Culture – Update September 2018

It’s been close to a year since I started gathering ideas for a cultural center here in Paducah. The vision took off after I attended a presentation given by Ed and Megan Musselman who developed an iconic building, the Coke Plant, impacting that part of the city with an economic boom. See a bit of their story here.  I left thinking about my passions and how I can help shape a place for them in this city. I identified three core interests that have been with me since my childhood in Brazil:

• Diversity: Humans are ONE species and when we boil our impulses down to the things that matter, most of us want the same things.  We thrive when we have freedom and our basic needs are met: food, housing, education, meaningful employment and community. Our differences divide us when a culture of fear shapes the narrative. In a culture of abundance, we have curiosity, celebration, and creativity.
• Sustainability: The world is in crisis and unless we radically change how we live, life as we have known it will cease. We are killing off our wildlife, destroying natural habitats, choking the oceans with plastic, and consuming more than the world can sustain. A culture of fear hearkens back to the “good old days”, hoards resources, continues a dependency on oil and rejects science and innovation. A vision of abundance looks for solutions and shows us that we have the technology to live well with better food, infrastructure and harmony.
• Creativity: Art is at the core of my experience as a human. Societies that support and encourage their creative resources feed the spirit. A culture of fear squashes creative thinking. It dumbs down its population, moving us toward illiteracy, automation and hysteria. An abundant society sings, dances, paints, shapes, philosophizes and creates a rich landscape of inspiration.

 

Friedensreich Hundertwasser, 1928-2000, envisioned such an abundant society where art and architecture melded into spaces that lived in harmony with Nature. The photo at the top is one of his art pieces and the video below talks about his last plans for an art center in New Zealand:

 

 

Why is it that visionaries like him are despised by our leaders?  His contribution to the world has proven to inspire generations of thinkers and creatives, generated untold amounts of income brought through tourism and restored habitats to healthy levels.

Art and creativity go hand in hand with economic development, yet much of our focus in City Planning or governmental initiatives exclude low income populations and minorities. Despite these hurdles, we see exciting experiments happening all over the United States and in other countries, where a few people see the potential for creative change and abundance, act on it, find their “tribe” and make an impact. I believe that we will not get this support from our elected leaders. Instead, true change will happen block by block, town by town spreading along because once people experience these environments and opportunities, they find safe harbor. They want it for themselves so they replicate what they can wherever they are.

A year of study

This past year has basically been a year of study for me. I have met new people and have a long list of others that I still need to approach. I have spent quite a bit of time in UpperTown, the neighborhood where I want to work in and have been so pleased by the exchanges that have happened there. I have learned more about the challenges we face in terms of building, funding, and cultural divides:

• I met with our City Planner, Tammara Tracy, and learned that she has years of experience in urban ecology and that my ideas face challenges not only from local City Codes, but from the State of Kentucky, which has a pro-coal agenda and is resistant to green tech advances, such as wind and solar.
• I have become involved with the Race Unity Group of Paducah where my eyes have been opened to some of the barriers African Americans experience here.
• I followed several leads on buildings and houses that didn’t work out for one reason or another, but each had lessons to learn.

Time passes quickly and through all that I have learned, I remain convinced that the ideas that are percolating in my head are solid and that the time is right for this project.

 

Next Step: Moving

 

 

Roxanne’s house, “Persist”, embodies my current drive.  🙂  It is available for purchase on TAFA’s Shop for $300.

Support an artist!

 

I live in an old house that is full of problems. I had hoped to find something in UpperTown, where I want to work, but the right place has not emerged yet. So, I am moving to a temporary place by the end of September. I have two weeks to sort through 13 years of being in this house. Overwhelming, yet exciting. My mother is helping me pay for the costs involved and I am so grateful! I have no idea what I would have done without her assistance. I will be at this new place for 3-6 months and it is close to where I want to be. This will allow me to get to know the area better and to continue looking for a space for both myself and the project.

 

Projects

When I talk to people about what I want to do, they think I am scattered, trying to address too many things. I see it in my head and yes, it is a big picture, but it is not something that will happen overnight. I see many parts that come together, like pieces to a puzzle. Nature, agriculture, architecture and art have always talked to each other, existed side by side and depended on one another throughout our history. How my ideas take shape here will depend a lot on the talent I can connect bring into the project. I can’t do this alone and it will only work if there is a strong community effort. I come with three assets:  TAFA: The Textile and Fiber Art List, Artizan Made and the 20 years of experience I bring from having lived in a creative community in Chicago. Collectively, TAFA and Artizan Made, give me access to around 700 artists and groups in 44 countries. They are an amazing bunch of talent with a core group already committed to these ideals of sustainability, diversity and creativity. I plan on tapping into what they are doing as my primary resource, bringing in their knowledge and expertise into various aspects of what we can do here. Realistic projects that can happen in the next year:

Gallery/Boutique

This physical space will help give TAFA and Artizan a home on planet earth. We have been in cyberspace since the beginning and now we will have the opportunity for exhibits, retail and workshops.

Product Development

We will create products locally, made from garbage. My background in textiles will naturally help us tackle waste that we can sew, stitch, crochet, knit, dye, cut, paste, etc. TAFA and Artizan both have wonderful examples of what we can do in this area.

I had the pleasure of meeting Ian Berry when he was in Paducah this past January for a show. All of his work is made from cut up blue jeans.

 

 

Brenda makes garments and accessories from shirting and sweaters. She lives in Chicago, a seven hour drive from here. We have a couple of local artists who also work in this vein.

 

Julie Kornblum lives in Los Angeles, California, and has created major works from garbage, both assembled and woven.

There are no shortage of ideas, of things that we can make from our waste.  Glass is also high up on my list, but I don’t have the skills to develop it, so I need to find the right people who can take off with it. There are loads of ideas on the internet. We do not recycle glass in Paducah and I cry every time I throw a bottle away.

 

Our codes would not allow us to build housing out of bottles, but we can create all kinds of things for both house and garden. Glass can be cut, sanded, fused, melted, glued and used as a material for making new glass. My friend, Rose Hughes, has made wonderful sculptures for her garden:

 

 

Sprout Enterprise Network works with fair trade groups around the world and one of them is an exciting glass-blowing effort in Mexico, Xaquixe. They have been at it for 12 years, make beautiful products and adapted a free standing furnace with multiple work stations. Perhaps they can come and mentor us when we are ready.

 

Glass and fiber would be my first two priorities, but it all depends on who comes in on this. Tires?  How about using these:

 

…  to make art like Yong Ho Ji?

 

The possibilities are endless!

 

Community Development

I wrote about the Flower Power Club concept here.  It’s a long post and the summary is basically getting homes in Paducah to sign on to this concept of sustainability, diversity and creativity. Families and individuals who subscribe to these ideas would commit to using Paducah’s recycling program, to support our efforts to collect materials for our projects, to keep from using pesticides and chemicals that harm the environment and to make their yards bee, bird, bat and butterfly friendly, planting things that they like. We would encourage and support home food production and offer workshops, seeds and whatever else we could get to the Flower Power Club members. Their homes would be featured on our website and hopefully we will create corridors of green living around the city.

I envision the Green Roof Culture Hub being exactly that: a central place where other efforts could converge, gain visibility and plan efforts collaboratively. We already have wonderful programs and projects happening here, but need to organize ourselves so that we can have more impact with one voice. In these next few months, I hope to identify more of these people and hopefully get a website up that can start disseminating what we are doing.

---

 

Subscribe to this blog for future updates as I will continue to write here as things develop. If you are interested in any piece of this, please leave a comment as that is the best place for me to keep track of who wants to get involved.  Explore the past few posts as I have a lot of information on Paducah, more ideas and great videos on what others are doing in them.

And, if you can contribute, I have a fundraiser, Give A Hand, that involves a community project once we have a final site. Your art will be included in it for $100. Or, you can subscribe for a $10/month donation or send in a one-time donation in any amount:

 

Become a monthly supporter for $10/month.

This is an automatic monthly payment through PayPal.

---

One time donation in any amount:

 

My plan is to apply for a loan to get this going, but I am not ready yet. I am not clear if the way to go forward is as a sole proprietor (for a building), a partnership, or whether to form a non-profit.  More networking is needed and I am confident it will all become clear in time.  Meanwhile, things are tough financially, so any support is appreciated.

 

Jessi Hoy Peterson – Cordwood Construction

 

Go Green!