First Meeting

Image: "Small Scale Turbulence" by Jeff Murphy and Heather Freeman. An example of a Photoshop collaboration, where the artists swapped the file back and forth until they were happy with the result."

Our first meeting was on Friday, September 7th, at noon in Macy 106B. Present were José Gámez, Heather Freeman, Meghan Meyers, Ronna Gardner, Leah Salzyn and Josh Harding.

The rough idea behind this project is as follows:

"A Tale of Two Queen Cities will explore the impacts of Latino immigration upon the cultural landscapes of two distinct but related locations: Charlotte, NC and Los Angeles, CA. This project will organize a group of UNCC students to create set of resources and visual representations a parallel to those of a group at Woodbury College in Los Angeles, California. The UNCC group, along with Professors Heather Freeman (Art and Art History) and José Gámez (Architecture) will develop material for the project (photographs, videos, observational writings), which will culminate in a series of digital murals. The murals will create a dialog between the bi-coastal groups focused upon common themes and potential differences that arise given the distinct urban contexts of Los Angeles and Charlotte. Funding for this project covers student expenses related to the production of both the research data and the visual art. The resulting resources and murals will be exhibited at the College of Architecture Gallery. A panel discussion including all participating faculty and UNCC students will accompany the exhibition opening. This project is funded by the Chancellor’s Diversity Challenge Fund though the Council on University Community."

We determined the following course of action:
Students will start collecting/gathering/taking photographs relevant to our concept of the "cultural landscape" of Charlotte, particularly as it explores the influences of Latino immigration. When we next meet up, will use these photographs to help determine the physical nature of the digital mural(s). Students may also want to start small collages, just to get the wheels turning and to give each other a sense of their own individual design aesthetic.

Outstanding question to keep in mind:
Will this be one, large (tiled) collaborative mural, or a series of smaller collaborative murals?
We plan on exhibiting these works in the College of Architecture Gallery. But where else (outside, public spaces) would we like to see these? How might this define the physical design of the mural(s)?

Summary:
This project should take roughly 10 weeks. Students will work primarily on their own time, but must avail themselves to occasional (biweekly) meetings. Students can, of course, organize meetings themselves, any time they want! The finished digital mural(s) will be printed at the end of the semester and exhibited in the spring. The stipend will be determined by the number of students who commit to the whole project and by how much materials end up costing. Students who are fully on board should make every effort to go to the next meeting with their photographs.

Question for the group:
Realizing we need to meet more often in the beginning, when do we want to meet again? Should be try for Friday 9/14 at noon again? Or would you all prefer another day/time? You all dictate! :)