Week 6 Update

The quarter is half-way over after the excitement of Arts Walk and the success of our chalkboards we are pushing forward with the next phases of our project. Specifically we are continuing to solidify our archway designs, and hope to soon begin construction. Mike Szramek, a local engineer, has donated much time and effort to help us ensure that the product will be secure and up to code standards. He and several members of the group have been working on architectural plans for the archways. These engineered designs and calculations will allow us to get the height variance we have requested from the city.

Currently we are pursuing two main sources for the wood. One is a stockpile of new cedar that was donated to Evergreen, and another is the left-over wood from a deconstruction project on campus. Gaining access to these materials has proved difficult but we are finally making headway and hope to know by the end of the week.

While waiting for final say about the wood we are also refocusing some energy on the idea of a rainwater catchment system of downspouts and planters. Because we want to encourage use of the alley as a pedestrian walkway, standing water is one of our major concerns. To address the large area of pooling water that occurs in the alley we are looking into installing rain-barrels under the downspouts for capturing and containing of run-off from the Patrico Building. We are considering perhaps diverting it out of the alley to areas with better drainage.

The chalkboards continue to be a hit downtown. While we have had isolated instances of responses being written with permanent media, we've pretty much "chalked" that up to people's excitement to contributing to the wall that they couldn't wait for us to restock the real chalk. Speaking of that, chalk donations are happily accepted, and at this point they can be deposited directly on the alley floor (a chalk storage box is currently in the works as well).

We are always looking for other donations as well, in fact we have set up a paypal account (linked on the right) where you are invited to make monetary contribution to help fund the continuance of our project. All money received will be used for alley revitalization including but not limited to, material acquisition (ie. chalk, paint, wood, hardware, rain-barrels, etc.), paying for the archway permit, and maintenance. Your support is greatly appreciated!

Alley in Action!

Arts Walk Weekend!

Its been an eventful and greatly successful week for us!

This past weekend was Olympia's annual Spring Arts Walk and Procession of the Species. In final preparation for this bustling weekend, we stenciled out the lines that say "In my life I want to____________" on the chalkboards. They were prepped and ready to go on Wednesday and we found the lines all filled out by the very next morning. While the initial responses were often less-than-desirable, the more positive ideas began taking over as the days progressed.

On Friday night the streets of Oly were bursting with energy, celebrating the arts, community, and the coming of the Spring! The curiosity instilled in people wandering about downtown during Arts Walk complimented the sense of wonder we were trying to evoke through our work. People peered into the alley, expectant or hesitant, and found groups of others writing all over the walls, reading, taking pictures, hanging out, and were drawn to see what exactly all the excitement was about. The walls got so full that people began adding lines, and even moving to write on the other side of the alley to share their hopes and dreams.

We had a team stationed at the alley to share information about our project and invite people to write. We collected donations and discovered abundant appreciation and interest in the work we have done and plan to do.

The success continued on Saturday, when we wiped the walls clean again in preparation for the influx of people coming downtown for the procession. The chalkboards were completely filled once more with responses, and we were met with enthusiasm and support throughout the morning.

"In my life..."

Jonathan doing the dirty work!

This weekend the group began our preparation of the alley for next weekend's Arts Walk and Procession. We pressure-washed the alley floor and walls on Friday. It was a wet and wild procedure that involved more feces than any of us really wanted to deal with. After that we taped-up the outlines of our four chalkboards and began priming them for black paint (donated graciously by Olympia Supply Co. and Sherwin-Williams).

Our prompt

The next day we rose with the sun (YES, THE SUN!) and met downtown at 8:30to get to work. This work day for us happened to correspond with the bi-annual Olympia Downtown Cleanup so we got free supplies and a free lunch for our contribution to the beautification of downtown! We covered up some of the tagging on the Patrico Building (which was greatly satisfying), and we painted our four chalkboards on the Griswald Building. We also painted the prompt "In my life..." above our chalkboards

Candy Chang's "Before I Die..." Wall

 The prompted chalkboard idea was inspired by an installation done by Candy Chang, a public installation artist, who created similar chalkboards in New Orleans. Her chalkboards had the prompt "Before I Die..." in bold lettering. In columns on the boards were lines that said "Before I die I will______________________". This installation called for community engagement and was greatly successful. When we stumbled upon her project we were so inspired that we decided to use her idea (after contacting her, of course). Though we had her permission to use the same prompt, our client encouraged us to change it up, thus our prompt "In my life..."

 So, our 2D installation is almost ready for next weekend. We just have to add in the columns of lines that say "In my life I want to____________"

Aubrie painting Community Voice

and perhaps add a bit of embellishment. Some of the cool things about our work this weekend: We got to keep one of the best parts of the mural, the sunrise over the mountain! It looks great and really brings attention to our prompt. Also, the spaces between our chalkboards mirror the intermittent columns of the Patrico Building on the other side of the alley creating coherency between the walls. These spaces also let some of the previously existing mural and graffiti shine through. This keeps some of the character of downtown Olympia while adding a bit of order to it. When we had all the the chalkboards taped out we also noticed that we could mirror the gated archway of the Patrico Building as well as the columns, thus came the birth of "Community Voice," a smaller arched chalkboard that invites advertisement of community events, or the sharing of quotes, and other creative expressions... in chalk only please!!

More pictures from Saturday:

New chalkboards!

Jesse, happily painting!

Alex and the MINI ROLLER!

Michael mucking

Nick, lookin' good! (Sorry, I didn't get a picture of you working).

The Beginning of a New Olympia

The year is 2011, the season is spring, and together: Michael Meza, Alex Eisenberg, Aubrie Christensen, Nick Losi, Jonathan McKenzie-Sullivan, and Jesse Nelson, are working tirelessly to create something bigger than ourselves; bigger than our program (Designing Green); even bigger than The Evergreen State College. This larger endeavor is the concept of alley revitalization and it was created to revolutionize the way we as a society and individuals view alleys. Places usually seen as the sanctuary of mischief and danger can now be seen as sanctuaries for peace, progress, and respectfully above all; community. Alley Revitalization as a practice is just the larger umbrella, and underneath that umbrella are projects in cities throughout the world attempting to bring people into the alleys and using them as spaces to live and be in. 

Our contribution to this urban goal will be our work in one alley in the lovely city of Olympia, Washington (population 42,500). Alley Revitalization has been on the minds of the Olympia Downtown Association (ODA) for over four years and they have been working to clean and light alleys throughout the city. The alley we are working on is between the Griswald and Patrico Buildings and Fourth Avenue and State Avenue. This alley in particular was recognized by the ODA as one of the more dangerous spaces in Olympia exhibiting typical misuse and undesirable characteristics of an alley. Examples of such activities include defecating and urinating, aggressive behavior, vandalism, and littering. Currently the alley is underutilized as a public space and pedestrian walkway, resulting in these undesired activities. The clients (owners of an adjacent building and the city) wish to reduce illicit activities, increase public access and walkability, and build community engagement and stewardship around the alley.

With the go-ahead from the city and the building owners, we began a process of generating ideas for all sorts of intervention that we could implement or initiate in the alley. After weeks of researching other alley revitalization/activation projects, sketching, brainstorming, debating, discussing, and designing, we came up with a plan that we felt met our goals which were to instill triple bottom line values, beginning from a place of social sustainability. Through this our project has the potential to inspire community engagement and stewardship of the space, which can effectively lead to improved ecological conditions within the alley and its immediate surroundings. 

In striving to meet these goals we will produce two archways book-ending the alley, emphasizing a contained space for public enjoyment. Rainwater management through collection barrels will address issues of standing water that currently impede pedestrian accessibility. A chalkboard and associated prompt on the Griswald building will cover the graffiti-marked mural, and serve to engage the community and draw attention towards the space. An end report will outline a phased plan for future development of the alley, as well as contain methods for similar alley improvement projects.

Our intended final products include:
        Archways over north and south entrances to alley
        Rain-fed planters on Patrico Building
        2D installation on Griswald Building
        Phased plan for future development
        Documentation of project

Thanks for your interest in our project. Anticipate new entries documenting our progress. Our first deadline is April 22 which is the weekend of Olympias bi-annual Arts Walk and annual Procession of the Species. We hope to have our 2D installation up and ready for use by this time because it is an active time for people in the community and will be a great way to stimulate engagement in our work. Wish us luck!