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Fellows & Others

Dotty Wotty

The Donnelley Center Community Art Garden

Bronzeville: Chicago, Illinois

The term “bronzeville” was initially used to describe any poor, underdeveloped, segregated, black community (Grams and Warr 2003). Chicago’s Bronzeville was established due to racial segregation within Chicago. Bronzeville is economically diverse, ranging from the lower middle class to the upper echelon of the culturally affluent Black population. By the 21st century, because of more than $100 million of government funding, Bronzeville cultural activists aimed to transform this historical ghetto into a community known for its African American culture (Grams and Warr 2003). This transformation was achieved because of the communities involvement in the establishing, identifying, land marking, and mapping of African American historical sites. Art projects that were created during this restoration process established Bronzeville as a historically rich place of Black history.

Research done by Dr. Diane Grams and her partner Michael Warr highlighted and documented the range of art activities that honored the African American culture in Bronzeville. The artistic activities and productions displayed the shared values and interest of the people who lived there. Many of the art activities involved collaboration and participation of the residents which unified the community. The purpose of art production in Bronzeville is to cement its role as a historical place of importance for African American culture. The practice of community art development projects in Bronzeville seek to attract the Black middle class back to urban communities, while also hoping to prevent future gentrification in these urban neighborhoods.

CPAG Projects

The role of art programs and projects in communities resisting gentrifying forces has been a debated topic among researchers. Traditional arguments regarding public art programs have been cited as “contributing to gentrification and the displacement of lower-income residents” in city neighborhoods (Grodach, Foster, and Murdoch 2014). However, more recent literature has contradicted these claims of “art-based gentrification” as being unique to individual neighborhoods (Grodach et al. 2014). Going even further, recent literature has suggested that the arts are more likely to benefit neighborhood revitalization as well as the residents within the community (Grodach et al. 2014). This photo project aims to identify neighborhood communities in Chicago, Illinois and Detroit, Michigan that have established community art based programs or projects seeking to resist gentrifying forces, while simultaneously creating an atmosphere of equitable community development among the residents.

These murals and art projects established by the CPAG allowed the community to become passionate about their the culture and history that surrounds their city. These murals uplift the atmosphere of parts of the urban neighborhoods in Chicago that might be seen as “run-down” and that the state government may deem as in need of gentrification. These types of community art projects revitalize urban communities, but does not phase out the low-income residents that live there. The residents are in control of how they restore the physical environment and reputation of their neighborhood.

First things first, defining gentrification

This picture project focuses on two communities in the United States located in Chicago’s Bronzeville and Detroit’s Heidelberg Street. These communities have implemented community art based programs or projects that are aimed at reducing possible gentrifying forces within their community. Through these art projects and programs, these communities have also sought to foster community development among their residents. They do this by developing a unified network of people to improve the physical surroundings of the community while also improving the overall reputation of the neighborhood. Through the examples of the communities in Bronzesville and Detroit, public art can have the effect of helping a community “to develop senses of identity, to develop senses of place, contribute to civic identity, address community needs, tackle social exclusion, possess educational value, promote social change, and encourage economic developments” (Palermo 2014).

gentrification

noun gen·tri·fi·ca·tion \ˌjen-trə-fə-ˈkā-shən

: the process of renewal and rebuilding accompanying the influx of middle-class or affluent people into deteriorating areas that often displaces poorer residents (Merriam-Webster).

Chicago Public Art Group

What We See- Lo Que Vemos

Artist Juan Angel Chávez gave disposable cameras to twelve kids and had them take pictures of their neighborhood in West Humboldt Park. The pictures taken by the youths featured both positive and negative images of the neighborhood. Chávez took the images and made a collage out of them for the bases of the ninety-four-foot-long mural. The resulting mural, What We See, “presents an honest and multi-layered view of the students’ urban surroundings—from residents maintaining homes to youths playing sports to junked cars and stray dogs. Police cruise the streets while abandoned houses are saved from demolition” (CPAG Guide). The mural also includes portraits of the children and handwritten quotes by them that describe the environment of the neighborhood.

The positive effects that art can have on a community are exemplified by the artistic installations that Chicago Public Art Group (CPAG) has developed in the the past forty years. The CPAG’s mission is to “unite artists and communities in partnership to produce quality public art and to extend and transform the tradition of collaborative, community involved, public artwork” (About CPAG). CPAG focuses on using the community in conjunction with local artist to revitalize and transform Chicago’s surrounding urban neighborhoods. CPAG is most well known for their mural installations throughout Chicago. The community mural is “a larger than life representation of a community’s histories and hopes” (CPAG Guide). Instead of having intrusive billboards dominate the “visual environment,” community murals are used to provide a cost-effective method in which the residents can celebrate what they value in their community (CPAG Guide). CPAG notes how the public finds a new appreciation for art when they are the one creating it, there is also a sense of pride and amazement while watching the day-by-day development of the mural.

Cannas & Corn: A Garden Site

What We See- Lo Que Vemos

“Turning blight into sight” is the motto of the residents in The North Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago in which this mosaic is dedicated to (CPAG Guide). The residents of this community have transformed vacant urban spaces into “neighborhood amenities” (CPAG Guide). Along with volunteer artists, residents of this community all took part in creating this mosaic. The mosaic consists of images that are based off of community gardens located in the surrounding North Lawndale area. Cannas & Corn represents the memories, thoughts, and importance of community gardens to the residents. The text throughout the mosaic shows the “personal, social, and cultural significance” of community gardens to the gardeners and the children of the neighborhood (CPAG Guide).

Cannas & Corn: A Garden Site

Heidelberg: Detroit, Michigan

In 1986, artist Tyree Guyton returned to Heidelberg Street where he grew up on in Detroit’s East Side. Guyton came back to find Heidelberg “in shambles, riddled with drugs and deepening poverty” (Heidelberg History). Along with his grandfather and neighborhood children, they began cleaning up the vacant lots on Heidelberg Street. Guyton reused the "trash" left behind to create a neighborhood filled with art. This motivated Guyton to continue the revitalization process of the neighborhood to form The Heidelberg Project (HP). The mission of The HP is to “inspire people to appreciate and use artistic expression to enrich their lives and to improve the social and economic health of the greater community” (Heidelberg History).

Works Cited

Picture Citations (in order of appearance)

Anon. 2001. What We See—Lo Que Vemos. Chicago, Illinois: Chicago Public Art Group. Retrieved October 10, 2015. (http://www.cpag.net/guide/2/2_pages/2_4_02.htm)

Anon. 2004. Cannas & Corn. Chicago, Illinois: Chicago Public Art Group. Retrieved October 10, 2015. (http://www.cpag.net/guide/1/1_pages/1_3_18.htm)

Anon. 2015. Party Animal House. Detroit Michigan: The Heidelberg Project. Retrieved October 10, 2015. (http://www.heidelberg.org/news_publications/photo_gallery.html)

Anon. 2015.Noah’s Arc. Detroit Michigan: The Heidelberg Project. Retrieved October 10, 2015. (http://www.heidelberg.org/news_publications/photo_gallery.html)

Anon. 1995. The Donnelley Center Community Art Garden. Chicago, Illinois: Chicago Public Art Group. Retrieved October 10, 2015. (http://www.cpag.net/guide/2/2_pages/2.htm)

Anon. 1997. Fellows & Others . Chicago, Illinois: Chicago Public Art Group. Retrieved October 10, 2015. (http://www.cpag.net/guide/2/2_pages/2_4_06.htm

Minkless Mag Team. 2015. Dotty Wotty. Detroit Michigan: The Heidelberg Project. Retrieved October 10, 2015. (http://minklessmag.tumblr.com/post/121638186550/mink-bit-the-heidelberg-projectl)

Knox, Skaie. 2015. Party Animal House. Detroit Michigan: The Heidelberg Project. Retrieved October 10, 2015. (http://www.homejelly.com/the-heidelberg-project-building-inspiration-with-abandoned-objects/)

Chicago’s Bronzeville and Detroit’s Heidelberg Street are examples of how locally established art programs or projects can show how art that is “made in a community,” “represented in a community,” or is “community-based” can establish an importance of shared culture, values, and interest (Grams and Warr 2003). These programs and projects create social relationships and greater access to resources among community members (Grams and Warr 2003). Art activities therefore can provide empowerment and stability between communities facing potential gentrification.

Chicago Public Art Group. “About CPAG.” Chicago, Illinois: Chicago Public Art Group, Retrieved October 10, 2015.

(http://www.cpag.net/home/about_mission.html)

Chicago Public Art Group. “Chicago Public Art Guide.” Chicago, Illinois: Chicago Public Art Guide, Retrieved October 10, 2015. (http://www.cpag.net/guide/1/1_pages/1_3_18.htm) and (http://www.cpag.net/guide/2/2_pages/2_4_02.htm)

Grams, Diane and Michael Warr. 2012. “Art and Equitable Community Development." Pp. 89-95 in Public Sociology: Action, Research, and Change, edited by Philip Nyden, Leslie Hossfeld, and Gwendolyn Nyden. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.

Grodach, Carl, Nicole Foster, and James Murdoch. 2014. "Gentrification and the Artistic Dividend: The Role of the Arts in Neighborhood Change." Journal of the American Planning Association, 80: 21-35.

The Heidelberg Project. 2015. “Heidelberg History.” Detroit, Michigan: The Heidelberg Project, Retrieved October 10, 2015. (http://www.heidelberg.org/research_resources/)

Palermo, Luca. 2014. “The Role of Art in Urban Gentrification and Regeneration: Aesthetic, Social, and Economic Development.” Capitale Culturale Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage, 10: 521-545.

Heidelberg: Detroit, Michigan

Heidelberg Project: The Party Animal House

The HP was inspired by the challenges and changes Guyton experienced while growing up on Heidelberg Street. Over the years, the community that surrounded Heidelberg Street transformed from “a diverse, working class neighborhood” to a “community characterized by violence, racism, abandonment, despair and poverty” — the existing neighborhood is described as one of the most economically depressed areas in the U.S., with “unemployment rates of 75% and over 90% of people living below the poverty level” (U.S. Census, 2005) (Heidelberg History).

Heidelberg Street would have been a prime place to enact gentrification forces. With the abundance of vacant lots and houses, it would a have been an easy target for the government to give money to private developers to renovate the surrounding neighborhoods in order to promote economic growth. However, because Guyton’s creativity and perseverance, he was able to transform these blighted areas into an outdoor art museum. The HP has affected the surrounding the community in many positive ways. By getting residents involved in a community art based project, the residents focus on restoring the community and not destructing it. Serious crime has nearly diminished in the surrounding communities of Heidelberg Street since the project has been implemented. Residents are becoming educated about art, and actively seek participation in other HP projects and local art events. The HP provides an outdoor space where community members “can come together to reflect, play, create and interact with people from around the world [. . .] building a sense of self-worth and pride” (Heidelberg History).

Heidelberg Project: Noah's Arc

The Art of Resistance: Community Art Programs and the Prevention of Gentrification

Rachael Sturgis

October 14, 2015

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