MLAB MISSION STATEMENT


The Mobile Literacy Arts Bus (MLAB) is an artist-run, renovated recreational vehicle that exists as a flexible space open to community members’ proposals for alternative educational and cultural programming.

MLAB is the collaborative effort of the 2007-2008 Social Sculpture class at Syracuse University, comprised of 10 art and architecture students and lead by artist and Director of Community Initiatives in the Visual Arts of Syracuse University, Marion Wilson. Our mission was to transform a used, 1984 Recreational Vehicle Bus into a Mobile Literacy and Arts Bus for use by the Syracuse City School District and the greater Syracuse Community. MLAB serves as a physical manifestation of Syracuse University’s Scholarship in Action initiative, by pairing University resources with community needs in an attempt to address the staggering drop out rates in the Syracuse City School District High Schools. Through the School of Education at Syracuse University, incredible curricula that bridge photography, poetry and literacy currently exist within the public schools-- however due to a crisis of space, the schools don't always have the space or resources to house it. MLAB is this space. The bus serves as a mobile classroom, digital photo lab, gallery space, and community center. As a team, we did it all: demolition, design, and construction.

MLAB is made possible from the generous support of the School of Education at Syracuse University and Entitiative.


Tuesday, October 9, 2007

some more ideas and thoughts for materials . . .





Posted are some pics from a Thom Faulders installation commissioned by the CCA Wattis Institute in San Francisco. He filled the entire gallery w/ a wave of memory foam (stuff used for bike seats, mattresses etc.) and drastically changed the dynamic of the space. Not sure if we'd want push it that far, but I've put in a request for a sample, so we can at least consider it's possibilities.


Also, I've ran around Syracuse this morning and picked up some specialty paints . . . blackboard paint, markerboard paint and high-end graffiti spray paint (like used at FunkNWaffles). I haven't tested any of it yet, but I'll try and have some tested out for Thursday.


I like the Scrapile idea and really enjoy their furniture . . . 4Korners out of brooklyn also uses reclaimed materials for their furniture design. If we were to use this technique for the bus, do we have any specific ideas about where to start collecting scraps?

3 comments:

cazhog said...

Ideas for collecting scrap wood: There is a Stickley furniture factory in Manlius. They might have or make some scrap hardwoods available. A little further out is the Harden factory in McConnelsville. There is a pallet manufacturer in East Syracuse (Butternut Drive). We can also try the Carpenters Shop at SU to see if they have some materials to donate to a worthy cause.

Marion said...

Steve Ginsburg could help with this as well.

jess said...

I LOVE THIS.