Moss LAB at IHAD

UPDATE! This month, Marion Wilson was honored to participate in the I Have A Dream foundations national conference in Atlanta, Georgia. 

The I Have A Dream foundation (IHAD) mission is to provide "long-term support to children and youth living in under-resourced communities to achieve their full potential, by promoting from an early age, values of higher education and career success, with opportunity guaranteed through financial resources, and other services." Their branches are scattered throughout the country, including (but not limited to) Boulder and Denver, Colorado, Los Angeles, CA, Miami, FL, and New York City. IHAD works to provide their student dreamers with long-term support and resources to meet their educational and professional goals.

IHAD was introduced to the MLAB MossLAB project several months ago and began to imagine ways that it could be utilized by their students across the country. As of early this month Marion and IHAD have been working hard to build a curriculum that can be used at schools in over fifteen states. The MLAB MossLab project was presented to the IHAD affiliates at this month’s conference in Atlanta, Georgia, during which Marion introduced MLAB's history and how it will be designed and used in the not so distant future. First, Marion introduced IHAD to our dear subject, Moss. 

We handed out small moss samples to groups of two and had them write an illustration of what they saw.

After finishing writing , they placed their sample on the table and handed their description card to another group who was instructed to find that sample based on the descriptive illustration they had been handed. 

The results were amazing.  Many of the groups were able to find their match and the descriptive writing exhibited both poetic musings and clinical observation. It was easy to see how this simple exercise increased our sensitivity to the subject and ways of looking closely. Many were inspired enough to start drawing the samples and a few even spent our break looking for moss outside the conference hall that day. 

I Have A Dream for MLAB

The "I Have A Dream" Foundation, founded in 1986 by Eugene M. Lang, provides children with the opportunity to further their education by earning a college degree, enabling them to fully capitalize on all of their potential. Mr. Lang embodied the foundation with the mission to "provide long-term support to children and youth living in under-resourced communities to achieve their full potential by promoting, from an early age, values of higher education and career success, with opportunity guaranteed through financial resources and other services." The foundation works toward the long term goal of increasing college matriculation rates all across the country; additionally, through the development of a new, ambitious plan, the "I Have A Dream" Foundation is aiming to double the number of dreamers aiming for a college degree. The impact of the Foundation since its cultivation has reached over 15,000 students across 28 states, Washington D.C., and New Zealand. The Foundation commits to raising the bar and encouraging any and all children to pursue their dream of higher education.

With affiliates in twelve U.S. states, from California to New York, MLAB's partnership with the "I Have a Dream" Foundation makes a cross-country tour possible. This is a tremendous opportunity for us, and we are so excited for all that is on the horizon. Stay tuned for more information as we learn more about what this means for us!

For more information on the foundation please visit their website:
http://www.ihaveadreamfoundation.org/html/affiliate_directory.htm

I Want to Teach the Whole World to Draw: Maine--> Miami--->Oregon

“I Want to Teach the Whole World to Draw….moss.”

I Want to Teach the Whole World to Draw is a mobile drawing project created by artist, Marion Wilson, using a renovated RV (known as MLAB) as her drawing studio and botany lab starting at Art Basel, Miami 2016 and ending in Portland, Oregon. The Mobile Literacy Art Bus (MLAB) will be re-fashioned as a combined moss lab/drawing studio/looking station as it travels from site to site creating an artistic archive and knowledge bank of native moss. This project celebrates attentiveness to place, smallness, and indigenous ways knowing which Wilson believes is both ecological and spiritual; scientific and artistic.

The Stops and what they tell us:

MLAB/MossLab will follow an exquisite and diverse moss trail that Dr. Robin Kimmerer, expert bryologist, and professor at SUNY-ESF has helped to determine. As the local and native moss species are collected and archived Wilson and participants will use microscopes to draw in three scales; real size, dissection and cellular. At each stop Wilson will hold public drawing sessions that include an innovative art lesson. Drawings created and collected will then be sent to a 3-d printer to create a sculptural archive, which Wilson views as a contemporary technological version of Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka glass models. 

I Want to Teach the Whole World to Draw is founded on the belief and conviction that arts and arts education should be distributed equally and not allocated according to race and class as currently displayed in the American school system. MLAB will work in partnership with the National Headquarters of the I Have a Dream Foundation whose mission "Is for all children to have an opportunity to earn a college degree and fully capitalize on their talents, aspirations, and dreams of fulfilling careers and productive global citizenship.”

MLAB/MossLab functions as mobile signage that points directly to the discrepancy of access by traveling to the poorest districts along the route – all the way MLAB will provide a rich and interdisciplinary arts curriculum that links art and design to science and technology.

MLAB to Moss/Lab

In 2008, with a group of nine student collaborators from Syracuse University, Wilson purchased, re-designed and renovated a 1984 American Eagle RV. The RV interior was gutted and re-furbished with Stickley scrap wood, porcelain coated steel walls, and cushions that serve as dual purpose drawing boards. MLAB travelled locally in CNY for three years providing art and creative writing enrichment to 13 local schools; was curated as an Open Institute for participatory art at Stefan Stoyanov gallery in NYC; and was a collecting site for Mel Chin's Fundred Dollar Bill project. 

Why Moss and Drawing?

The transformation of MLAB to a botany lab and drawing studio, specifically for the artistic study of bryophytes is significant environmentally, scientifically and metaphorically. Wilson links art, science and technology and uses science to talk about human activities. Mosses are the first form of plant life; they live in the boundary layer of the Earth and in microenvironments. As non-vascular plants they teach us about hydration, reproduction, photosynthesis. Equally important; moss is about looking. Wilson uses the study of moss to increase our ability to see. The study and observation of moss is the perfect compliment to observational drawing and to drawing exercises that Wilson has used in many public formats to increase individual and public perception. Studying moss is about paying attention to what is small, omnipresent and profoundly overlooked.

Drawing is a universal language. Drawing was the first language humans used to communicate and it is still used widely as a form of communication despite and within new technologies. Drawing is a language used across disciplines to understand form in space - including art and design, the sciences through classification, engineering, mathematics (longitude and latitude in the form of a line) and the humanities (timelines and poetry). Drawing increases our ability to see and enlarges our perceptions of the universe.

Creating the Archive:

In 2010 Wilson inherited the entire painting collection of art slides from Syracuse University’s slide library (approximately 10,000 slides). Since that time through painting and drawing she has been recycling the artifacts of the collection (glass, slide dividers, photographic images) with her own images of post-industrial landscapes  and indigenous or endangered plants.

STE(A)M

This project emphasizes a STE(A)M approach to learning -  in that art operates at the intersection of science, technology and math and includes classification, divergent thinking skills, communicating ideas and problem solving – through drawing and sketching; model making, species collecting and identification.

MLAB from Maine to Miami

Hi everyone!

It's been awhile and we have some very exciting news to share. The Mobile Literacy Arts Bus is preparing to go back on the road and travel further than ever before.

We have been hard at work this past year planning for the next generation of  MLAB. So, here's the plan: we will be on tour from coastal rocky Maine to sandy Miami beginning in Summer of 2015. We will be partnering with local schools, galleries and museums along the way to offer communities free interdisciplinary art and ecology curriculum. MLAB’s Maine to Miami tour will serve as a working arts studio, laboratory, and a mobile classroom that will explore science, specifically site specific, indigenous plant life, alongside a serious study of life drawing and painting practices.

The tour is inspired by the work of MLAB's co-founder; artist Marion Wilson. Marion's artistic practice seeks to create bridges between art, ecology, neighborhood, and curriculum. Her work is marked by a delicate scientific inquiry, one that has led her on a several year long study of New York's native plant life which she has ingeniously represented through miniature sculptures, paintings, and drawings. MLAB's Maine to Miami is an effort to promote free arts education and catalyze collaborations and learning spaces for artists and high-need communities.  For more on Marion's work please visit www.marionwilson.com

We will be using this blog to keep you updated on the fundraiser and the shape of our tour map. We will be writing to introduce you to partners and cities that we will be working with along the way.

Late Night for MLAB

Eath Day: MLAB goes to NYU!

Reading from Buckminster Fuller's Critical Path 

Complete with a pop-up shop and free internet café

Reading from Buckminster Fuller's Critical Path

Sharing the good news of art with Washington Square Park

NYU invited us to their Earth Day celebration on Wahsington Place, adjacent to Washington SQ. Park

Passers-by learned all about MLAB and 601 Tully 

MLAB goes to Rama Clinic and Alchemical Nursery

Looking Back

Recovered photos from a Poetry Workshop last year.
THe Kids are writing  6-Word-Memoirs and drawing their dream-houses.

Conference for the Society of Photographic Educators

Photos by John Cardone

Roberts Poetry class!

Click here to listen to Roberts elementary poetry created & recorded on MLAB!

Porter Academy

We worked with the Porter News Media/TV Class to write their own news stories of an upcoming event at the school. Please enjoy reading their creative news stories!


Porter Concert Kids will be playing instruments in the Auditorium. It will be on February 21-2011. My grandma will be coming and my mom and dad will be coming. I will be watching my friends at the play names Michelle, and Destiny. Michelle will be playing the viola. Finally, Destiny will be playing violins. Last but not lease Mr. Rogers will be constructing them.

By Tatiana Gaines


Did you know there’s going to be a concert February fourth, 2011? There will be lots of people. Teachers, students, and guests. The constructer is Mr. Crouse. Lots of instruments will be playing some are violins, trumpets, tubas, flutes and drums. Some guests will be students, parents, grand parents, friends, and teachers. There’s students playing instruments and singing. There’s special outfits and clothing. Some songs their going to play are Winter Time, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. They will sing People of the World. I’ll like so will you! Come to Porter School and see the amazing concert. You won’t want to miss it. See you there

By Izzy C


Porter Pandas auditorium instruments by people. Singers. February 21, 2011.

By Brittney Tallman


Talent Show

The talent show is in our class room. I will sing or dance. And this is true. And only Porter Pandas. Also students and teachers.

By Zachary Towndrow


Instrument

I play viola. It takes place in the auditorium. It will be February 21. My moms are coming to it. First there will be chorus then there will be violas and violin. We will be playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

By Michelle Butler


On Friday, February 4th Porter School is having a concert and orchestra. Students are playing. Parents and invited. There will be violins and playing, violas are playing. There will be chorus are going to perform and bass will perform.

By Jacob LaPlant


Porter School band and orchestra. Date 2-4-11. Who=students parents guardians, bffs, supporting every person that goes to the school. Then we listen to people play their instruments. They will be playing string instruments. The end

By Alexia


Porter School

Date Friday 2-4-11. Band and orchestra and singing. Students will be playing at Porter School. People who are coming are parents, guardians, aunts, uncles and cousins. It will be in the Auditorium.

By Jisela Turner


At Porter School there is a concert. It’s on 2-21-11. It’s for the people who play an instrument. It’s in the auditorium. People will be in the auditorium.

By Destiny Gallipau


Porter auditorium instrument band. People is where the show is. And they singers they all can’t. They are all excited and they all left and they all go home and they do their homework. The end they go to again.

By Cory Lane

Dr. Weeks Elementry

We worked with the students in the Dr. Weeks break dancing class to create a collaborative story. Every student added to the story and plot development. By the end of the first day, we had this written. Each student then came up with their own ending. Please enjoy the adventures of Eric Carl and Arrowhead as they try to save Scooby-Doo from the magical playground!

Scooby-Doo woke up one day and decided to set out to find the best playground ever! He got dressed, had breakfast, and head out on his adventure for the day. He starts walking, not knowing how long it is going to take him to find the most wonderful playground ever. Sure enough he did not have to go far because right around the corner was a huge playground. Scooby-Doo was so excited he could not keep himself from walking, and ended up running full speed to the playground! When he got there it was better than he imagined! There were TVs, swings, video games, money bars, bridges connecting all the parts of the playground, and slides. As Scooby got closer to the playground he realized the swings were whispering to each other, which is not normal for swings, so Scooby went up close to the swings to investigate. As he got closer the swings said hello. There was no doubt in Scooby’s mind that this was the best playground ever! As he explores more, he talks to the slides, compliments the wood chips, and greets the bridges. Scooby is climbing around on the monkey bard, and up onto the bridge when suddenly he is trapped! He cries for help. Who better to have save him than Eric Carl, Arrowhead, and his magical flying bison?

A few towns over Arrowhead sees on his computer screen that someone is in grave danger at the Dr. Weeks playground. This means only one thing—he must get Eric Carl and his flying bison to save this person! Unfortunately for Arrowhead, Eric Carl has taken his balloon up to the moon to save the moon people from the Brianna, the biggest evil witch ever with warts all over her nose. “This will not do,” Arrowhead says. He hops on his flying bison and they head to the moon. Just as they arrive to the moon they see Eric Carl in battle with the witch. Arrowhead jumps off the bison to join in the battle with his stick. But, the stick is not good enough to defeat the witch and she puts a spell on Arrowhead, which turns him into a bullfrog. Arrowhead starts jumping on Brianna trying to distract her from attacking Eric Carl so he can get back to his balloon. The spell wore off because the moon weakens spells and Arrowhead ended up squishing the witch. Arrowhead and Eric Carl don’t have time to inflate the balloon, or fly the bison, so they jump back to earth because it is much faster.

As they are falling to earth, Arrowhead explains how someone is trapped on the Dr. Weeks playground. They both agree they need help to save this person because they are not sure they have all the powers to save him. They land ever so gently in the Sahara Desert where they find two groups of animals arguing. Perfect! They needed friends to help them, so why not ask these animals? As they approach the group, they hear what they are arguing about, “Stripes are much better than spots, Donkey Kong!” “No, Zookie, spots are way better!” “You’re crazy, Donkey Kong! Stripes all the way!” “What are you talking about? Spots all the way, Apple!” Arrowhead and Eric Carl see they need to intervene so they step in to break up the argument and ask if they want to help save the person on the playground. But they can’t get their attention, to Eric Carl throws a love bomb between them, which separates the zebras and giraffes. Apple, Zookie, Donkey Kong, and Marsallow all stop to see what they have to say…

MLAB: schools visited...

So far MLAB has traveled to six Syracuse City Schools :
media including videos, audio recordings & photos coming soon!

   • Seymour dual language academy (African Drumming)

   • Dr. Weeks Elementary (African/Break Dance)

   • Porter Elementary school (Media/TV class)

     We worked with Ms. Jones Media/Tv class to write, record & film News stories...

• Click here to read examples of the media/tv class news stories 
• Click here to listen to audio samples from the media course (coming soon)
• Click here to view videos of news casts (coming soon)

   • McKinley-Brighton Magnet School (African Drumming/Yearbook)

•  Click here to view a video of the African Drumming class showing us their moves

   • Webster Elementary School (Magazine)

   • Frazer Elementary  (Media Class)

MLAB: McKinley-Brighton

DAY 1>> The first group we worked with was the 3rd graders in yearbook class.  They told us how they worked with articles, photos, drawings etc. and helped them create biographies/artwork to add to their final product.  After a brief tour of MLAB, we created lists of things that we like/dislike so we could learn how to turn the things that inspire us into creative writing/imagery for the yearbook. 

DAY 2 >>

   On Day two at McKinley-Brighton Magnet School Kim & I worked with the African Drumming class.  Here is a brief clip of the whole class performing one of their dances for us.

6x6 Indie Art Sale!

  Hello Artists,

    Thank you for your amazing donations!  We will be selling the work on the bus the following dates:

    • Dec. 11th @ Melanie Littlejohn's

        Saturday December 11 from 2:00-6:00pm at 109 Rockwood Rd in Syracuse, as part of the 3rd Annual ArtWear Holiday Shoppe

 (Melanie does fabulous jewelry!) 

    • Dec. 11th @ The Warehouse Gallery

Saturday December 11 from 7 - 10pm at The Warehouse Gallery 350 W. Fayette St. Armory Square Syracuse, as part of Dean Doug Biklen's School of Education Holiday Party.

**Event is private but the bus will be available to public for perusal!

    

    • Dec. 13th - 16th @ Waverly parking lot

   Parked between Waverly Ave and Marshall St. in parking lot on SU campus.  We will be parked from 11am - 3pm each day with 6x6 canvases, woodcut lazer drawings & jewelry & more!

 Your are invited to visit MLAB at any of the spots we sell and of course tell your friends & family that your work will be for sale to benefit MLAB arts program for children in the city school district and the fowler high business academy!!

    thanks for all your support!

    peace, love & art,

    The MLAB team!

MLAB Podcast Series - Marc Norman

What is community development with Marc Norman.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN 
TO OUR PODCAST SERIES

Next podcast: Saturday

Featuring the artists of
the Laundromat Project

MLAB schedule of events...

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MLAB @  stephan stoyanov gallery 29 orchard street, new york

Exhibit runs Sept. 12 - 24, 2010

STAFF:

Directors Marion Wilson & Natalia Mount

Producers Michael John Heagerty & Samantha Harmon

       

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MLAB arrives in NYC parked curbside on Orchard St.

            

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 Sept 12 - Sept 24, 2010 

FULL SCHEDULE of EVENTS

Gallery hours: 

Wednesday - Saturday 11am - 6pm, 

Sundays noon until 6pm and by appointment.

For more information:

Tel: 212.343.4240

Email: galleryluxe@gmail.com

MLAB hours: 

Closed Mondays. 

Open Tuesday 2 - 6pm, Wed - Sunday noon - 6pm

Special events 6-9pm (see schedule below)

For more information:

Tel: 315.546.4919

Email: mikeyjohn05@yahoo.com

Sunday the 12th -

  MLAB Opening Curated Exhibition

Monday the 13th - 

  CLOSED

Tuesday the 14th - 

 Video screenings curated by Natalia Mount

Wednesday the 15th - 

 Mark Norman - Deutchbank 

Thursday the 16th - continued exhibit

Friday the 17th - 7PM 

 Alexis Bhagat 

            ESCAPE FROM THE BRONX (in fits and starts)

The plot is straight-forward enough to need no futher explanation: "The General Construction (GC) Corporation, led by President Clark, wish to tear down the Bronx to turn it into “the city of the future”. To do this they need to clear the current population from the area and have employed expelled prison warder Floyd Wangler and a private squad of Disinfestors to burn, shoot and gas those that will not leave willingly. While the bums, vagrants and elderly are easy prey, the warrior gangs of the Bronx will not go quietly." 

The film is rich enough to offer almost endless discussion. Bhagat and Manning argue that it is one of the finest allegories of "gentrification" ever produced. Within the MLAB, they will SLOW IT DOWN--play 7 minutes at a time, and break for 7 minutes of considerate reflection. Together, we will connect the dots between plot & character and concept & principle. 

ALEXIS BHAGAT is co-producer of the book/exhibition "An Atlas of Radical Cartography"

Saturday the 18th - 

 Laundromat Project workshops

Join The Laundromat Project's Teaching Artists and Public Artists in Residence for art workshops that range from printmaking to seed bomb-making. "Green-up" your neighborhood with public artist in residence Tattfoo who will teach a variety of urban environmental stewardship workshops from his SOS Mobile Classroom. Learn how to make collograph prints with artist Rosemary Taylor and produce solar prints using found objects with artist Lady K-Fever.

Georgi Tushev

The Neat Stuff

During the last few years I have worked with a small underground worldwide community. We are not so many but we are very good. Think of us like Jedi Order or Brotherhood of Sith, it will not matter. We consider ourselves as artists, directors, dreamers, adventurers, inventors, constructors... We don't see each other often. Via the web we build and share our knowledge. We are the hunters of the skies, our glowing signature is outdoor video goggles, our philosophy is “get the footage” and our trophy is The Ultimate Video.

We are FPV pilots.

In MLAB I am presenting unique piece of 15min flying footage. I use a small remote controlled 86 inch drone airplane designed and build by me. The plane cares livestream video system and onboard HD video camcorder.

Georgi Tushev

New York 2010

            Sunday the 19th - 

Landscapes with the Fall of Icarus

by Paul Lloyd Sargent

Landscapes with the Fall of Icarus, Part One is a two-week long performance installation project byPaul Lloyd Sargent for the Mobile Literacy + Art Bus (MLAB) converted RV gallery parked on Manhattan's Lower East Side.  This project will entail three distinct components:

1. On Sunday Sep 19th, 2 – 4pm, Paul Lloyd Sargent will moderate a panel of disposal chain experts, including Robin Nagle (anthropologist in residence for the Dept of Sanitation), Leila Darabi (journalist and founder of the encyclopedic everydaytrash.com), and more.  We will talk about trash in cities around the world, the disposal chain in NYC, a brief history of garbage art, and much more.

2. Over the next two weeks of the exhibition Sargent will wander the neighborhood collecting trash for a collage project depicting the Lower East Side as seen by GoogleEarth.  Come join him on his walks at 11am on Sunday morning before the panel (or daily by emailing Sargent at enolagrey [at] hotmail [dot] com).

3. As Sargent collects trash for his larger project, he will also be shooting still images for a new series entitled “Landscapes with the Fall of Icarus.”  Images of these daily photo shoots will be visible for preview on a laptop hosted in the MLAB.


Also, can you hyperlink Leila's name/blog to:http://www.everydaytrash.com

and Robin's name and "anthropologist is residence" to:http://believermag.com/issues/201009/?read=interview_nagle

Raphael Lyons

Performs as RAPH 6-9pm 

            Monday the 20th - CLOSED

            Tuesday the 21st - 

Melanie Cohn- artists conversations

What Passes Between 7pm                     7:00 pm Tamara Keshecki, classical flute  7:20 pm Frank Williams, poetry 7:40 pm  Amanda Curtis & Brendan Coyle,  performance art

This series of three 15-minute workshops proposes to examine the relationship between an artwork and an audience. Three artists would create works in three different art forms--poetry, contemporary classical music, and performance art—that would examine the idea of what passes between an artwork and an audience. The artworks would be presented in an intense one-on-one session between the artist and an audience. The audience will then have an opportunity to record what passes between them and the work through written notes to the artist. These musings will then be taken and choreographed into a spoken word and music piece with the participating artists, which can be part of the M-Lab Archive.

            Wednesday the 22nd - Carrie Dashow 4-7pm

Yesiree the Public Notary, a New York Civil servant will be performing contracts of oath and affirmation with individual members of the public.Documents will be officiated under New York State law in the form of an Official Certificate of Self. Exchange price: $2 per signature, accoutrements extra. 

Thursday the 23rd - What it means to be an artist affiliated with Residency Unlimited
a discussion with Sebastian De Santamaria as well as artists Anne Percoco, Edward Schexnayder & Eve K. Tremblay


http://www.residencyunlimited.org/ 

Friday the 24th - 

Official closing event invite!

MLAB @ Stephan Stoyanov Gallery
with a screening series including works by artists Eva Davidova, Georgi Tushev, and Daniela Kostova and Miryana Todorova, DJ Joro Boro with Alexey Vs.
CLOSING NIGHT SCHEDULE:


7:30 - 8PM Georgi Tushev - an aerial video taken by homemade scratch build drone flown high up over New York city. Welcome to watch it, play some vinyls , and drink! screened on side of MLAB

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=120083451379375&ref=mf


8 - 8:30PM Eva Davidova - will screen Untitled & Book (2005)


8:30 - 9PM - A video documentation of the public art performance 'Monuments of Incomplete Transition' by Daniela Kostova andMiryana Todorova 

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=152015154829256&ref=mf


9 - 10PM - Alexey Vs. projects his hand-painted & bleached 8mm & 16mm films while DJ Joro Boro scores them live!

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=163528973661367



This event is curated by Natalia Mount and co-produced by Michael John Heagerty

alexey vs
Alexey was born in Siberia in 1976, and grew up in Hungary and Far East.
Most of his teenage years were spent in Moscow during fall of Soviet Union.
He has lived in underground communes and monasteries since 1995.
Hey then traveled to the Untied States to study Theology  and received his BA in 1998. (MA in Divinity in 2003) Alexey worked as iconographer making frescos in few orthodox churches in NY and Mass.  He joined experimental super 8 film group in Utica, NY in 2005. And has been screenings films with live-scores from experimental musicians since.

Combined personal footage, my friends' and unknown family films from 40s to 80s.
Media: Super 8, 8mm film. Bleach. Permanent markers hand-drawn onto film-strips then "re-projected."

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