During our second visit to Project grow on Thursday (3/3/16), I worked together with Larry. Larry was fun to work with, but quite soon after my arrival he went off to have a snack for a while, leaving me alone in the studio. I used the time to work on the drawing that I started, as well as moving around the studio to see what others were doing. (I also managed to create a scary doll! Larry takes long snacks!) When Larry returned, we went on a brief pareidolia (the psychological phenomenon of seeing things like faces where they are not) walk around outside of the Project Grow complex. It was interesting to communicate and understand what we were seeing to each other. Following this, we went back inside to draw more. Larry showed me his process (refer to the image) and we again looked for what might be perceived to be in what we were seeing that was not actually there. This combination of projecting and filtering images into and from the world respectively was very fascinating. It was also very interesting to see Larry's way of drawing and to compare it with my own methods. I frequently also draw in very obscure non-figurative ways (where the resulting image is defined by the process, rather than a clear concept). I then had to go out in the rain to return to campus, following a very enjoyable visit.

For my second trip to project Grow, I participated in a scary doll making activity. I sat down and began using materials such as poster board, yarn, beads, and markers to create my interpretation of a “scary doll.” Although we were out of hot glue guns, I began wrapping the yarn around a figure I cut out with poster board. I was working on my own for this project, but I got to see the other scary doll works being created, and it was very interesting to see what other people came up with. There were various activities throughout the rest of the class, such as umbrella making and basket weaving among many others. My works of art came out very satisfying, and I can’t wait to see what other creations were made.

Working one on one with the Project Grow artists allowed me to connect on a level I didn’t think I could have had with a larger group. The studio itself was of course crowded, and I think the calming environment I was in made it easier to communicate, joke, and work on art. Feeling safe is a large part of comfort, and I believe I accomplished that while developing a relationship with Olga. We worked on drawing animals with a wide range of colored markers (our favorites included giraffes and cats), and Olga showed me her work (her favorite being a clay monkey on a branch she sculpted and painted beautifully). Our calm table space left open invitation for other artists to join us, and a few did. We all discussed our own pets and shared pictures across the table. Our table allowed a comfortable location for positive communication and very cool art.

Our group collaborated with Sonya, an artist whose main medium is clay, to create a bowl. We spent the majority of our time pasting clay on top of a mold, generating even layers, and adding fun textures. Sonya really enjoyed texturizing the bowl by tapping her fingers across the surface to create a rippling pattern. Although it was difficult for her to texturize the bowl herself, Sonya seemed to love watching us and listening to our fingers against the clay. She didn’t speak much, but communicated primarily through laughter and facial expressions. Our group consisted of Brett Meyer, Morgan Bray, Natalie Hahn, and Audrey Bond. Sonya created our symbol- a red bowl with her name on the front.

On Thursday, Eddie and I made a story (which was amazing) and it was a lot of fun. We worked together to create the characters and the title, as well as coming up with the plot together. I created the symbol, which was vampire teeth with a moon necklace. Even though it was just me, the bonding experience was even better!

Our team consisted of Sam, Kacie, and Jaman. We all met at Project Grow for a workshop Jaman was holding titled Pop and Hip Hop Music. Jaman shared with us his favorite music genre, artists, instruments, and songs! He's really found of Mariah Carey, but he enjoys mostly pop, R&B, and old rock. He taught us how to make music with just our bodies and voices! It was surprising to know that Jaman can play 7 different instruments! He is in love with the song "Happy" by Pharrell Williams because music makes him happy in any situation. We were even helping Jaman sing songs that he wanted to show us. At the end of our workshop, we all came together to create a symbol that demonstrated our time together. What we came up with was a microphone with a face and different pictures that represents music. Our time together was really fun and we would love to collaborate with Jaman again and make a hit single!

During Thursday’s session at Project Grow, we were in the group Goats and Farming with Lorna and Chrissy. When we got there, we were introduced to Chrissy, and she took us out to meet the goats Salt and Pepper. There, we also met Lorna, who told us that the goats were “mother and baby.” After visiting the goats, we worked with Lorna and Chrissy to create an icon that resembled the goats and chickens that they have at Project Grow. Lorna helped inspire us to create the icon we did by drawing a picture of the goats who live at Project Grow. This experience of working hands-on with Lorna and Chrissy was really inspiring when it comes to doing what you love even if there are roadblocks.

Babs and I talked about Frida Kahlo, mostly. She had a book of Kahlo's work, and she was in the middle of recreating one of her paintings when our “interview” began. Babs isn't able to communicate verbally, so I would ask her questions by writing them on our interview sheet and she would write her answers back for me. Not being able to communicate verbally was an interesting hurdle that I hadn't had to face before. It was very interesting and special to me that I was able to listen to her, without her speaking.

We met Louis a few weeks ago during the PSU tour when Project Grow came to our campus. Louis found us immediately, and wanted us to be in his group. His workshop was based on black cats. We started watching lots of videos on black cats and cats in general. When it came to creating a piece of art with Louis, we all began drawing our own cats. When it came to Louis, he wanted us to know more about what he has learned and wanted to teach us rather than drawing something. He got very comfortable with us very fast and wanted to take us out to see the garden and farm. He was very spontaneous and would do things unexpectedly like, going into the chicken coop and picking up a chicken and chasing us with it. He seemed extremely happy to have us three with him and learning about something he loved.

At Project Grow, we had the amazing experience of learning about meditation from one of the artists, Endale. It was a beautiful morning, so we all decided that it would be best if we went into the garden to really get behind the idea of peaceful meditation. Together, we sat outside in a circle and followed Endale’s directions. In order to meditate, you should sit up straight, close your eyes, and think about wonderful things. You can meditate for as long as you’d like, but Endale suggested to us that 10-15 minutes is good. We talked about the benefits of meditating, such as it’s calming effects and how it can relieve stress and tension. Ultimately, we had a very lovely morning at Project Grow’s garden learning about meditation. We got to listen to the birds singing, water dripping, city bustling, wind rustling, and chickens chirping while enjoying the warm sun on our faces. It was ultimately an amazing experience, because it really took us away from the stress that we were facing. We had a great time and learned a lot, thanks to Endale!

Project Grow is an arts and urban farming collective in Portland, Oregon for people with developmental disabilities. During my visit at Project Grow, I made "scary dolls" with one of the participants named Shanell. She was pretty busy listening to music, and eating food, but my group and I made our dolls from pieces of cardstock and yarn. We cut the cardstock into our dolls’ shapes and taped cotton balls onto the body to give the doll some dimension. Then, we wrapped the doll in yarn, and added hair onto the dolls with other colors of yarn. I don't really know the purpose of the activity, or why the dolls needed to be scary, but I had a lot of fun and found the activity to be really entertaining. I found it amusing to see Shanell in her own world entertaining herself by singing along to her music. The atmosphere of Project Grow was very busy and full of energy. Being an anxious person, it was slightly intimidating to be among the people of Project Grow. Overall, I had a terrific time creating scary dolls with the other participants.  

The workshops held at Project Grow are all unique and diverse, much like the artists who did them with us. We signed up for the weaving workshop, which turned into a completely different project. We worked with the artist Ricky, who is a very talented weaver. When the two of us first arrived to work with him, he was full of energy and insisted that he needed a break. This was alright though, because we got to talk to him about his art and get to know him on a more personal level. Ricky is full of life, and his weaving is very beautiful. Once he was done with his break, he let us watch him weave, and even talked to us about what he was doing. He did not get to teach us how to weave, but we felt that watching him was way more interesting. He also showed us beads that he had made himself, which were interesting shapes with lots of holes. Ricky weaves his art pieces, and then goes back in with a needle and adds the beads to them. He will sometimes even paint on top of his woven masterpieces. The outcome of all his hard work is really beautiful. Ricky really has an interesting personal aesthetic, and his joy for his art is a lot of fun to be a part of.

Ricky told us that creating his art made him really happy, and we could tell. As he went through the process of creating a new art piece, Ricky was all smiles and I think he was even more excited that we were there to express a liking to his work as well. I think one of the most amazing parts is when we found out that Ricky is not only a great 3D artist, but is a superb visual artist as well. We got to see his skills come alive toward the end of our time together.

At the end of our workshop, we were asked to make a symbol of his artwork. We talked to him for awhile about what he wanted to represent his work at Project Grow. We decided to draw a picture of one of his art pieces, which Ricky was very excited about. He helped us pick all the colors and was very meticulous about how he wanted us to draw his art piece. His art piece was a woven rectangle full of different colors, with beads sewn onto it is as well. He made sure that the beads were drawn in the correct shape, and that each part of his art piece was drawn in the right color. At the end of drawing this symbol of his art, he was very happy. During the process he laughed a lot and was answering all our questions with a lot of excitement. The time we spent with Ricky was a lot of fun. We are really happy with how our workshop went, and we feel really lucky to have had this opportunity to work with such a fun artist at Project Grow.

Thursday, I met an artist named Tess. Tess is fairly mute, but she makes sounds and has a communication board that allows her to get her point across. She also LOVES popcorn. A little bag that she was given was not only unbuttered heath popcorn, but super tiny. It makes sense that she took me to a vending machine to get more. Lauren told me not to get her any, so of course I listened to her. We were supposed to make a communication board but Tess really did not feel like doing anything besides eating popcorn. So, we ended up painting a picture of popcorn. Tess drew a rough sketch and painted the actual popcorn and I painted the box and the word “Popcorn” across it. Before I was done painting the box, Tess had to leave. I hadn’t ever spent that much time with someone who was partially mute before. There was one guy in the same grade as me that I would talk to every so often, but usually it was on the way to class.