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Enforced Pause (Part 2)

Our enforced pause has stretched out longer than expected, and with Newcastle's COVID cases not looking like they’re slowing down anytime soon we have all agreed to take this as a chance to take a proper break and focus on taking care of ourselves.

In order to still feel semi productive we have agreed to order some team shirts, with no responses from council and our funds still needing transferring to a credit card, that’s currently the most we can do project-wise. 

Last night we did an online shopping night, I shared screens and we all had input in the design of our shirts using a logo provided by Lauren. The end result was the same layout, but with different shirt colours for each team member.

I love being able to do little things like this to help my team feel like they belong with the project, and I wanted to make sure we all had some form of keepsake to celebrate our first ever funded project (also if we cant have an in-person ceremony this can be another way to celebrate the end of the year).

Pictured below is our final shirts that will be on their way next week.

My Shirt

Brookes Shirt

Laurens Shirt

Izzys Shirt

Emmas Shirt

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Better Communication Systems

One of the main takeaways from our feedback during our class presentations was to streamline communication even more. In response to this, I’ve set up a group google teams account so we can store all of our files, contacts and important information in the one place. I have also created a calendar for my team with important deadlines and assessment dates so we can stay organised.

Pictured: The different channels I have made for the Google Teams 

Pictured: A screenshot of the General Chat

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Five Wildflowers

As group manager, it’s really important to me that my team feels like they belong. It’s also important that our individuality is highlighted and celebrated, which is what informed the way I organised our group presentation. 

I wanted to ensure that even if us five had completely different content and perspectives when presenting, we all still had a coherent flow. Because of this, I offered to create some simple templates on Canva that could then be repurposed by my team members. 

I got each of my peers to select a colour and an Australian native flower, which I then created a custom template for by recycling an existing Canva presentation titled ‘Ivory Minimalist Modelling Portfolio Presentation’. 

I found this process really simple once I discovered how to use Canvas brand kit, as it’s just a matter of creating custom colour palettes with the fonts of choice, and then clicking ‘apply to all pages’ when I wanted to apply the colours to an individuals template.

I then individually sent my team their corresponding templates so that they could do whatever they liked with it. I loved seeing how well our individual presentations looked all together, as you could clearly differentiate the team apart as everyone had a different vibe, however they all felt that they belonged together.

Lauren helped me by designing the layout for our group presentation that we did all together based off my existing templates. I love how the purple pops with the logo she’s made for us, and appreciate being able to share the workload like this.

For my personal presentation I went with a yellow colour scheme with wattle as it’s my favourite flower. I chose to focus on detailing my shaky relationship with being a leader. 

It’s scary! And takes quite a bit of confidence, as this is new grounds for me. However I’ve learned that being open about this and creating an environment where we all feel safe to lean on each other has been really helpful. I also want the best for my team, and want them to get the most out of this project as possible, meaning that I’m willing to try my best at leading too.

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Stain Glass Experiments

While in lockdown I’ve decided to try and teach myself how to create stain glass artworks. I thought this may be a fun addition to the garden, but also good for my own wellbeing as I like having projects to work on and keep my mind busy.

Currently, I’m only working with old recycled glass that I’ve found from picture frames as it’s free and low-pressure, however as I build my confidence I’ll eventually transition to textured and coloured glass. 

Pictured here are two of my first pieces, they’re a little ugly, bumpy and uneven, but making them has definitely helped me get into the swing of things and I’m excited to learn more. 

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I’m Still Alive!

It’s officially been 4 weeks of lockdown now, and three weeks since my last blog post. My mental health hasn’t been amazing lately, and the Pfizer jab knocked me around for a good two weeks, so I’ve been forgetful with updating this blog.

However, the project has been progressing steadily during this time, something which I’ll be catching up on over the next few days. 

Today we had just had a meeting with Tony Bidstrup, the CEO of Mercy Services. The outcome was really encouraging, and I feel it helped motivate both myself and the team (everyone was talking about how they just want to get out there and paint already). 

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Sensory garden design - Architecture for the specially-abled

Sensory garden design – Architecture for the specially-abled

Every garden prompts the sensory organs in one way or the other. Not only do plants use senses uniquely, but also do they boost the moods of an individual. Furthermore, sensory gardens provide the daily dose of Vitamin D, encourage interaction and promote repetitive tasks for specially-abled people. Horticultural elements used effectively at the Bishop Auckland (© The Northern Echo) Sensory…

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Magneten Sensory Garden by MASU Planning /

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The Game Plan (Plan A)

Pictured above is a plan of attack in regards to how we would go about commencing the project. Many parts of this plan are subject to change, and will need to be flexible depending on COVID and resources, however that’s something my group and I are aware of and willing to work around. Due to the announcement of the lockdown being extended I will also be working on drafting a Plan B and a Plan C.

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I really like this technique of carving out shapes using one block colour on top of the looser, organic background. 

A sneak peek of the mural I’m working on, isn’t he future library at HELO school here in Cambodia.

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Bright Ideas for Your Home, 1978

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I really love seeing the process behind Harring’s work, it makes sense that his art was able to connect to people so effectively as it was brought directly into the community throughout its entire creation stage.

Keith Haring painting his Don’t Believe The Hype mural at P.S. 97 in New York City, 1988.

Photos by Tseng Kwong Chi

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Week 1 Of Lockdown - Mental Health Comes First

Today was our first tutorial conducted under full lockdown. During this time we discussed how we can creatively process issues and turn them into opportunities. 

For me personally, I’ve noticed how much the lockdown announcement has impacted my mental health. I’ve also seen this show up in my group members morale and motivation towards the project.  I feel like I’m emotionally drained, and I’m struggling to prioritise working on uni at the moment. I’m not focusing well, and I’m seeing that being reflected in the work I’m producing.

However, I also realise that my group members are probably going through similar experiences. I’ve decided that this will be a good opportunity to start a conversation with my peers about their mental health, and brainstorm ways we can support each-other moving forwards in this project.

Tomorrow we will be working on creating a space in our meeting to do a mental health checkup. I want everyone to feel like they are in a safe place to voice their anxieties and ask for help when needed. I also want to examine if the way we are currently doing things could be improved to help encourage this environment.  At the end of the day, we are going to produce better work and walk out from this project feeling much more accomplished if we are able to prioritise our mental health. While HD’s are great, they’re not worth suffering for, and with a project as socially driven as this one, we need to be able to be in the right mental mind frame to fully make a positive impact. 

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We Got The Grant!

Exciting entry today- Brooke confirmed with our group during our tutorial that we have had funding secured for our project. We will be looking at around $10,000. We will be confirming details tomorrow in person, but this has been an amazing morale booster for the team. 

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White Savior Complex: How do we Navigate This?

Upon getting critical feedback for our grant proposals for this project an important point was raised to our group. The wording for our initial drafts very much gave off the impression of a group of privileged, white students who felt they were gracing the local aboriginal community with an opportunity to maintain their culture through free labor. 

I’m genuinely glad that this was a point that was raised so early into our work, because we can now examine our own practices and unlearn this cultural notion of a white savior.

While researching this concept, I came across a definition by author, critic and Harvard professor Teju Cole, “The white savior supports brutal policies in the morning, founds charities in the afternoon, and receives awards in the evening.”

I feel that this quote really summarizes this complex well. During our first group meeting, I’ve brought these points up to my team. We all shared a strong desire to generate a code of conduct moving forwards with the project, and also review past documents that we have produced related to this project, and reword it with our newfound self awareness. 

We have also decided that we need to be more cautious about shifting our focus to creating a space for the Mayfield Community. It doesn’t make sense for us to have a focus on creating a space for aboriginal voices when none of us are aboriginal ourselves- instead, aboriginal artists are invited to collaborate on our project as they are an important representative of the Mayfield community.

Here is the action points we as a team have agreed we will follow to help combat this complex moving forwards: 1. Review past documents and correct any wording that may have been insensitive or out of place.

2. Generate a code of conduct for this semester to remain ethical in our practices.

3. Touch base with aboriginal artists involved and share with them our code of conduct, to see if there’s any extra feedback they’d like to provide. 

Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/the-white-savior-industrial-complex/254843/ (Accessed 26/07/21)

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It would be interesting to explore ways of incorporating materials that play with light and colour such as these stain glass leaves 

| ʟᴏᴄᴋʜᴀʀᴛɢʟᴀꜱꜱ ᴠɪᴀ ɪɴꜱᴛᴀɢʀᴀᴍ

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Enforced Pause

For the duration of our break, the team has been put on a forced pause. The grant money has come through, however we are waiting for the bank to put it on a credit card.

While waiting, I’ve asked Emma and Lauren to do some online window shopping and find tiles that they feel would match their butterfly designs. 

Izzy and myself have been researching ideas for the music wall further, however our hands are a bit tied as we initially had a concept of sourcing eclectic objects from second-hand stores that could be used to make music, and they’re all currently closed. 

Brooke is keeping in contact with Susan Denholm (Newcastle Council) On what else we can do in regards to paperwork/pre-ordering equipment, however hasn’t heard back from her. 

Pictured below is an additional correspondence between myself, Luke, Gary and Stephen, who are other stakeholders involved in this project.