MIAD Bridge–WA Magazine

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I decided to call my magazine WA, the Japanese word for peace and harmoy as they relate to a community versus an individual. It takes a community–oriented mindset in order to change the world, and less of the "I" mentality.

Transcript of MIAD Bridge–WA Magazine

Page 1: MIAD Bridge–WA Magazine

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DEPUTY EDITOR

ILLUSTRATION

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

CONTRIBUTORS

HEADQUARTERS

PRINTER

Brittany Diamond PRESIDENT

EDITOR–IN–CHIEF

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

ART DIRECTOR

PHOTOGRAPHY

COPY EDITOR

Maria Bhatti

Alexandra Grace

Nesli Anter

Bethany Armstrong

Michael Marten

Sean Simmons

Pia Liapert

Leslie Fedorchuk

Tess Doyle

WA Magazine / MIAD BridgeMilwaukee Institute of Art & Design 273 E. Erie St. Milwaukee, WI 53202Phone: 414-847-3200www.miad.edu

printer nameaddressaddressphonewebsite

DECEMBER 0 1 2

WAMAG.COM

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Serve Not ThyselfMichael Marten

Extensions of Who I AmSean Simmons

Merrill Park Neighborhood Profi lePia Liapert

1st Person: Leslie FedorchukBrittany Diamond

RedLineTess Doyle

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contents

contributors

editor’s note

resources

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W h a t “ S e r v i c e ” m e a n s t o o n e i n d i v i d u a l

Written by Michael Marten

“Service” means something different depending on who you ask. Provid-ing dinner once a week at a homeless

shelter, joining the armed forces, talking with a friend, chaining yourself to an old oak tree as log-gers enter the forest, leaving your car at home and biking to work every day, giving $50 to the Red Cross, choosing professional work that makes a dif-ference, writing a letter to a congressional leader about campaign finance reform, developing a mi-cro-lending project for low-income teens to start small businesses, serving on a committee at a re-ligious institution, giving blood, tutoring a migrant worker, adopting an eight year old boy. These are all examples of service.

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y personal definition of service is anything that requires sacrifice. It is a response to

brash individualism and even selfishness, and an affirmation of the more compassionate form of the human spirit. It is remembering that we are social creatures and that none of the amazing privileges our society affords us could have ever existed without working for, and with, each other.

hile I stress that one’s goal for service should be purely altruistic, it is important

to have the content of that service be catered to one’s self. One’s skills, gifts, talents, and in-terests are vital in searching out a way to serve. I am interested in, and have a growing skill set concerning, digital art and design, and related technological tools. I see that the importance of the internet and computers in art, graphic design, and business ventures of all natures, is only go-ing to increase as time goes on. I also know that my old high school in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, is far behind the times when it comes to learning programs. In searching for a way to give back that would work with my strengths, thus allowing me to give a higher quality of service, I saw a prime opportunity at Sun Prairie High School. Giving high school students the chance to jumpstart their skills in various design programs may not seem like a traditional method of public service, but this sort of mentorship would give students fundamental knowledge of an ever-increasing in-dustry and the chance to explore new interests.

etween all examples of service the key interre-lating component here is an absence of self.

So often our goals—in fact, our entire mindsets—are uniformly self–focused. Philosopher Immanuel Kant went so far as to say that, with a few excep-tions, everything we do is motivated for the self. Our society facilitates, even encourages, this line of thinking. The “American Dream” is one of personal gain and triumph and capitalism urges harsh com-petition and values corporate Darwinism. Those things can grow a prospering economy (or some-times not) and lead to business success, but they stress self–centric thinking and they dismiss empathy.

“Service is about people.

Not just about the people

who are the recipients of

the service, but also about

those who give.”

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rriving at MIAD knowing nothing about any of these programs, having some previous experi-

ence and knowledge of them would have benefited me greatly. Also, the knowledge of design aesthetic is meant to be taught with personal critiques and collaborative projects which I plan on imploring at every chance I get. Helping kids learn these things now is helping them fi nd success in their future careers.

have benefited from others’ service in countless ways. My Uncle Wes enlisted in the army to help

protect our country. My sister’s fiance’s father is a police officer. My high school art teacher motivated me to work hard to get into art school. My parents sponsor a child in Kenya.

hen asked how youth in America can better help her cause, Mother Teresa was quoted

as saying in a 1996 interview, “And so as love be-gins at home, we are more and more able. Where there is love, there is joy, there is peace, there is unity. That is why it is very important if we really want to give the kindness of God’s love, we must first experience that in our own life-His love. The other day, I had a letter from a child from Ameri-ca…I can’t remember the name of the place…and he wrote me in big, big writing,’Mother Theresa, I love you so much’…and underlines “so much”. ‘I’m sending you my pocket money,’ and inside the letter there was a check of 3 dollars. All a beautiful gift of God.”

f everyone would just serve others without even thinking twice, the world would be a much bet-

ter place. A little boy sent 3 dollars, but that was

probably a significant amount of money to him. If everyone in the world would be selfless enough to sacrifice 3 dollars, perhaps world hunger would not be such a prevalent problem. Perhaps the boy sent his 3 dollars after watching his parents be selfless and generous. The world is one big continuous cy-cle. Service, more than anything, is about people, so there is no better way to understand this topic than through the people who have experienced it. My older sister, Abby, was kind enough to give me some of her insights and experiences on the nature of service: “I define service as anything you can do to make the world better and not worse. Service is important because it is what makes humans human.

“I define service

as anything

you can do to

make the world

better and not

worse. Service

is important

because it is

what makes

humans human.”

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how they’re treated. Therefore if you’re nice to kids and support them and encourage them, they will be more likely to grow into nice, supportive, encourag-ing adults. I think children in our society are “lost” because some of them don’t have good parents to show them the way. We can improve the lives of less fortunate children by leading with example.”

y future brother–in–law, Thad, was also able to provide a take on what service is:

“I worked with kids at a public access cable station; the same station I got to be a part of, and that in-stilled a love and fascination of television produc-tion when I was little. Not only was I able to guide kids creatively, I was also able to return the gift that was given to me at a young age. It feels right to give back, because once you’ve benefited from truly selfless people you realize how much brighter and surer the world seems, especially to children. It cultivates a value to help and improve the world around you when you are small and people come out of nowhere to do something nice for you. And it makes you want to live your life with those principles in mind. If everybody felt similarly, and everybody gave just a little, I can’t see how that wouldn’t be a better place to live.”

oing something for the greater good even though it’s not exactly fun. Service builds good

character. I used to volunteer at Lakeshore Kid’s Camp as a lifeguard every summer. I helped in the kitchen, cleaned the pool and the bathrooms and did odd jobs around the camp. It helped me to build a good work ethic. A lot of kids that came through the camp looked forward to the week they were there all year. I’ve benefited from the service of the other staff members at the camp because we developed strong friendships and bonded through serving others. Showing kindness and set-ting good examples for children is going to make future generations better. Children tend to mimic

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ervice is about people. Not just about the people who are the recipients of the service, but also

about those who give. A symbiotic sort of relation-ship forms as a result of serving others whether it is apparent or not. The served are more likely to serve. With an example set of how we may help each other, it is easy to see how it makes sense. It may sound cliché to say that you get just as much value out of giving as receiving, but the truth is things are only cliché because they are said so often, and this is said so often because it is true.

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MICHAEL MARTENCommunication Design, Senior, MIAD. Recently acquired a taste for applying my-self in school and general life-living. It’s a fun time to be alive. I hope to put my fresh education to good use for the world and the people in it. I enjoy seeing local live music and I urge you to support it as well because it would not exist without an audience.

SEAN SIMMONSIndustrial Design, Senior, MIAD. How do objects appear aesthetically, how do they function? I enjoy drawing, playing soccer and spending time outdoors on my family farm in Kansas. I am motivated and pas-sionate, and I have a dry sense of humor.

TESS DOYLETess Doyle lives and works out of Milwau-kee, Wisconsin. Primarily working in print-making and drawing, her works explore the use of textures and space contrasted with the use of figure. Currently, Tess is a senior Printmaking major at the Milwaukee Insti-tute of Art & Design.

LESLIE FEDORCHUKProfessor in the Liberal Studies Division at MIAD, where she has developed and taught courses in the humanities, art his-tory, writing, letterpress and book-arts. She has been a part of the MIAD community since the early nineties – serving both on the faculty and as an academic dean.

NESLI ANTER Illustration. Communication Design, Senior, MIAD. I like using lines to cre-ate depth over value. This was a great opportunity to create depth, using simple line work. I am obsessive.

PIA LAIPERTDrawing, Senior, MIAD. When I draw, I try to include an impression of a landscape or the physical and emotional pull of a place. Inspiration for my drawings comes from travelling, landscapes, cultures. I also try to write about as often as I draw.

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DARK ROOMEXHIBITIONDARK ROOMDARK ROOM

1422 North 4th St.Milwaukee, WI 53212414.491.9088

redlineartmke.org

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The idea for this magazine is founded on the concept

of WA, or harmony and peace within the larger context of community. This concept can be seen in the articles in this issue of WA, ranging from what a student’s understand-ing of community is, to what a person expresses as the im-portance of community and service in all aspects of his own life, to an insider’s view into one of Milwaukee’s com-munity—driven organizations, Red Line. This issue of WA also has a one–on–one inter-view with Miad’s own Leslie Fedorchuk, who also has a unique insight to community and service. I like to close eve-ry issue of WA with a list of re-sources mentioned within the issue, for your own interests. And please don’t forget to read the contributor’s biographies on the opposite page. My own idea of community is a group of people working together to both sustain and improve the quality of life for the collective. WA is about everyone, not just the individual. Our Western point of view could use some eastern influence.

WA ’s mission is to explore the Japanese concept of WA and

to relate it to all aspects of the Mil-waukee community. WA is not just a notion of peace or harmony, but a constant, living exercise of how these broader concepts can relate to a community at large, and not just the sum of its parts. WA is about all of the people in a community, and what we all can give, not just the expression, desire or needs of the individual, in order to reach harmony together.

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This course has given me an opportunity to write about some of the actions in my life that are natural extensions of who I am. One, and the most obvious one at that, is my volunteer experience at Sweet Water Or-ganics. I am from Kansas and I have worked on farms on and off my whole life as well as done my fair share of landscaping and gar-dening. I have always had a great interest in agriculture, farming, and wildlife - some of my most prominent childhood memories are from my family’s farm in Kansas. Since I moved to Milwaukee three years ago, I have been largely unable to participate in

any sort of farm or agriculture work. This is largely due to the fact that I am now living in such a large city, but also because I have not been required to find an opportunity to do this kind of work. I know that I was not asked to find an agricultural or farming po-sition to fulfill my volunteer hours, but I was asked to find one that interested me a lot, and that is how I ended up at Sweet Wa-ter. I have since completed my volunteering hours there, reaching 46, and I must say it was quite a learning experience. I was able to participate in a type of farming and agri-culture that I had not ever participated in. I

think it’s wonderful what Sweet Water is do-ing – working hard and giving back to the community by providing them with a source for local produce.

I strongly believe in doing and making with the hope that what I am doing or making will have a positive impact on somebody. Farming is wonderful because you work very hard, and for long hours, and the out-come of your work is made visible through providing yourself and others with a means of nourishment. Farming is not selfish; it gives back to the community. My dad has

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Written by Sean SimmonsIllustrated by Nesli Anter

always pushed me to work hard. He has taught me that no matter what I pursue, if I work as hard as I can, I will be successful.

I have a strong drive to help people not only in a community setting, but also on a global level. This probably derives largely from my mom being a special education teacher. I have been raised to understand that help-ing others may not be just an occasional act of kindness, but a way to live. My mom has allowed me to understand the joy that can be found in helping those in need. Industrial design has provided me with a

way to creatively help others. I have had, and will continue to have, opportunities to change people’s lives, and that is precisely what drives me.

I just completed a design for an 11-year-old girl with Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita (AMC). AMC is a non-progressive condition that is evident at birth. It results in fused joints or joints with very limited range of motion in various regions throughout the body. This girl was born with fused elbow joints, weak shoulders, and minimal wrist strength. She is unable to bend her arms

and therefore unable to feed herself. I was lucky enough to receive this work through the MIAD and Marquette collaboration. Another student from MIAD was working alongside me on the project as well. The product allowed the girl to be much more independent when eating – her independ-ency was one of our main concerns. The project concluded to meet the client’s wants and needs, and was therefore a huge success.

I am currently in Chicago, IL for spring break. I am here until Tuesday, March 13th,

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at the International Housewares Show at McCormick Place, the nation’s largest con-vention facility. The Housewares show is a conglomerate of household products that are currently on the market or that will be on the market in the next year or so. My at-tendance here is definitely an extension of who I am and what I am doing. I love being creative, working hard, and helping people, so I have found industrial design. I am at-tending the show so that I can become in-spired with new ways to design and to stay up to date on current design trends. This is key in being successful in the industrial

design field. Even though I am on spring break, I need to remain involved in design.

When I visited the Martin Drive neighbor-hood as part of an assignment for this course, one thing about the neighborhoodthat really appealed to me (although it is rather difficult to choose just one thing) was their community garden. If I had some spare time, I could definitely see myself starting a community garden over the sum-mer in my own neighborhood. After my roommate and I visited Martin Drive, we have actually been seriously considering

moving out there. If that was the case, I am sure the residents would be more than happy to have my help in the garden doing landscape work. I have always been eager to get outdoors and play in the dirt. One of the most amazing things about the Martin Drive neighborhood was the large variety of age, race, and ethnic background, the blatant absence of racial tension, and the overwhelming sense of a tightly knit com-munity. In this course, we have spoken a lot about racism and segregation in Mil-waukee. According to a March 2011 Time Magazine article, Milwaukee is the num-

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ber one most segregated city in the United States, where 90% of the African American population lives in the inner city. Martin Drive seems like even more of a rare find when presented with a statistic such as this. Amongst all of the segregation and racism in Milwaukee, Martin Drive stands as a diamond in the rough.

When I visited the Martin Drive neighbor-hood, I spoke with a man named Dan who had been a resident there since 1989. When I asked him about the existence of racial tension he said, “There isn’t any. It’s

almost as if we are blind.” This was a pow-erful statement and really spoke to how the neighborhood feels as a community. There is a great sense of trust among the resi-dents of Martin Drive. According to Dan, in the late 80’s and early 90’s, crime rates in the Martin Drive neighborhood began to spike and the residents there became extremely concerned with keeping their neighborhood safe. They came together and took turns working night patrols, al-ways ready to phone the police if need be. In Tony Judt’s novel, Ill Fares the Land, he says that if it were not for trust we would

not, “venture very far outdoors for fear of violence or chicanery at the hands of our untrustworthy fellow citizens.” The trust that can be found in the Martin Drive com-munity is greatly evident and a huge part of why Martin Drive is so crime free and such a tightly knit community. It reminds me of a town such as Burlington or Williamsburg, Kansas – very small, very tightly knit, eve-rybody knows everybody.

I spoke with my dad, Brian, over spring break about the issues we have been discussing in class. It surprised him that

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segregation in Milwaukee was so bad. He said, “In this day an age, that is something that people need to get over and move on from.” When asked about whether or not he had thoughts on a solution for the seg-regation issue, he said, “A study needs to be conducted to find the reasons for seg-regation and they need to be addressed.” In a 60 minutes interview with between Mike Wallace and Morgan Freeman, the question of “How can we get rid of rac-ism?” was posed to Freeman. He replied, “Stop talking about it. I’m going to stop calling you a white man, and I’m going to

ask you to stop calling me a black man. I know you as Mike Wallace. You know me as Morgan Freeman” (Freeman). Freeman makes a good point. If we teach our youth to not differentiate between people via their skin color, then they will hopefully grow up being “blind” to that physical trait. I also spoke with my dad about the ever-growing gap between the wealthy and the poor. He believed this to be an issue that has been present for a long time, and that is obvi-ously still present today. He explained that there should be an even taxation on eve-ryone and no allowance for tax exemption for the wealthy people. This would help to improve the economy. I would have to agree with his thoughts on both segregation and the enlarging gap between the wealthy and the poor. I am not sure what kind of a study could be conducted to figure out the reasons for segregation in Milwaukee, but a study seems like a good approach to target-ing the issues. So far, many of the studies that I have found online simply prove that Milwaukee is segregated. How do we start to integrate our neighborhoods? Getting rid of racism is a good start. Perhaps Freeman is on to something.

According to a Marquette University Law School faculty blog entry by David R. Papke, segregation in Milwaukee has much to do with the uneven distribution of mod-erately priced housing. Counties such as Ozaukee and Washington counties have rebelled against the suggestion of having moderately priced housing in their regions. “If this kind of housing was built, some fear, the urban poor might relocate and try to build lives and raise their kids among the middle and upper classes” (Papke). This type of thinking is ridiculous. There is no way to help those less fortunate in our community to progress if we cannot even give them the chance to move away from the poverty-stricken environments they are currently trapped in.

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This course has definitely allowed me to capitalize on activities that are not only helping to give back to the community, but are also extensions of who I am as a person and as a designer. I plan on continuing to work with Sweet Water over the summer, helping them to design aquaponics miniatures for customers to take home and assemble themselves. This will be a great opportunity to do some awe-some design work as well as continue to give back to the community.

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POLITICAL ROWPAQUETTE’SPAQUETTE’S

MERRILL PARKST.ROSE OF LIMA

ST. LEO SCHOOL

POLITICAL ROWPAQUETTE’SPAQUETTE’S

MARQUETTE HSMARQUETTE HS

MERRILL PARKST.ROSE OF LIMA

ST. LEO SCHOOL

PAQUETTE’SPAQUETTE’S

MARQUETTE HSMARQUETTE HS

MERRILL PARKST.ROSE OF LIMA

ST. LEO SCHOOL

POLITICAL ROWPAQUETTE’SPAQUETTE’SST.ROSE OF LIMA

POLITICAL ROWPAQUETTE’SPAQUETTE’S

MARQUETTE HSMARQUETTE HS

MERRILL PARKST.ROSE OF LIMA

ST. LEO SCHOOL

MARQUETTE HSMARQUETTE HS

MERRILL PARKST. LEO SCHOOL

was also described as having a strong sense of community and belonging.

For the most part, the neighbor-hood is majority residential, but there are four schools (Marquette University High School, St. Leo School, Right Step Inc, and CM Travis Academy), as well as a cou-ple bars, two food markets, a free medical clinic sponsored by the Philippines Cultural Center, sever-al automotive repair shops, tax re-turn centers, realtors, and a large park. Within it’s small boundaries there are definitely a lot of re-sources and services provided for the residents. The community also has the Mer-rill Park Neighborhood Associa-tion. This serves as a resource for the residents. They usually send out newsletter with upcom-ing events, and other neighbor-hood news, but they also serve as a place to go with questions or concerns regarding the commu-nity. MPNA also provides funding for home improvement projects for qualifying residents as well. Though with the recession, fund-ing was cut dramatically, and their impact has been compromised. (Paquette)

MPNA wasn’t always the only group involved with the commu-nity. St. Rose of Lima used to be a driving force of Merrill Park. St. Leo’s is where the whole communi-ty used to go to school, but during the 60’s the enrollment rate began

BOUNDARIES:

N. 27th St – N. 35th St with W. Wisconsin Ave to the north and the Menomonee River Valley to the south.

g.co/maps/juctf

FIRST IMPRESSIONS:

Dirty, run down, low income, aban-doned/forgotten neighborhood.

SOME THINGS I NOTICED:

I was surprised to see as many eviction notices as I did. I was also surprised by the amount of board-ed up houses. At the same time, on the same streets with aban-doned houses, there were proper-ties that were very well kept.

PARTICULAR INTERESTS:

When starting the research, I was really interested in what had hap-pened to the neighborhood. There seemed to be a lot of older peo-ple that I felt looked “out of place” since most of the people I saw were very young. Then there was this juxtaposition of maintained and abandoned houses.

MERRILL PARK PROFILE:

Originally built to supply housing for those working on the railway, Merrill Park was mostly made up of Irish and German immigrants, but very quickly became the most diverse neighborhood of Milwau-kee. This diversity amongst its residents has been a hallmark of theirs through out the years. It

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that move in and out, that never bother to get to know anyone. I don’t blame them. But people, at least on this block (N. 31st be-tween Michigan and Clybourn) get along. There are still peo-ple here that have been here as long as we have, or that moved in around the 50’s and 60’s. We would never think about leaving. We still love it here.” - Ruth Paquette

Areas around the border of Merrill Park are mostly apartment build-ings, with very few owned homes. According to Robert, it’s on those streets, N. 27th and N. 28th espe-cially, where crime rates are a bit high-er than in the center of Merrill Park.

Another part of Merrill Park that probably made a large difference was “Political Row,” which used to be the nickname for 32nd street (Gurda). During the 70’s and into the 80’s, many of Milwaukee’s Politicians lived in Merrill Park, and most of them were on 32nd street between Michigan and Cly-bourn. This block and a few oth-ers around it are still, according to the Paquettes, in good shape. Though the politicians did gradu-ally move out, while others, like Frank Zeidler, passed away having never left Merrill Park.

Despite these changes in the com-munity, the Paquette’s still try their best to bring the community together. Since the 50’s, Robert and Ruth put together a gymnastic style obstacle

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to decline, and has not stopped declining since. The church was a cultural and resource center for everyone in Merri l l Park. However, when the enrollment dropped, so did church mem-bers, and then eventually funding. The situation became so dire, that in 1974, the church threatened to close the school’s doors for good. (Schimpf) If it weren’t for the over-whelming response from parents and parishioners, the school may have closed after all. When speak-ing with Bob and Ruth Paquette, two lifelong residents of Merrill Park, they said the school even-tually needed to be saved and was later taken over by St. Leo’s. Enrollment was 600, they said, when they attended school there. When their 6 kids attended, it had dropped to about 400. Now en-rollment is between one and two hundred. Mrs. Paquette, who had first volunteered for the school in 1980, said there used to be so much to do to keep her busy. These past couple of years it’s been so slow, she stopped volunteering.

“I used to get there in the morn-ing and I would be filing papers all day and answering phones. Lately, I haven’t had much to do at all. I became so bored I eventually left.”

Even without St. Rose making a significant impact on Merrill Park, the neighborhood still seems to have a strong sense of community. “People look out for each oth-er. There are still a lot of people

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“”People look out for each other.Ruth Paquette

POLITICAL ROWPAQUETTE’SPAQUETTE’S

MERRILL PARKST.ROSE OF LIMA

ST. LEO SCHOOL

POLITICAL ROWPAQUETTE’SPAQUETTE’S

MARQUETTE HSMARQUETTE HS

MERRILL PARKST.ROSE OF LIMA

ST. LEO SCHOOL

PAQUETTE’SPAQUETTE’S

MARQUETTE HSMARQUETTE HS

MERRILL PARKST.ROSE OF LIMA

ST. LEO SCHOOL

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POLITICAL ROWPAQUETTE’SPAQUETTE’SST.ROSE OF LIMA

POLITICAL ROWPAQUETTE’SPAQUETTE’S

MARQUETTE HSMARQUETTE HS

MERRILL PARKST.ROSE OF LIMA

ST. LEO SCHOOL

MARQUETTE HSMARQUETTE HS

MERRILL PARKST. LEO SCHOOL

course in their yard for all the neigh-borhood kids to take part in. Robert, having been on the diving team and very involved in athletics as a child, coaches the kids through the course. They say this helps not just the kids, but also gives the parents peace of mind knowing that their kids are out-side, learning and having fun while staying off the streets.

COMMONALITIES:

Overall, not too much has changed dramatically over the years in Mer-rill Park. When I first toured the neighborhood, I saw something com-pletely different than what I see now. And although there is always room for growth, Merrill Park is still a very diverse part of Milwaukee, especially considering its size. On City-data.com, they show how each block is diverse from one another. Some are predominantly Black, while others are more Hispanic, or Asian, or White.

Thanks to residents like the Paquettes, the community is still pretty close. Although it seems it is beginning to drift, Robert and Ruth are still proud of unique sense of belonging the residents have. “It’s still there. The recession hurt a lot of things though. People are having a harder time. It’s rough. But that feeling is still there.”

DIFFERENCES:

There haven’t been too many signifi-cant changes to Merrill Park in the last 50 years or so, though gradual shifts in cultures and ethnicity have occurred, although that can be said of most neighborhoods in the West End. One specific change is of the

POLITICAL ROWPAQUETTE’SPAQUETTE’SST.ROSE OF LIMA

POLITICAL ROWPAQUETTE’SPAQUETTE’S

MARQUETTE HSMARQUETTE HS

MERRILL PARKST.ROSE OF LIMA

ST. LEO SCHOOL

PAQUETTE’S

MARQUETTE HSMARQUETTE HS

MERRILL PARKST.ROSE OF LIMA

ST. LEO SCHOOL

politicians being absent from the neighborhood. Having such strong influences as them living there may have had a very large influence on why people kept saying Merrill Park was looking up. Their absence may be why after the late 80’s, progres-sion in Merrill Park slowed down, and then with the recession, eventu-ally just hit a wall.

CONCERNS:

My concern is where this community will end up. When Robert and Ruth are gone, who will fill their shoes? They’ve been such a strong and pos-itive influence on the community, I can’t help but think what might hap-pen in the next 20 years.

This also brings me to our readings and class discussions. In Judt’s book, he emphasizes a great deal that social democracy in some way, needs to be included more in our society. We need more “safety nets” for communities like Merrill Park. Because of the recession, Mer-rill Park Neighborhood Association lost a lot of funding, and now they are greatly limited to what they can do for their residents. Also, the de-creases of average household in-come lead to a decline of how much influence St Rose’s had on the com-munity. It’s like a domino effect, and if nothing dramatic is put into place to help Merrill Park (and many other communities and cities just like it), then the dominoes will continue to fall. With this project, I feel like I’ve grown close to this neighborhood. I want to see Merrill Park succeed.

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Page 23: MIAD Bridge–WA Magazine

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BUS STOP

NEIGHBORHOOD BOUNDARY

RESIDENTIAL BOUNDARY

PIA’S TOUR

EVICTION

SCHOOL CHURCH

AUTO SHOP HOUSING STYLES

MERRILL PARK “POLITICAL ROW”

GROCERY STORE BUSINESS

THE PAQUETTE’S

Page 24: MIAD Bridge–WA Magazine

Brittany Diamond //

Can you tell me a little bit about your professional background?

Leslie Fedorchuk //

I have always done artwork of some kind, and was encouraged and sup-ported by my parents to do this from an early age. I did my undergraduate work at the College for Creative Stud-ies in Detroit and finished my BFA at the University of Michigan. I had a triple major in Painting/Printmak-ing and Art History. After graduating I worked in Human Services for ten years, teaching art at homeless shel-ters, senior centers and after school programs in Minneapolis and St. Paul; and running a group home with my partner for children who were suf-fering from autism in Duluth. When we decided to move to Milwaukee, I got a job as a community advocate in AODA (drug and alcohol abuse) and trained volunteers to work on a 24 hour crisis line. By the time I decided to get my MFA, ten years had passed and I had tons of “other” experience to bring back into a degree program. I completed my MFA at UWM in Drawing—but my focus of study was book art. It has been the focus of my studio work and studio teaching. I came to MIAD in 1993 as an adjunct and still love it here. I served as an academic dean for eight years and now as a full time Professor. My addi-tional graduate work was in Theology at St. Francis Seminary.

Brittany Diamond //

Why do you choose to teach service learning at MIAD? What is it about that topic that gets you engaged?

Leslie Fedorchuk //

Those years of working in human services as a community advocate, etcetera... I saw the importance of volunteering—to keep things moving at the grass-roots and to give people a sense of what life was like in other parts of the community. I trained lots of student volunteers and it always made me a bit nuts when the agen-cies I worked for would put time and effort into training students—and then their hours were up and they would leave. When I thought about starting a service learning program here, I felt strongly that MIAD stu-dents would know more in the long run if they stuck around for more than 10 – 15 hours (the usual) and really got to participate in an organi-zation. MIAD does an exceptional job teaching people how to be profes-sional artists and designers. Service Learning allows them to see the pos-sibilities of utilizing their creativity in ways they might not have thought of before. It also prepares them to be better members of whatever commu-nity they end up living in.

Brittany Diamond //

You ask this question a lot in your service learning section. What is your definition of community?

Leslie Fedorchuk //

Community – the word – comes from the Latin COMMUNITAS (cum, “with/together” + munus, “gift”). I love go-ing back that far to look at the ori-gin of the word, because I do believe that it is a gift to be together with others. And this is my definition of what community is. It may be a small group connected by geography, like a neighborhood.

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an interview with

by Brittany Diamond

Leslie Fedorchuk

22

Page 25: MIAD Bridge–WA Magazine

It may be an occupational group that shares common characteris-tics. I may (today) be a group that shares a virtual space. Communi-ties can be “nested,” that is, one can exist within another. And one can be a member of more than one community. Of course, for the purpose of the service course—we talk about different kinds of com-munities, but we really examine the community that we currently reside in geographically, which is Milwaukee. Brittany Diamond //

Why did you choose to teach the section on community versus the other sections?

Leslie Fedorchuk //

Faculty who teach service learn-ing develop courses based on their own interests and/or expertise. My experience and interest is in look-ing at community, so most of the sections I have developed since I started teaching service learning revolve around that.

Brittany Diamond //

Do you think that people have a responsibility to question their in-dividual roles within a community, and to what end?

Leslie Fedorchuk //

I think people have a responsibil-ity to try and understand their role within a community—and if ques-tioning is involved, so be it! Better understanding my role, helps me to understand how I interact with

others and why. Who I interact with - and who I don’t interact with, and what the ramifications of that are. This all goes back to the idea that we all DO have a part to play in our communities - that how we live and the choices we make impacts our friends and neigh-bors in both big and small ways. Understanding that may mean we think differently about some things that we have previously taken for granted, or have had the privilege of being able to ignore.

Brittany Diamond //

What responsibility do you think a government has to the communities within it?

Leslie Fedorchuk //

I think the government has the responsibility for many things in a community - this is why people pay taxes. Public safety, quality education, public health - govern-ment has a role in all of these things.

Brittany Diamond //

Do you think this is a hard thing to talk about, and what are some positive ways to express the importance of this topic?

Leslie Fedorchuk //

I don’t find it difficult to talk about—but I know that many people do. It may be that they don’t like con-flict or they don’t know how to deal with difference of opinion in a constructive way. The polarization we see in many areas of community discourse today is very troubling to me. I don’t feel, for example, that people need to agree on everything, but I do think we bear the responsibility to listen respectfully to one another. I also think we have a responsibility to try and see things from the other person’s POV. This is where service comes in —it is a great way to get out of one’s usual space and see what else our neighbors are grappling with.

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Page 26: MIAD Bridge–WA Magazine

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� C O N T A C T by T

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…an urban laboratory that seeks to nourish the individual practice of con-temporary art and to stimulate the creative potential of the local commu-nity to which we are linked. Through residency, education, outreach and challenging exhibition programs with a focus on social justice, RedLine in-spires and impacts new generations of cultural and civic transformers.”

Currently, RedLine houses ten emerg-ing artists, five mentoring artists, and six teen artists from the Milwaukee commu-nity. RedLine and the individuals making up its community are aware of the urban community surrounding them and work hard to be a positive member of it.

r e d l i n e a r t m k e . o r g

R e d L i n e M i l w a u k e e . RedLine was started by Lori Bauman and Steve VandeZande in Octo-ber of 2009. RedLine started as a gallery and space for artist studios.

RedLine is run through community and volunteers. Although artists who house their studios within RedLine’s walls pay a small monthly fee to be there, they also put in volunteer hours. Through work-shops, open studio time and outreach programs these artists and volunteers bring art, problem solving, and a dif-ferent outlook to the Milwaukee Com-munity. Part of my service was helping prepare for workshops with local grade school and high school students. The gallery in RedLine has four shows annu-ally. Those shows include local, national, international and a “RedLine” exhibition. The art presented often has common themes of sustainability, urban culture, race and gender issues.

Aside from all of the wonderful things RedLine offers, what I really would like to talk about is the print shop housed in the basement, where I spent almost all of my time. Milwaukee is a smaller city,

This semester I volunteered at

Page 27: MIAD Bridge–WA Magazine

EE DEE DEE DDEE DR“ printing. Alongside the presses are a pa-permaking studio, photo darkrooms and a recently added natural dye lab. Dur-ing my first few weeks of volunteering at RedLine, I was impressed and intrigued by the good energy that went buzzing through the studios in the basement. I was introduced to many of the artists who have studios in the building and use

with big city vibes and aspirations, yet it is still able to keep a small town commu-nity relationship between its inhabitants. The RedLine Print shop is a great ex-ample of this. Two MIAD alumni started the shop. Now, it is currently run by Kim Weiss, who I worked and interacted with during my service time. The print shop offers two intaglio presses and screen-

“RedLine and the individuals making up its community are aware of the urban community surrounding them and working hard to be a positive member of it. “

the community shop space. There are many artists working in different medi-ums with different forms of expression all hanging out in one building. Redline is a hub for creative interaction between different artists who have their own am-bitions and drive, yet these people are able to interact and react to what others are doing and thinking in one place. It

was such a community. They have one large intent or idea, which is creating, that drives them to each do what they do. During my stay I was also able to help out with the outreach programs of-fered. I was able to experience how they reach out to the Milwaukee community. Students, differing in age, would come to the print shop. They were given work-shops on how to screen print. Then from the imagery they printed, they would turn that into something new. Tori is the woman who runs most of the classes I witnessed. Tori is a local Milwaukee art-ist who houses her studio at RedLine. Once when I was volunteering, a class of high-school students was supposed to come in for a screenprinting workshop. Tori happily volunteered to do it. She received a call that the school was on lock down and the weren’t able to leave. She picked up the stuff she could and brought the workshop to them. Although it wasn’t ideal and they wouldn’t be able to print, they were still able to experience

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Page 28: MIAD Bridge–WA Magazine

with the prep of classes and workshops, and I got to see the final works pro-duced. I couldn’t help but think how for-tunate I am for having a creative outlet in my youth. My mother who is an art-ist always encouraged the small crafts and drawings that my siblings and I pro-duced. Which in turn, motivated me to make more. As well, the school district

to continue to grow with access to Red-Line’s facilities.

Most of RedLine is run through volun-teers and the time given by the artist’s who have studios within the space. Un-fortunately, with my schedule at Red-Line, I didn’t get to see the actual stu-dents working, but I was there to help

that I was brought up in always gave the option of an art class or something in the “arts”. Art has always been some-thing where I can show off my talent or keep it totally to myself in order to get an emotion out. Most troubled youth don’t have an outlet to e x p r e s s o r r e l e a s e emotion through a creative process.

I believe it is so important to give these individuals a chance to at least experi-ence and experiment without any judg-ment. Dan and Troy make a great team teaching discipline and creativity without judging what these students are trying to find within themselves. A sense of con-fidence, identity, escape, and organi-zation are brought to them, which isn’t found in their everyday lives.

something new. RedLine and its people really know what they want from a com-munity and make no excuses in achiev-ing that goal.

On one hand they are enhancing the lives of the youth to show them alterna-tive lifestyles. On the other hand they allow for people who have knowledge

Page 29: MIAD Bridge–WA Magazine

�As I mentioned before, RedLine works on a national scale. It isn’t limited to Milwaukee or near surrounding com-munities. Artists and craftsmen from across the country join in. It enriches the community, by bringing techniques th rough a r t i s t s tha t have s tud ied f rom a l l over the wor ld to us here in Mi lwaukee.

They have one large intent or

idea, which is creating, that drives

them to each DO what they do.”

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Page 30: MIAD Bridge–WA Magazine

��������RED LINE1422 North 4th St. 414.491.9088 redlineartmke.org/

SWEET WATER ORGANICS 2151 South Robinson Avenue 414.489.0425

sweetwater-organic.com/

MARTIN DRIVE NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION4303 W. Vliet Street 414.933.5589martin-drive.org/

MERRILL PARK NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION461 North 35th Street 414.933.7577neighborhoodlink.com/Merrill_Park

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Page 31: MIAD Bridge–WA Magazine

Helping to provide equal access to healthy, high–quality, safe and affordable food for people in all communities.

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