MAPEA 2023:InRealLife

This year the MAPEA IRL project in Vicksburg is a change to the way we had been working, which up till now had consisted of looking at our neighborhoods and painting a map of where we live. Still collaborating with Kalamazoo Parks and Recreation Summer Camps, we proposed bringing the workshops to the Mill to explore this big old building with some art in interesting places and a studio space in the basement for the kids to work in. As an experiment in urban renovation and meantime residency for artists, it seemed like too good an opportunity to miss sharing with local kids and youth in our conversation about the environment. But keen as I was to share my passion for old industrial buildings and recycling, you never know if it will be a shared one, especially with such mixed groups of young participants.

Pulling up to the entrance, the size of the building is intimidating, and with boarded-up windows, the immediate question was: ‘Is it haunted?’ But upon entering the visitor center and hearing a little about the history of the paper mill and the artist factory it has become temporarily, they seemed genuinely curious about other possibilities, especially for what could be in the future.

The first surprise for many was to visit the exhibition of Kalamazoo maps we had made in previous workshops, in which quite a few campers had previously participated. This was another reason to change our mapping site. The huge maps really do look splendid in Room 16 of the Mill. Exhibited in the Arcus Gallery last year, they were a tight fit, but somehow in this huge industrial hall, they grew and shone even more. The kids were excited to see their work hanging, and we took group photos of them in front of their campss map. Then we proceeded to do our stretching exercises to warm up for activities of the day, and the hall again was the perfect place for a group of 50-odd people to spread out in a huge circle and do them all together. It had my head spinning visualizing this space as a multimedia art facility, and the kids had lots of ideas about what they would like to see too: a skate park, swimming pool, teen hangout space, sports facilities of all types, and location for horror movies.

Then we headed upstairs to the west wing where artists have left installations in several spaces. We stopped to look at a panel of striped cloth, woven through the columns and observed how it changed the space. Further up, a rainbow array of small sculptures using disposable everyday objects gave us a good starting point to talk about recycling from the smallest to the largest things like this building and why that is so important. We reached the top floor where I’ve been painting for the last two years and a whole series of my paintings on migrations are hung. This gave us a chance to talk about migrations and the reasons for them, which is such a big issue here in the US. Most probably still economic migration but also more and more caused by ecological devastation and the climate crisis. Though the work is quite abstract, it gave the audience some ideas on these issues as we walked down to the end. In the paintings they saw many bridges and borders, people walking and walking, carrying everything on their backs.

The vantage point from the top of the west wing gives you a magnificent view of the surrounding green areas. We saw a lake, grassland and forest, wildflower planting, and trees along the creek as we talked about all the things that need to be done to make an industrial building safe for use again. When asked what shape the lake was, they saw a rectangle or a number seven; in either case, the straight lines tell us it was manmade. Originally a dumping ground for sludge from the paper-making process, it was cleaned and remediated at the beginning of this century, and gradually nature has been returning and wildlife with it. It’s still being monitored but making good progress.

As we talked about the climate crisis and what they’re learning about it, it was great to have real-life examples of ecological approaches to these issues right in front of us. The herd of sheep to manage the grass on the prairie was an especially intriguing idea, and the added attraction of real animals meant everyone was keen to explore outside, even though the days were scorching or smoke-filled.

On our way out through the west wing, we stopped and looked at all the weird holes in the floor in the Old Machine Room where the main papermaking machinery was located. It was helpful if someone had done a paper-making workshop at home or school using a blender. This helped to understand what the big round holes were for, essentially industrial-sized blenders for the paper pulp, while outside on the ramp we saw the last remaining pieces of machinery here, the beaters from inside those giant blenders.

Once outside, everyone was relieved to take their hard hats off if it was really hot, but otherwise, they took our safety equipment very seriously, often keeping them on throughout the whole workshop. We stopped at the pavilion overlooking the creek for a breather and looked at the wildflower planting on the other bank too; it felt like the space was being opened and given back to wilderness a little; it felt very calming, and we stayed silent to listen to all the birds.

Then we strolled around to the back, passing piles of bricks and tires before crossing the marshland and entering the prairie, catching a glimpse of a turtle in the water, many birds and insects, and prickly grass that people were not used to. The possibility of sheep sighting and in its defect flattened grass mazes created by artist-in-residence Kristina Sheufelt kept everyone’s curiosity fueled as we sweltered under the midday sun.

When we returned for lunch in the cool dark refuge of our basement studio, they all gravitated immediately to the astroturf cutout map of North America, and we made the comparison of how they recognized that it was a map (rounded edges and identifiable shape) as a natural thing (some said it was the Earth) rather than manmade like the rectangular lake we saw. We talked over some of the things they’d seen, the movie we might make here, and some days did a meditation before beginning our map.

Once we sat around the canvas drop cloths, the participants identified the things they’d found interesting and they were invited to draw outlines on the canvas, trying to think about the relationships between parts of the building and grounds as we laid out our exploration as a map. Then on to the painting, which is always joyous and sensorial. One day it almost looked like they’d end up rolling around in the paint like a mud bath, but upon hanging the map they were all impressed at the image that came together of the day’s activities, how important teamwork and group effort were, and the fun and creativity they’d had.