Letter to My Father Mural Project

The Letter to My Father Mural will be a two-part project that combines creative writing with contemporary art layout to create a paper mural for youth at the Philadelphia Youth Study Center. The young artists involved in this project will range in age from 13-17, led in the process by writer and teaching artist Tina Smith-Brown. The project asks artists to write a letter to their father on stationary, and then create a wall mural out of what they produced on paper. This project will teach participants both how to utilize creative writing for introspective evaluation and how to creative a contemporary art piece out of their contextual influences.

Youth Study Center (YSC), first established in 1909 as the House of Detention, is a youth detention facility in Philadelphia where court-ordered juveniles who are alleged to have committed a felony type offense and are deemed by the court to be a serious risk to the safety of the community. They are considered a risk of failure to appear at their scheduled court hearings, or awaiting hearings before Juvenile court. The 105-bed facility accommodates nearly 5,000 youth each year on a short-term basis.

The intent of the Letter to My Father Mural Project is to help the occupants of the Youth Study Center to evaluation their behaviors by evaluating the relationship that they have with their father and how that relationship, or lack of one, has influenced their lives. The student artist will then take what they have written or found out about themselves and turn it into a part of a collective art piece.

The type of project is desperately needed in youth detention facilities. Often, children become repeat offenders because they never have the opportunity address their internal problems in a safe, creative manner. When they write a letter to their father, they are really writing a letter to themselves. They are evaluating who they are, and why they behave in a certain manner. This will be a combined six-week arts program, with three weeks spent on creative writing. The last three weeks before scheduled release from YSC, the child will develop the paper mural in a group setting. The letters will remain unsigned and shared among the group as design material. The power of the words will remain anonymous amongst the design. The young artist will create the mural in an open area at the Youth Study Center such as the visitor’s room, the entrance hallway, or another place where everyone living and visiting the facility can view its power and beauty.

Budgetary needs/Materials:

Stationary paper – $100.00

Glue – $20.00

Ballpoint pens – $20.00

Paint – $50.00

Teaching Artist Fee – $2,000.00

Total Funding Amount – $2,190.00.

Timeline:

Week one: – introductions and explanation of project to children scheduled for release within six-weeks

Week Two: Discussion on creative writing process, the importance of self-evaluation, and introspective reflection. Beginning of letter writing process.

Letter to My Father Mural Project

Week Three: Finish writing letter to father and prepare letters (collect, maneuver, decide if all will be used) for mural use. Gather all materials and discussion mural design and layout.

Week Four: Begin mural layout with paint; continue discussion on self-reflection and thoughts on the power of the written word.

Week Five: Continue mural layout using letter design. Begin discussion on contextual influence on contemporary art design.

Week Six: Finish mural. Finish discussion on contextual influence on contemporary art design tying it into introspective thinking on behavior.

Ife Nii Owoo

Afrocentric patterning is very important to Contemporary Artist Ife Nii Owoo. She uses the power of patterns, colors and textures to  create thought provoking collages that weave together the different journeys of  her life. Principal Designer and Founder of Ife designs & Associates, Ife  Nii Owoo influences the world through visual storytelling.

A graduate of SyracuseUniversity’s Printmaking and Illustration program, Ife spent her senior year of college as an exchange  student London.  It was there that she completed a Post Graduate Certificate in Design Studies and Typography from the London College  of Communications, University of the Arts. She fell in love with mixed media
and began working with the London Cultural Collective. Ife, who considers  herself an independent creative spirit, also began to question what it meant to  be an artist and how could she use her art to make political change.

During the 1970s, there was a lot of political activity around the initiatives of the African Liberation Movement. Ife  began to work with other students in London  to create flyers and posters that supported the work of the African Liberation
Movement. Their artwork not only supported the movement through visual force,  but also laid a financial foundation as supporters around the world ordered the  posters in solidarity. Ife’s  love of the art form, (film, graphic design, and printing) became an effective  tool to ratify her political and social consciousness. This part of the journey  of her life still influences her contemporary work today.

From London, Ife  moved to Ghana  with her new husband, a filmmaker, where Fine Art was not as impactful in the
community. A believer in artistic adaptation and the creation of opportunity, she took her first job as a graphic designer and began to build her portfolio  in that field. When one of her young son’s began to learn to the alphabet in Africa, she saw a need to bring the beauty of the country  alive, not just for her children but also for all children. The concept for her
illustrated children’s book “A is for Africa,”  was born.  Based on everyday life in Africa, it would later become a bestseller
on the children’s book list.

In the 1980s, Ifecame back  to the United States with two young sons and a determination to make a living doing what she loved.  She transferred her contemporary art skills to her graphic designs, creating  book jackets for the literary community. In 1991, she received the Award of  Merit – CEBA Award, New York,  NY.  In 1999 she was nominated for Best Woman  Illustrator, Delaware Valley Artist Guild Award, Phila.,  PA, and in 2000, the  Advertising  Excellence – PRAME (Public Relations, Advertising and Marketing Excellence),  Phila., PA. In 2000, she shared the Heritage Award, Philadelphia Multicultural  Affairs Congress (MAC), Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau (PCVB), Phila., PA.
Ife built up a substantial graphic art and design business, but her heart remained with the hands on work of the Fine Arts.

In 2001, Ife moved into an Artist Community where she would have the opportunity to both live and work. Her home became her studio and vice versa. This presented the opportunity to connect with other fine artists, generate relationships that the computerized age of the graphic artist does not necessarily provide. Understanding the importance of recreating oneself, she determined to remain open to change.  Inspired by a series of cutout collages by contemporary artist Barbara Bullock, she seriously began to develop a body of work. Two years later, Ife she held her first exhibit of collages. She had reclaimed her love of fine art and found that it corresponded with her graphic arts business. “It’s like weaving.” She feels the business of art parallel with the fine art business. “You have to market yourself, know your audience, and utilize all the tools we have today. Ife understood that she had to balance
her artistic work.

“How do we make a living doing what we love to do – you have to learn how to do different things and create opportunities. Artist should experiment with social networking. We  need stay with the trends. The computer is just another tool and many artists use it as a creation tool.” Set goals, prepare for opportunity. Be willing to
stay in the game for the long haul. Be prepared to do other things to support yourself. Buy time to prepare to do other things that you want or need to do artistically. Be organized in how you document your work, learn to apply for
grants, and have your work ready to share.

In 2007, Ife Nii Owoo was a Leeway Art and Change grantee.  She created a series of mixed media and collage pieces for her first solo show in over 30 years. It dealt with two distinct topics: slavery and the contradictions of democracy in the United States and her own family history from Germantown to London to Africa. The show, at the Greene Street Artists
Co-Op, set the stage for further community dialogue on the role of women artists of color, specifically in Germantown, and their unique challenges to exhibit their work.

“The world is my oyster. I have a lot that I want to do. Participate in more shows, gallery representation, traveling, lecturing and sharing my work.”