Painting

Painting.with paint

Drip, splatter, and spray large scale art! Painting workshops explore visual art and creative expression through the use of drawing, color, and painting, music and conversation. Starting with pencil and paper, participants are led through a design session where they learn different ways to convert a small image to a large canvas, mix colors and apply different visual techniques. Many of our painting projects revolve around mural residencies.

Juvenile Court Shelter Home
Madison Public Library's Bubbler Making Justice mural residency at Juvenile Court Shelter Home

Teaching artists Emida Roller and Shiloah Coley worked with teenagers at the Dane County Juvenile Court Shelter Home and the Dane County Juvenile Detention Center this summer to bring youth ideas and voices to the blank concrete walls surrounding the Shelter Home's driveway. While all previous Making Justice murals have been inside the facilities and unseen by the public, this project was a chance for youth residents to work with professionals to design and define a public-facing space for themselves and for future youth residents.

Madison Public Library's Bubbler Making Justice mural residency at Juvenile Court Shelter Home with Emida Roller and Shiloah Coley
Mural Artists Shiloah & Emida lead the mural visioning workshop with students at the juvenile detention center.

Students at Shelter took the design lead and provided most of the themes and physical effort, but the students at Detention also took ownership of the project quickly - having the idea to tie in elements from their previous summer workshops with teaching artists Carlos Gacharna and Audifax into the design. Old English lettering from Carlos’ workshop reading “We Matter” appears at the top of the mural, and a design from a student at Detention done in Audifax’s abstract painting workshop was translated into the jersey worn by the young man pictured looking into the mirror, seeing his future self. While students from Detention couldn't participate in painting the wall, students at the Shelter Home were able to safely work outside with Emida and Shiloah to remove the overgrown vegetation from the hill above, then clean, prep, and paint the wall.

Learn more about how all of the pieces came together for this project in the library IMPACT STORY - Bubbler in the time of Covid: Making Justice makes it work.

Madison Public Library's Bubbler Making Justice mural residency at Juvenile Court Shelter Home with Emida Roller and Shiloah Coley
A blank slate.
Madison Public Library's Bubbler Making Justice mural residency at Juvenile Court Shelter Home with Emida Roller and Shiloah Coley
Pressure washing 101.
Madison Public Library's Bubbler Making Justice mural residency at Juvenile Court Shelter Home with Emida Roller and Shiloah Coley
Priming the wall.
Madison Public Library's Bubbler Making Justice mural residency at Juvenile Court Shelter Home with Emida Roller and Shiloah Coley
A photo of the [no photos sign]... with permission of course!
Madison Public Library's Bubbler Making Justice mural residency at Juvenile Court Shelter Home with Emida Roller and Shiloah Coley
A work in progress.
Madison Public Library's Bubbler Making Justice mural residency at Juvenile Court Shelter Home with Emida Roller and Shiloah Coley
A work completed.
Madison Public Library's Bubbler Making Justice mural residency at Juvenile Court Shelter Home with Emida Roller and Shiloah Coley
Image from abstract workshop in its final location on the mural. Hand-made student sign establishing "Hammock Topia".

 

 

Juvenile Detention Center
WATCH: Jerry Butler create mural with teens.

During a week-long residency over the detention classroom winter break, Wisconsin artist, Jerry Butler, worked with students at the Dane County Juvenile Detention Center to bring color and warmth to the "intake room" in which all residents sit for the period of time while they are checked into the facility from the reception center.

Created with students after a series of workshops focused on the masks we wear in public versus private, and being truthful about how we treat one another during vulnerable times. Jerry used student creations from prior sessions, and through student feedback we were ultimately led to the central theme of love, and the image focusing on the heart. Then he worked with the students over 5 days of winter break to grid and scale the final design from paper to the wall, and then paint. 

One student individually worked to design, scale, and paint something other than the group design -- a hole in the wall looking onto a winter landscape, saying "Even though its not real, I just think it would be really nice to see some fresh air before going into the secure facility. I call it the 'fresh air hole'." 

Read more about the project in this Wisconsin State Journal article!

Jerry Butler mural in Dane County Juvenile Detention Center
Jerry Butler mural at Dane County Juvenile Detention Center

The intake room is the room where youth change out of their personal clothes, turn over their belongings and receive an orientation to the detention facility. This mural is now the backdrop that all incoming youth view while sitting across from staff during the intake process.

Jerry Butler mural at Dane County Juvenile Detention Center
Juvenile Detention Center
WATCH: Audifax working on mural with teens.

During a week-long residency over Spring Break 2019, Wisconsin artist, Audifax, worked with students at Dane County Juvenile Detention Center to transform the giant wall in the corridor which all residents walk through on their way to and from juvenile court appearances.

After leading design workshops with students the week before, Audifax came back to the facility on Monday to engage them over the next 5 days of Spring Break to trace the projected designs and paint the entire wall in shifts of 2 or 3 students at a time. To the sounds of countless meaningful conversations and various choices of music, the students took on the pieces that most excited them or best fit their skill sets. 

Due to the nature of the facility, students only stay on a temporary basis so there were some kids that took part in every session, but other students jumped in at different stages and Audifax onboarded them through individual design projects to both recreate the mural on canvas and to create an original shoe design concept.

Audifax shared that, "where this mural sits in the building, being the last and first thing the teens see before and after court, I wanted to bring a peaceful and powerful image - a reminder to reflect and find peace and clarity within. The central faces are split down the middle and show regardless of who you are (gender, race, background), change and a desire to create a better life for yourself begin with you. First get to know and respect yourself and positivity can be shown to and shared with others. The surrounding mandala image was chosen because of their representation of inner peace throughout the ages. Waves at the center stand for the ripple effect in the power in being authentic with yourself, radiating to those around you."

See and read more about the project in this CAP TIMES article and on Audifax's webpage!

"Look Within" wall before mural installation at Dane County Juvenile Detention Center
Madison Public Library's Bubbler Making Justice "Look Within" mural residency with Audifax.
Madison Public Library Bubbler Making Justice "look within" mural residency with Audifax

Made possible with the financial support from: 

Madison Public Library's Bubbler Making Justice mural design residency

Juvenile Court Shelter Home

Wisconsin artist, Peter Krsko, spent Spring Break 2019 at Dane County Juvenile Court Shelter Home to engage teen residents in the design and production of a mural inside their dining room.

Peter's work is grounded in science education and the students were interested in the blown up microscopic images he's done for group mural projects in the past. Because this mural was going into the Shelter's dining room, the group decided a food theme was fitting and they spent time brainstorming ideas around microscopic food representations, thinking about foods that would break down into different shapes and textures as well as picking favorite foods and colors. 

Students used a microscope to view the foods that rose to the top of the discussion on the first day, and then began to create stencils by projecting and tracing their microscopic views onto large poster board. For the remainder of the week, students continued to create and use these type of stencils to strategically populate the wall space. Throughout the week, some students took breaks from the mural to use their new skill set to create new stencils for a personal project on canvas that they could keep.

Madison Public Library's Bubbler Making Justice mural residency with Peter Krsko.
Students creating a mural stencil of their food as seen through a microscope.
Madison Public Library's Bubbler Making Justice mural residency with Peter Krsko.
Students created personal stencil projects to keep or to give as presents.
Madison Public Library's Bubbler Making Justice mural residency with Peter Krsko.

Made possible with the financial support from: 

Madison Public Library's Bubbler Making Justice mural design residency

 

Juvenile Reception Center

Over a two week period during Spring 2018, teaching artist, Carlos Gacharna, engaged teenage residents at the Dane County Juvenile Reception Center in a mural design project. Carlos lead workshops on cultural pattern design, with a peer vote helping to choose the final designs to be used for the intake corridor murals. Over the course of the residency, teens and Bubbler crew painted the hallway and the inside of both temporary intake holding cells used by the JRC upon arriving to the facility.

After finishing the project and taking in the view from one of the two intake cells, both coated with some bright new murals, Carlos reflects with a simple statement, “I can’t fix the system, but I can do my part to make it a little more bearable...the least I can do is bring a little humanity to their experience.”  

Thanks to Carlos & the detention administration, a new welcome awaits all future arrivals! 

JRC blank slate
JRC Holding Cells

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