PoTAP — iSWD Programming — Inside Southwest Detroit

Posts tagged PoTAP

Luminary Tradition Celebrated Through Program Series with Mark Tucker

The PoTAP residency with Mark Tucker is being celebrated through weekly workshops ahead of Dia de Los Muertos at The Alley Project. This year students will be able to show off their works at an outdoor showcase at The Alley Project.

In addition to community-based arts, Mark Tucker serves as art director for the Lloyd Scholars for Writing and the Arts where he develops and designs innovative arts programming and also teaches art classes, primarily for non-art majors, at the University of Michigan. Several of his students accompany him each week, traveling together to The Alley Project to deliver instruction and hands-on support as youth learn a new art form.

This is some of the progress the students have made so far. The residency will extend beyond September throughout October until the projects are completed and the weather turns on us—whichever happens last.

ProgrammingInside Southwest DetroitSeptember 25, 2021luminaries, university of michigan, PoTAP, The Alley Project, southwestdetroit, tap833

We Made A Zine Together!

The project, a special limited edition run of The Southwest Detroiter featuring Zoë Villegas’s ‘Standing In The Shadows of Love’ with photographs by Erik Paul Howard, was hand-assembled during Gabriela Baginski’s weekly Photo Arts sessions at La Sirena Studio on The Alley Project.

She led the group through a series of hands-on book making lessons.

More than a dozen hands helped put it all together over several weeks—measuring, sewing, and learning how to make books along the way in a community setting.

And now they’re done. The limited edition of 25 zines will be made available to the public and proceeds support youth and community development through the arts as well as your local artists.

Community, ProgrammingInside Southwest DetroitFebruary 12, 2020the southwest detroiter, photo arts, gabriela baginski, la sirena studio, zoe villegas, standing in the shadows of love, PoTAP

Wheatpasting with Tom Stoye

Neighbors, youth, and artists gathered this week as Tom Stoye began his public art installation as part of the Porch on TAP artist residency program. Tom is hanging 10 large (3ft by 4ft) portraits of youth from around the City of Detroit in The Alley on fences, garages, and buildings alongside existing artwork of various mediums.

The installation provided an exciting opportunity for people to come out and witness the process of installing large photographs outdoors for public viewing. Several artists wanted to help to assist and also learn more about the method.

Each creative installation on The Alley is a tangible monument to a set of unlikely relationships that are formed as a result of the processes we engage in to create the work people see. They often involve at least one artist, someone who lives in the property where the work is created/installed, and at least one young person.

Tom’s installation, like many, involved a handful of each… all chipping in to help on top of enjoying time and space together. These relationships offer a richness to the community that cannot be bought and are key to the benefits TAP offers the neighborhood. In this way conversations are started and new connections are made, creative processes are explained and understood, and new ideas come about.

Programming, CommunityInside Southwest DetroitOctober 28, 2019wheatpaste, swdetroit, southwest detroit, tom stoye, PoTAP

Chuy the Barber Welcomed As Porch On TAP Artist In Residence

We’re honored to welcome Chuy the Barber as one of several Porch On TAP artists in residence this year helping to activate our new space on Avis and Elsmere!!

Chuy is a licensed barber living and working in Southwest Detroit where he grew up. His voice is loud and clear and his passion front and center when talking about how our gifts can serve others in a way that helps us take care ourselves and each other at the same time. He is truly a living example of the power of living our lives at the intersection of our passions and our community’s needs.

During his residency Chuy is sharing skills related to barbering while also leading discussions (and by example) about the intersection between creativity and business in his field, craft, and the importance of process and experience in all of our work. He will be working individually with several young aspiring barbers, offering tips and mentoring, while other members of the community will benefit from free haircuts during the process.

The Porch On TAP invites youth, neighbors, and artists to share time and space during workshops, a community meal, and public installation as we activate the building and it’s front porch. Together we are building and celebrating community through creative processes.

ProgrammingInside Southwest DetroitSeptember 23, 2019PoTAP, Chuy the Barber, ElsmereAndAvis, southwest detroit, swdetroit, 8869

Photoville 2019 | Brooklyn, NY

A key dimension of the Porch on TAP is artistic exchange—connecting the people of Southwest Detroit to the people and places of other communities. This year we extended this practice through attendance at Photoville, a public photo festival in Brooklyn featuring activated public spaces and educational programming.

Gabriela Baginski facilitated five planning sessions ahead of the trip previewing and preparing the group for the opportunities that lay ahead in the numerous exhibits and workshops, coaching young artists on interviewing skills, and coordinating visits.

At Photoville stacked shipping containers, sprawling cubes of printed canvas, and workshops animated the festival. Everywhere the eye could see was layered with inspiration and education. The opportunities came to life as photographers from around the world interacted with the exhibits and each other—trading critiques, innovations, and contact info.

Nine artists from southwest Detroit, 4 mentors and 5 students, traveled together to the exhibit by van in addition to several community partners who were able to participate separately, meeting us in NYC. Member organizations of the Young Detroit Photo Society—Capturing Belief, Darkroom Detroit, and Inside Southwest Detroit with La Sirena Studio—convened daily to share time, stories, schedules and ideas to build on back home.

Several factors came together this year for the opportunity to take full advantage of what Photoville has to offer. Executive Director Erik Paul Howard’s photo series, The Lowriders, was featured in the national tour of ‘The Fence’ that kicked off at PhotoVille this year.

Also Documenting Detroit, a photography fellowship and community partner, hosted a container exhibiting work from current and past fellows including each mentor on the trip—Rosa Maria Zamarron (‘16), Gabriela Baginski (‘16), Samantha Otto (‘17), and Erik Paul Howard (‘17). Behind the scenes inclusion in staffing a container and the access to other exhibitors enhanced the experience for both mentors and students.

The planning, road trip, exhibition, and wandering connected the group to people and places of communities in NYC and around the world—and also in deeper relationship with each other.

ProgrammingInside Southwest DetroitSeptember 20, 2019documenting detroit, capturing belief, darkroom detroit, ydps, la sirena studio, photoville, PoTAPComment