Activities I have been involved in outside of campus.
House of Miles
Fall 2022
The House of Miles East St. Louis opened its doors in June 2018 HOME features a Miles Davis museum, an art gallery, and a classroom setting for musicians and children. HOME's Mile's Davis collection includes concert posters, newspapers, music, books, and artifacts. While visiting, I learned that Miles, in addition to being an incredible Jazz player, was an artist.
When Megan and I first met with HOME, they said the thing they wanted most was something involving all the photographs they had accumulated over the years. We dreamed up a massive collage that up close told the story of House of Miles but at a distance was reminiscent of one of Mile’s paintings that hung in the museum. This was truly a collective piece! We hosted 3 events in which community members would come, have a warm meal, and help assemble the collage on their assigned sector that Megan and I had designed digitally on photoshop prior.
We now pass on the collage for its next phase which is being mounted and hung in HOME’s Educational Center! I am so grateful for this time with Lauren, Megan, and the East St. Louis community.
This annual cleanup and beautification event involved 700 hundred volunteers. There were sixteen special projects, including a mural painting at Chatt Smoke House on East MLK Boulevard that I painted this panel for. Click the photo for a video!
Turn the Page
2016-2018
Turn the Page Literacy Initiative brings creative writing classes and reading discussion groups into the Hamilton County and the Silverdale Detention Facilities. In a system that concentrates on punishment rather than rehabilitation, educational programs such as this have been shown to help men and woman as they reenter society. Turn the Page began in January of 2015 with one reading group of fifteen participants at the Bradley County Jail. In the years that have followed, this program has served hundreds of incarcerated men and women, offering respite from the day-to-day struggle of serving time and creating opportunities for growth and transformation through literacy.
To find out more about this program you can read more on the website here [x] or head over to the "Research" Tab where I talk about my involvement with the program in a video.