Big Car's 5 x 5

I'm excited to announce that I've been selected as one of the final 5 presenters in Big Car's 5 x 5 event! Friday, February 8th at 7pm, I get 5 slides and 5 minutes to convince the audience and judges why they should give me $10000 to create a mobile workshop. Wish me luck! 

Here was the proposal I submitted. Whether I win this or not, I'm gonna make this happen! 

Thanks to one of my backers for sharing his daughter's story about my Star Girl jar. I think it made my proposal complete:)

The Action Girl's Storytelling Workshop

"The star is where it's from. I want Patch the Puppy to play with Star Cat. I want Star Cat to be a cat. I want Star Cat to be a Star Cat. She likes to be Star Cat...playing with me. [I would] pet her and play with her. Mostly like to pet and mostly like to love and tell stories and tell stories. She loves me." - Star Cat, a story made up by a 4 year old girl

From the time we can speak, human beings tell each other stories. Ask a little girl to tell you a story, and she'll spin a wild yarn off the top of her head without hesitation. However, as girls grow up into teens, and then adults, something changes.

Despite the fact that girls make up half of the world's population, the world is short on female storytellers. In 2012, only 9% of the top grossing films in the US were directed by women. But more surprisingly, male characters outnumber females in kids movies 3:1. Why is this a problem? Because when girls don't see themselves reflected in the stories they consume, they are taught that girl's stories don't matter.

The wonderful thing about the world we live in today is that big budget movies and network TV are no longer the only media available. Thanks to the internet and social media, people from all over the world are creating the kind of content they want to see independently, and sharing it with the world. Human beings are now able to connect and communicate on a scale never before possible in human history. We live in an exciting time!

But if we want half of the world's population to be a part of this global conversation, we have to empower girls to speak up, to create, to lead.

The Action Girl's Storytelling Workshop is an idea to create a mobile art studio and media project, designed to empower girls all over Indianapolis to create stories by girls, for girls, and then share them with the world. Using public spaces such as libraries, classrooms, and community centers, the mobile studio will provide video and camera equipment, art materials, and a safe, fun environment that will encourage girls to be creative, take risks, and make something real. It will connect students with creative mentors that will teach them how to turn their story ideas into reality. Most importantly, student storytellers will be able to share their creations via the Action Girl website, specifically created for this project. Their stories will be shared and enjoyed by the world. 

By using art to empower girls to value their voices, we will be giving them the tools they need to be active members of our community, to be leaders, makers. They will grow to be women of action who will make Indianapolis a better place because they believe they have something to contribute to it, and because their stories are a part of it. Because girl's stories matter, they are a part of who we are, and they can change the world. 

Girl Stories show tonight!!!

Tonight is the first of two gallery openings showcasing the Girl Stories project. Here's my artist statement for the show tonight. If you're in Indy, it's at Beech Grove Clay Works from 5p-8p. The address is 339 Main St, Beech Grove Indiana. Hope to see you there!

About the Girl Stories Project

 

I am an artist whose work has always revolved around storytelling. As a lover of stories in all media, my work involves elements of illustration and narrative, telling visual stories on the surface of my porcelain pots and sculptures. I love folklore, pop culture, and stories meant for children, so my work has always looked like something out of a children’s book – bright, colorful, and sometimes a little strange, but fun. Stories, especially fiction, interest me because they are treated as entertainment, but they both reflect and influence the culture we live in.

I’ve always been annoyed at the lack of diverse female characters in the majority of movies, books, and video games that I loved, but having a daughter of my own brought my interest in girl’s stories to a head. I wanted stories for her that depicted girls as more than just princesses or damsels in distress, and while they existed, they weren’t nearly as plentiful as I’d like. I began researching gender bias in the media, and it influenced my artwork so much, I decided to do a project.

In August of 2012, I launched a fundraiser on an internet site called Kickstarter, calling for backers interested in my project to donate money to help me make my project a reality. My original idea was to create a series of girl character jar sculptures with stories to go with each. I smashed my goal of $700 in less than 24 hours, and ended with over $2500 by the end of the month. I definitely wasn’t alone in my desire for better stories for girls.

Since I received more money than I needed, I decided to use the surplus to encourage other girls to tell stories with art too. I teamed up with Beech Grove Clay Works and Big Brothers Big Sisters to make a free workshop available for girls and their mentors. I was inspired by Girls Rock Indy and the Girl Scouts, both programs who focused on single sex environments to encourage girls to feel safe expressing their ideas and try new things, without feeling self-conscious or shy.

I hope to continue this project, making workshops available to girls who need them most, and who might otherwise not get an opportunity to use a ceramics studio, or may not be able to afford it.  It is my hope that by creating artwork that tells good stories about girls, and encouraging more girls and women to tell stories of their own, the next generation of artists, filmmakers, programmers, scientists, writers, and leaders will come from girls who learned to value their voice and ideas, and tell stories of their own.

“The function of art is to do more than tell it like it is - it’s to imagine what is possible.” 
― bell hooks

Kickstarter: Day 2

We are nearing the end of the second day of my Kickstarter. If you haven't been following along, I'm proud to say that I woke up this morning to find I'd been fully funded in less than 24 hours. I am still a little bit in shock over that. Now I'm almost $200 over goal, with 28 days left to go. All I can say is WOW! and AWESOME! and THANK YOU! If you haven't seen it yet, you can check it out here, and see what all the fuss is about.

Now that I've met my goal and can make the work I want to make, I want to pay it forward and give something back. My plan now is to use additional funds to start a mentorship program for at risk and underprivileged girls. I haven't worked out all the details yet, but I've contacted Big Brothers Big Sisters, and I'm waiting to hear back from them. My plan is to give girls the same opportunity to make art and tell their stories that I've been given. I've been very blessed by all the opportunities that I've had in my life, and certainly having loving and supportive parents gave me a solid foundation. A lot of girls don't have any of that. These are the girls that need to tell their stories most, and need to know that their voices matter.

I have dreams of one day expanding this idea into a fully fledged art program that would help build girl's self esteem, teach them to value their creativity and their experiences, and to help them gain business skills that they can use to go into the world and do awesome things. It would be really cool to be able to bring in other women artists and crafters for workshops too, so they can see strong, inspiring women that are out there doing their thing. It would be AMAZINGLY cool to do something like Girls Rock Indy (which I am so inspired by, btw!), but with art. Right now, I just want to start small. Clay classes for girls, learning to make sculptures that tell their stories. I'm really excited about this idea! I want to get a bunch of girls playing in the mud, getting dirty, and making cool things!

The more money I raise, the more I can do with this. If you can, please donate what you can spare, and share the link everywhere you can!

Anyway, doll jar number one is in the bisque kiln right now. Wish her luck and safe passage through the fire! She's got a lot of work to do!

My Kickstarter is live!

I did it! My Kickstarter is live and I am overflowing with happiness, excitement, and gratitude. So many people have supported me in this with advice, kind words, and a whole lot of cheering me on. Now it's happening, and I couldn't be more proud for getting this going.

Please check out my video and support my project if you can. This is something so close to my heart, so your support means a lot to me. Donate if you can (and get cool stuff for helping!) If you can't donate, I understand. You can still help me by sharing the link to my Kickstarter, and telling your friends about Girl Stories. Help me spread the word and tell cool stories about girls!

Thanks for all the love, y'all:)

Pre-Kickstarter Kickstarter update

One of my Mom's favorite things to say is always "The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray." This is a truism that is particularly true for me today.

My Kickstarter was supposed to be ready to launch yesterday, but sadly, things are not going as smoothly as I'd planned. I need a video, and I've been wracking my brains trying to come up with something cute or clever, but until today, I had nothing. Today, I decided to film Maddy running around the backyard in a cape, but it was brutally hot and she got really overheated, and then my camera battery died.

So now I'm stumped. I can write, and I can make art. But getting in front of a camera? Soooooo not my thing! I have no idea what to do for this, and everyone says the video is so important.

My camera is charging up downstairs. I don't know if I should just sit down in front of it and ramble a lot, or keep trying to think of something better. I just don't know. I want this project to be awesome! I want it to show people how excited I am about this, and tell a good story.

Just to tell you all a little about what I have planned, I want to launch this Kickstarter to fund a new line of work I call Girl Stories. As I've said in my previous two posts, I really love stories. I love movies, video games, comics, and books of all kinds. I love to lose myself in a really good story, something that is true, that is fantastic, that makes me think, that entertains, and that has a profound effect on the way I view the world. However, it's become clear to me that the majority of the stories I really love have male protagonists, and the majority of the stories I like with female protagonists are just not characters I would want to emulate. Being kind and pretty and nice to animals is great and all, but I want more out of my girls! I'm tired of every girl in a video game being either a weak throw away character, or a sex kitten who kicks ass. I want girls who have adventures, who are strong. I don't just mean physically strong, I mean capable, independent, self assured. Totally able to have their own adventures.

My Kickstarter is to fund 12 new doll jar sculptures, along with some mini related works, that will tell stories. I plan to write stories to go with each doll, illustrate them, and store each story inside its corresponding doll. I feel like it's time to stop bitching about the lack of stories that I want to hear. If I want them, I have to make them myself!

My hope is that not only will I get the opportunity to tell kick ass stories about girls, and make some awesome art, but that I will inspire other girls and women to do the same. We need more of us out there, in all media, making our voices heard, telling our stories.

So, that's the plan. I'm nervous and excited! This is a subject I feel really passionate about, and I'm just now getting the guts to do something with it. But I don't want to launch something half-assed, so I'm going to keep working on Kickstarter until it's worthy of public view. Then, I hope you all will support me in this. Wish me luck!