Community-based practices in design integrate collaborative and participatory methods to invite and engage community members in the creative process to co-create community interventions. These place-based initiatives center local and communal perspectives, where power and decision-making are shared. They prioritize community-led initiatives over institutional or external interests, ensuring that design solutions emerge from within, not from above.
The LGBTQ Our Story project began in 2022 as an investigation into the university and community archives to discover an important and relevant historical narrative from our community,
The LGBTQ Archives project began in 2022 as an investigation into the university and community archives to discover an important and relevant historical narrative from our community — Greenville, North Carolina — that is less known (or unknown), with particular attention to stories that uplift and recenter marginalized and/or intersectional groups that have been historically overlooked, dismissed, or ignored. We identified several relevant and important topic directions, but ultimately moved forward with the final direction of LGBTQ Experiences in Eastern North Carolina – Greenville, Pitt County, and beyond.
After City of We was installed in Uptown Greenville in October 2020, the project entered its final phase: assessing long-term impact of the project. We used observation, interviews, and a community survey to understand how people experienced the space and
After delays from Covid, we were ready to begin the final stages of the project create and install the community intervention in Uptown Greenville. A 3-day workshop, held on-site from Friday to Sunday in October 2020, guided participants through a
This project introduces students to graphic design as a tool for action and social impact. Students develop messaging campaigns that build awareness, educate and inform on overarching themes and topics with a shared intent to reach a broad audience and shift behaviors and attitudes among people.
Over the last year, I’ve worked with partner, Pitt County Arts Council (PCAC) to plan and design an arts-based community project for the community of Uptown Greenville. This project marked my first large-scale design intervention and installation since joining East
The Blended Perspective refers to a process that I have developed for my research and teaching that helps designers assess their work in terms of social impact by incorporating key principles and processes of community engagement and social impact assessment derived from the social sciences.
I presented and ran a new engagement workshop with conference attendees titled Citizen Makers in Community Design Intervention + Action at the Imagining America 20th Anniversary National Conference this fall in Albuquerque, New Mexico, October 18-20, 2019. This collaborative and
Last month, I presented work at the College Art Association (CAA) 2019 Conference in New York with the Design Incubation panel. My presentation reviewed a methodology, based on my research and design practice, called the ‘blended perspective’, that merges rigorous
Students at the Memphis College of Art designed campaigns for Shelby County Health Department to build awareness around the opioid addiction crisis in our community and help shift attitudes and behaviors around the stigmas of this addiction. Three campaigns were
The installation emphasizes motion, movement, activity, and energy through large, weaving line work, bright colors, and barrel shaped wheels. Actual bicycle wheels were installed on the top of the wall as a kinetic sculptural addition.
Loeb Properties has invested in a variety of art installations in Overton Square and would like to highlight these works by creating a public art walking tour. They have approached MCA to work with a team of students to design
In recent years, we have seen a significant shift in the field of design, from design as an artifact to design as a process.
Like many cities that struggle with under-developed, neglected neighborhoods, Memphis has experienced an influx of artistic interventions focused on community renewal in many different forms and applications.
After city regulations halted the Art Crosswalks project in conjunction with Downtown Memphis Commission, local artists at MCA with volunteer community members executed their designs in partnership with Overton Park. This project crosses the boundaries between artistic interventions, broadly defined as public
Schneekloth and Shibley, authors of Placemaking: The Art and Practice of Building Communities (1995), discuss a transformation in the field of placemaking in the late 20th century that shifts from isolated community development methods to community-inclusive design methods that incorporate the
Clothing Food Shelter is a collaborative design project between departments at the New York City College of Technology of The City University of New York in Brooklyn and the Memphis College of Art in Memphis, Tennessee conducted in the spring
As a sort of citizen-driven placemaking endeavor, this example of artistic intervention serves as a catalyst for greater change in the under-served area of N.Evergreen and Chelsea. The design, inspired by the post-industrial aspects of the site and fused with concepts of
Increased demands on socially conscious design and community engagement have shifted traditional outcomes for graphic design to include social responsibility as a design deliverable.
This project explores the phenomenon of placemaking and how a design systems approach can enable community members to participate in this process.
Over a three-day work session, Memphis College of Art under the direction of Cat Normoyle, leads a community public art project in South Memphis.
MCA’s Advertising Design and Sustainable Design collaborate to create an anti-gun violence campaign in Frayser community of Memphis
Thrive designers invited Memphis College of Art to visit their offices in Helena AR.
My Design of Advertising students at Memphis College of Art in conjunction w/ Urban Art Commission & Mayor’s Innovation Team worked with 25 square to develop a messaging campaign.
My proposal for a call of papers entitled “Recontextualizing Abandonment in Community” has been accepted to the Ciantec ’12 conference.