JAM community art

• Every Bird has a Story - A mural for the Day Hospital in Veteran’s Memorial Hospital, Halifax, N.S.

  In January, 2011 I began an artist residency as part of the HEALS in the Humanities Program at Dalhousie Medical School.  As part of the residency we created sister murals in Veteran’s Memorial Hospital (VMB) and the IWK Children’s Hospital.  The theme of Nova Scotia birds was chosen and a mural of trees was painted by mural artist, Lynda McConnell, to act as a background for 150 hand painted, life size birds.  Painting workshops were held in the Tupper Building at Dalhousie University, the Teen Lounge at the IWK, and in the Day Hospital at VMB that included medical students, hospital staff, patients and their families and volunteers.  The project was a huge success and great fun was had by all.  

• IWK Children’s Hospital: Butterflies and Puzzle People - A project for the Orthopedic and Diagnostic Imaging Clinics

  Staff in the IWK Children’s Hospital expressed a desire to create art work to hang in their own clinics so that they and the patients and their families may enjoy the art every day. Together we came up with a choice of two painting projects; butterflies and puzzle people.  The pieces were created during a series of four sessions in the clinics that included patients and their families, volunteers and staff from the clinics and the larger health care community.  After the butterflies were attached to driftwood, and the puzzle people to a frame, the staff decided where to hang the pieces in their clinics.

• Streetscape Mosaic Project

  The Streetscape Mosaic project is a 4Cs Foundation funded community art project for beautifying a new sidewalk and streetscape installation in the village of Sheet Harbour. More than 80 stepping stones and 6 large scale mosaics were created by grades 5 to 8 and grade 11 students along with local artists and scores of community members. Many hands were involved in the project from the drawing and design process, to building the forms and collecting the pebbles, to laying the thousands of pebbles and stones in intricate designs and finally installing the heavy pieces.  A hot chocolate walk was organized to celebrate the installed art work.

• Contact

  Julie Adamson Miller
  julie@jamcommunityart.com
  tel 902 430 6292

• The Bluenose Ghost project 

  Bluenose Ghost is a 4 C’s Foundation funded community art project facilitated by Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM).  The arts of story telling, theatre and sculpture were used as tools to create large-scale sculptures based on folklorist Helen Creighton’s Bluenose Ghost Stories.  The ghosts were erected on top of thirty-foot high light standards for the annual Nocturne event (a one day art extravaganza for HRM in October) and the Halloween season.   Children and youth from the Dartmouth Boys and Girls Club, HRM staff and members from the community participated in the two-week project.

• The Fairy Door project

  A community member in Sheet Harbour initiated the Fairy Door Project after the completion of the Shingle House project in the Art Park.  The grade 7 art class, along with members of the community explored fairy culture and created a myth.  Fairy doors or portals to other worlds were constructed from wood, painted and then hidden in nooks and crannies of the Art Park for visitors to discover. A hand written myth displayed inside the shingle shelter accompanies each portal.

• Outdoor Classroom

  The outdoor classroom project was a 4C’s Foundation funded school and community project in the north end of Halifax.  The idea to create an outdoor learning environment was conceived by school parents, staff and students.    Weekend community builds were organized in order to create and put together the components of the outdoor classroom.  Various art workshops were held for the students in the school as extensions of the project.  Upon completion a celebration was held for the school and community, which featured a song written and performed by the students for the occasion.  School lessons, impromptu theatre and music events, as well as community coffee and chat times are enjoyed in the outdoor classroom.

• PAINTS Project

  Visual Art Nova Scotia (VANS) funds a program that puts artists in the schools (PAINTS).  Mr. Smith, a grade 5 teacher from Oyster Pond Academy, Jeddore, N.S., and parent, Thea Wilson-Hammond, asked me to help develop an art project for a unit on the Underground Railroad.  We constructed shelters, which students imagined runaway slave might have built on their journey to Canada.  The interior of the three shelters was covered with representations of the quilts that were used as signals to ensure a safe journey.  The students learned many new skills such as knot tying, sewing, weaving and building techniques.  After the shelters were finished they were used for quiet reading time in the classroom and library.

  
  

• IWK Playgarden Shingle House

  Based on the success of the Self Portrait Tile project we decided to create another community art project for the IWK Health Care Centre.  While wandering around the outdoor Playgarden we noticed a sheltered area at the far corner that had a shady garden and a structure with a roof but no sides or floor — an ideal spot for a shingle house.  Workshops were set up throughout the IWK complex and off-site facilities involving patients and their families, volunteers and staff.  More than 200 shingles were created using the theme “things with wings”.  The shingles were attached to the building with help from volunteers.  The Shingle House is an inspirational and quiet place created for and by the healthcare community.

• The Sea Creature Bench Project (2 of 2)