LUX ESALARE dress rehearsal

Green Thumb Society (the story)

Detailed Functions:
Lance and I have decided to cover the following functions:
Finding a Space, Bug Testing, Surplus and Soil Testing

FINDING A SPACE (guerilla spot)
Lydia needs to find a space. She’s itching to get her guerilla gardening on. She begins in URBAN SPACES...and searches for the latest “guerilla” uploads.

[scene switch] (motion blur of something here)...Amanda just drove by 4th and Walnut on her way to the coffee shop. She’s new to the whole gardening scene, but knows a hot spot when she sees it. She takes a quick shot and uploads it to URBAN SPACES. “This location has been uploaded by Amanda” and tagged empty, hot, guerilla (or something.) (This begins to show the range of people who will contribute to the site.)

[scene switch] Lydia searches for the latest “guerilla” uploads...the corner of 4th and Walnut? Looks great, thanks Amanda. (Lydia’s status changes.)

“Lydia is IN the garden. “

[scene switch] Dustin is sitting at home (indexical image: picture of a couch or something) and bored to tears. He notices Lydia’s status. Dustin is primarily an amateur community gardener and longs to bring more guerilla gardening spontaneity into his life. Also he’s pretty shy so this gives him a great opportunity to meet a new gardening friend. The Join button blinks (as if he clicked it.) connection animation here (symbolic or indexical like plant growth.)

BUG TESTING (stinky bug)
The following week, while Lydia and Dustin (of the newly established 4th and Walnut gardening group) are weeding the squash and tulips, they happen upon a bug. [it’s really a stink bug] Lydia screams, but Dustin tries to keep it cool. It’s a beetle bug, he thinks, totally harmless...but Lydia is not so sure. She snaps a picture with her iphone and uploads it to GARDEN RX.

[scene switch] Miles, a former science teacher turned community gardener has decided his purpose in life is to answer all the gardening questions he can handle. The GARDEN RX section brings Miles daily fulfillment...he comments: ”Yike’s Lydia! That’s a stink bug. Get it out asap, or your garden will be toast. Here’s the solution...” (don’t read this but it’s the link he sends her to his blog.) ....not only do they emit an unpleasant odor as a signal and invitation to other stink bugs, they wreak havoc on plants. solution kaolin clay, weed the area or introduce some predators of the stink bug like garden spiders and the praying mantis.

time lapse

SURPLUS (squash everywhere)
Great. The stink bug is gone. The squash have been growing like crazy. The sun is shining and it’s the best day ever. I think rainbow is about to form. (colorful lens flare flash across screen)

Lydia invites the community to a potluck/squashluck this Friday (in community events) “Bring something yummy or else” she comments. (close up shot on“15 digs” and lots of comments)—this is going to be fun.

[scene switch] Miles is dying to meet up, but embarrassed to admit he can’t cook. His community garden is thriving with an outrageous amount of squash as well. He jumps on the SURPLUS section and looks up a simple recipe for butter nut squash soup, uploaded by his new friend Lydia.

Everyone loved it. Miles blushes.

Amanda shows up just in time for dessert. She tempts everyone with a lovely mulberry pie made with foraged berries from that lush tree at 55th and Main. (maybe zooms to a close up of map or the berries with sparkling light.) Lydia brings out the cool whip and they begin to slice. Miles nervously reaches for his iphone. oh no just as he suspected.

SOIL TESTING (saves lives)
55th and Main?...“DON’T eat that pie!!!” blurted miles. “Amanda, did you happen to check the site before foraging those berries? I just tested that soil the other week. (flashback images showing the soil being tested with idirt or isoil or whatever we are calling that thing.) The soil is...er uh...well...TOXIC. It contained a high percentage of petroleum run off from Main street. It sure looks pretty, but I wouldn't eat it if I were you.”

And so, THE GREEN THUMB SOCIETY not only brings gardeners together, it also saves lives.

and thank you for eating dirt

Local Dirt is a friendly, eclectic and outrageously tasty neighborhood vegan restaurant. The following are touchpoints or points of contact with the consumer.

apparel for the workers and delighted visitors

(men's line will be out soon)stationary
invoices to thank the masses for eating dirt.
business cards
a necessary #10 envelope (because we might be dirty,

but we pay our bills)
the dirt vehicle
environmental signage

soundmark iterations

Initial soundmarks, and rough they are. My desire is to capture the friendly, tasty and eclectic nature of the local dirt experience.

local dirt soundmark1

local dirt soundmark2

local dirt soundmark3

It is becoming clear the piano sound with the bell alone is a fine and potentially seamless possibility verses my attempt at the Girltalk style (although I will master that.) Either way, a chime sound-splice is vital to the success of any of these.

guerilla girls

guerilla graphic design from tammy shell on Vimeo.

guerilla documentation

Rosedale kids don't dream, a quote from a teacher at Frank Rushton Elementary. If this doesn't make you cry...

Amanda and I are focusing on rebranding Rosedale Park as an inviting place for kids to hope and dream. Additionally we would wish for more local residents to make use of this lovely place with the hope more activity would discourage the less desirable happenings.

The key to fulfilling any of these ideas includes creating a safe passage via crosswalk from the danger zone known as Mission Road.

The following is no exaggeration of the experience.

What this sign needs is a little color

My guerilla gardening roommate helped with the first step of revitalizing the sign that otherwise looks like a tombstone. Azure the handsome husky tagged along for moral support.

Ask and you shall receive

The first stop was Ace hardware. We asked if they would consider donating flowers for the project and they gave us a huge discount!

Azure was singing for joy. (below)

Amanda and I were both inspired by a Project M campaign titled, It's not grass, it's hope, a project to encourage the creation of community parks in Baltimore.

Our messages include, park here, hope here, dream here and be here.

Amanda, unlike me, is actually good with the hammer.

Notice the color, even from afar!

documentation of vanity—and how the sign complements my outfit:

Part of our rebranding would include life size brightly colored silhouette sculptures of kids playing. The sculptures would remind drivers of the high possibility of kids running around the area and Rosedale residents could become more aware and excited about the park.

We receive alot of good feedback about the crosswalk; see our video, here...I like to call this one documentation of me documenting.

The most recent life risking test included placing bright duct tape in the road...

Let's go to the park!

flight school

(Hi, I'm back—pulseless for a bit, due to thieves and sadness.)

Interning at the Quixotic studio with dancers practicing and occasional live music outbreaks is outrageously dreamy for me. Still pinching myself.

I am attempting to apply everything I have learned in school (and from April) so far...

The "take flight" addition (they liked it!—even though it's Helvetica) was expressive type inspired. The second poster layout is based on grid experiments from type2. (Still refining the path around the dancer.)
By the way, Thursday afternoon will be a guerrilla dance performance at JCCC to tempt the masses to attend the upcoming LUX ESALARE.