GDE750 - WEEKS 19-24

PROCESS

Completing 10 grocery items and building illustrations was going to be really challenging to finish in time to allow for test printing, and it was also hard to predict the time I needed to allocate for each drawing as they were all so different. I would guess that the average time spent on each grocery item was 3-4 hours, and the buildings were 5-6 hours.

DIGITAL output

Starting with an outline layer, I used layers to build texture and transparencies of the windows for the buildings, and plastic packaging for the grocery items.

BRANDING

I investigated ways that design and branding could naturally align with the subject matter and explored the designs of plastic bags that cornerstores would use.

I also explored the graphics of produce stickers! These were so fun to look through, but ultimately they weren’t as strongly related to the subject matter than the plastic bags were.

TEST PRINTS

Working with a local print house, we selected a 100lb Lynx, paper with a matte finish so the pages would work as a book, or as art prints hung on the wall or framed.

The paper also needed to be strong enough to stand up on their own as 3D models, so I cut up and assembled the test prints to see if I needed a thicker paper. I was glad that they all held up strongly!

Testing materials, I used tracing paper to see what a frosted vellum print could look like.

FUTURE PLANS

I would love to work toward displaying my project as an exhibition. The gallery space inside the Nova Scotia Archives building could be a great fit.

GDE750 - WEEKS 17-18

SITE DATA COLLECTION

VALUE INVESTIGATION

I visited each store to investigate what unique items they each sold and what value they offer their community. Each store sold general snacks and essentials, but also had a curated selection of culturally significant items connected to their own culture or heritage. I also looked for items that had interesting labels, graphics, fonts and colours that could translate well to an art print.

FIRST COMPLETE ILLUSTRATION

Concept to finished product:

Investigating the value of corner stores - is it recognized by the communities they serve?

I put out a small survey to my friends and peers to gather some more data to confirm my investigation was going in the right direction:

And pulled some more information from articles and news items:

DIGGING INTO BRANDING

I tested out some sign painting style fonts and pulled examples of vintage coupons and signs.

Pulling together mood boards:

PROJECT SCOPE

What’s the right size for my output? What can I push myself to accomplish without sacrificing quality.

Somewhere between drawing one pub and all the pubs:

GDE750 - WEEKS 13-16

SITE DATA COLLECTION

HALIFAX NORTH END

I took a couple of trips out to take photos of corner stores in the north end. Unfortunately the first day I spent taking photos was a wash. The sky was so grey (classic nova scotia winter) that it was making the buildings look really run down and sad - doing the opposite of what my intention with these photos.

So I waited another week and planned for when there was a chance of blue skies. These attempts were infinitely better and brighter.

 

PROOF OF CONCEPT

First building sketch was just the outline to see if they could work as drawings where the audience could colour in and complete the designs themself and then cut out and assemble.

FEEDBACK

Initial feedback peer review sessions and friends was that they liked the cut-out houses idea, but realistically, they wouldn’t have the supplies or time to colour in or paint the stores. They also weren’t sure of what each store should look like if they were to replicate them.

This meant that each cut-out and assembled store should exist solely on its own for those who aren’t artistically inclined, but want to appreciate the stores as they are.

To apply this feedback means the project now grows in scope, but is the right choice to make, even if that means the drawings may take 3-4 times longer than just the outlines.

My new path forward is to have the illustrations live as an art print on one side, ready to hang on the wall, but with cut-out and assembly lines on the back to fulfill the interactive element needed for this project.


CORNER STORE PROJECT

COQUITLAM HERITAGE SOCIETY

I looked for other artists, writers and projects also responding to the value of corner stores, and recognizing the threat they are under as we see them vanishing from communities without being replaced. I found a project that also included a heritage lens, all the way on the other side of the country, in BC. In 2023, Coquitlam Heritage Society exhibited their own project on community corners stores which included photographs and video storytelling to document and preserve not only the visual space of these buildings, but also the stories from inside their walls and of the people running them.

I organized an interview with their exhibitions manager to dig further into the project.

 

A short film that accompanies a project around NYC Bodegas:

GDE750 - WEEKS 11-12

SITE DATA COLLECTION

PORTLAND, ME

 

SALEM, MA

 

VINTAGE ROW HALIFAX, NS

 

The row of seven house turned business above were denied heritage status from the province and are slated for demolition summer 2024. These buildings are of significant value to the local business community, and are a well-know destination for locals and tourists alike.

CASE STUDY

NEWFOUNDLAND STORE

There is a pattern emerging in the redevelopment of Halifax specifically that comes with gentrification; the loss of community convenience stores. These buildings also fall in the category that is seemingly forgotten as part of Nova Scotian built heritage; mid-century buildings.

The sale of the building that was home to the Newfoundland grocery store garnered a massive reaction from its community, and indicated a pattern of closure of community staples.

I found many more examples of this pattern happening across Canada, along with articles attempting to show the value of these spaces.

An article on tools for tenants and residents facing the effects of gentrification.

Interesting points on how street art contributing to gentrification.

GDE750 - WEEKS 9-10

DRAFT RESEARCH QUESTIONS

How can a deeper understanding of the visual identity of place help preserve its unique qualities and inspire community action against gentrification.

How do we express, define and capture the unique visual identity of where we live — and how do these signifiers and characteristics provide hidden socio-political context to give deeper understanding of our collective identity.

How can defining the visual identity of place help preserve its unique qualities and inspire community action against gentrification.

 WHAT AM I TRYING TO DO
How can visually communicating the negative effects of gentrification on the visual identity and character of place can inspire community action and empower a movement

HOW GENTRIFICATION AND RAPID DEVELOPMENT IS CHANGIING THE LOOK, FEEL, WARMTH AND SAFETY OF WORKING CLASS NEIGHBOURHOODS.

How can visually communicating the negative effects of gentrification on the visual identity and character of place can inspire community action and empower a movement

How can I as a designer empower communities to be better informed on the effects and threat of gentrification and inspire and empower a social movement to stand up against gentrification.

SITE DATA COLLECTION

HALIFAX SOUTH END, NS

This area holds a mixture of historic building styles, but has always catered to wealthy families. The community-serving spaces consist mainly of parks, as the community is almost completely residential.

 

RELOCTING PROTECTED BUILDINGS

Big news in the heritage building world, a historic building in downtown Halifax was moved using bars of soap! It was interesting to see a building of this size being moved and the care taken to protect its history.

Dan recommended The Street, and it brought up a lot of nuances to the changing landscape of a community and the effects of gentrification. It shows how the locals “othered” outsiders, but also how their new neighbours don’t integrate into the community either, and the division that is felt by both.

RESEARCH - HERITAGE TRUSTS

I looked for examples of community-serving protected heritage, like corner stores, and other functional buildings. NewFoundland had many examples, but almost none held businesses that are operational today.

REACHING OUT TO THE NS HERITAGE TRUST FOR AN INTERVIEW

Good afternoon,

I’m a post-graduate student living in Halifax, NS studying graphic design, and I’m currently completing a Masters program, exploring themes of the identity of place, and the importance and value of visual identity of where we live.

Using the unique characteristics of both rurual and urban communities of Nova Scotia as the subject of research, how do we express, define and capture the unique visual identity of where we live — and how do these signifiers and characteristics provide hidden socio-political context to give deeper undertsanding of our collective identity.

I was hoping to connect with someone from your organization for a half hour interview (either in-person or online) to learn about the perspective of the Heritage Trust on defining and preserving the unique identity of Nova Scotia, and what we are at risk of losing without organizations such as yours.

THERE ARE CURRENTLY ZERO QUEER NIGHTLIFE SPACES IN HALIFAX.

A sad result of the cost of operating music and arts spaces, is the loss of queer nightlife spaces.

GDE750 - WEEKS 7-8

PANEL REVIEW WITH SUSAN GIBB

Below are the slides I prepared for my external review. Going into the review, I had prepared a few questions but wasn’t quite sure what to expect other than being excited to have Susan’s insights and to see what the other students are working on!

The feedback from Susan was that she thought I was digging into an interesting topic with a lot to explore. She recommended I try to narrow down my project scope so I can dig into one aspect deeper, rather than stay broad and unfocused. I asked if there was an area she was most interested in form my slides and she thought the Cape Breton half houses were most interesting as I could explore the social issues related to them.

Frauke also joined the panel, and had some great ideas around looking beyond what structures are standing now, and to explore what was there before, including indigenous land use.

Overall I felt like I’m on the right track with this area of research.

SITE DATA COLLECTION

MAHONE BAY, NS

One aspect I loved about collecting site data in Mahone Bay were the bright, unusual colour schemes that burst through the grey day, seemingly unbothered about matching or pleasing modern tastes.

 

OUTPUT RESEARCH

Jumping ahead to output ideas, I started looking at paper houses as they combine my area of research with something more interactive than a book.

GDE750 - WEEKS 5-6

The Nova Scotia College of Art & Design University library has been an amazing resource as I work through recommended readings from Ben and Dan!

ON SITE DATA COLLECTION

LuNENBURG, NS

Lunenburg is a popular tourist destination and Unesco world heritage site. It has a distinct look to its architecture and prioritizes preserving historic features. It’s history was built on it’s prime location for shipping, industry and military.

 

READINGS & SECONDARY RESEARCH

I browsed through Dalhousie University’s online thesis portal to search for works related to my area of research that were being done by students in Halifax. I found excer[ts of these two particularly interesting and relevant to my studies.

I think it’s critical to understand the context in which built heritage and architecture exist in Canada, and researching Indigenous perspective on this topic was very interesting. I learned that up to 1961, in order to attend post-secondary education institutions in Canada native status people would lose their status - which was a part of the beurocracy side of cultural genocide.

INDIGENOUS PERSPECTIVES ON THE NOTIONS OF ARCHITECTURE >>

In a recent issue of Azure Magazine, Daniel Viola states in his article "Canada 150: The Integral Role of Indigenous Architects" that “[b]efore 1961, any Indigenous person who attended post-secondary school or wanted to enter one of many professions needed to enfranchise, thereby losing their status.

Kelly Edzerza-Bapty (KE-B): We carry a deep knowledge of our place in this world and of the geographic spaces we have evolved from: the birthplaces of our languages, governance, and social/cultural practices. As an Indigenous architect, I see my role as part of rebuilding our Nations and creating our own spaces for cultural and communal revitalization and re-grounding, built with our own hearts, minds, and hands.

Ouri Scott (OS): People have a right to land, self-governance, and self-determination. These rights are the foundation of how we run our Indigenous communities and directly affect their design. Buildings instigate change, and the act of building them encourages a sense of self and independence. The celebration of this is a powerful act.

GROUP FEEDBACK SESSIONS

Kim, Clodagh and I have been having regular meetups, inviting one or two other to join each week or two. These have been great in inspiring each other, talking though problems and sticking points, and presenting work completed so far.

I find that smaller group meet-ups are a lot more productive than larger crits, and inviting like-minded peers really propels conversation forward.

The controversial figure Thomas Heatherwick launches his Humanize campaign, which would be really interesting and could align with my research, but its critics easily poked holes through its intent and revealed ulterior motives.

Dan pointed my in the direction of The Guardians Oliver Wainwright for a critical perspective in this area.

GDE750 - WEEKS 3-4

DRAFT RESEARCH STATEMENT

The hidden visual identity of place.

Using the unique characteristics of both rurual and urban communities of Nova Scotia as the subject of research, how do we express, define and capture the unique visual identity of where we live — and how do these signifiers and characteristics provide hidden socio-political context to give deeper undertsanding of our collective identity.

SITE DATA COLLECTION

BRIDGEWATER, NS

To kick my primary research off I drove an hour to Bridgewater, which due to its proximity to the LaHave river, has plenty of historic homes and a distinct visual look. I wandered the residential streets and took photos of homes that I felt were representative of this area, or had interesting qualities about them, using some the guidelines I developed inspired by the Bechers.

 

Research themes and areas

While I’m still working out what my question will be, I’ve honed in on my areas and themes of research – all revolving around the visual identity of place.

There’s an urgency to capture and preserve the visual signifiers of where I live as rapid development and gentrification are changing the landscape. Not only is this impacting the look and feel of the city, but also the culture, as the way neighbourhoods are used and by whom they are now occupied transforms.

I plan to investigate the visual identity and signifiers of Halifax, Nova Scotia // discover unique architecture and visual traits // visual memory of place and home

I’d also like to research what else is being developed in this space including art installations, exhibitions and publishing.

First drafts of research area and quesTion

How do we capture, define, preserve and express the unique visual identity of where we live — and how do these visual signifiers and architectural characteristics provide hidden context to give deeper understanding of our history and collective identity, as gentrification moves rapidly to remove

The hidden visual identity of place.

Using the unique characteristics of both rurual and urban communities of Nova Scotia as the subject of research, how do we express, define and capture the unique visual identity of where we live — and how do these signifiers and characteristics provide hidden socio-political context to give deeper undertsanding of our collective identity.

RESOURCES

I took stock of what resources are available to me locally as I move through this project, and took note of the Nova Scotia Archives, and the campus library of my undergrad alma mater; Nova Scotia College of Art & Design University. As much as I value the ability to download and explore books digitally through the Falmouth online library, I find being able to thumb through the pages of a book and add page markers helps me work through content and actually absorb the content, as opposed to skimming quickly through a digital pdf.

NS ARCHIVES

NS Archives have endless reference material related to architecture and buildings

The Nova Scotia College of Art & Design University campus, the library is the red brick section on the right

RESEARCH & READING

Below are articles, websites and readings I’ve been looking at as part of my secondary research.

The art of gentrification: city data made beautiful

Graphic designer Herwig Scherabon visualises the data behind gentrification using a striking array of different styles. These examples look at the patterns of income inequality and segregation in large cities, from London to LA

I’m really interested in how to visually represent data to communicate social issues, rather than just presenting information back. I like how these all provoke thought or feeling in the way they are organized and curated.

Two Latinx Artists Take On Gentrification from the Perspective of Those Displaced

Shellyne Rodriguez and Danielle De Jesus powerfully respond to the continued attacks on their neighborhoods with works that validate and uplift elements of everyday urban Latinx life that are usually devalued.

The artistry here helps present a social issue back in a beautiful way that positions the conversation in the context of fine art.

No Balconies or Luxury Toilets: How This City Fought Soaring Rents and Lost

Rents are rising at a record pace in Berlin despite anti-gentrification rules and rental caps

Below is an excerpt from the article: What Role Do Artists Play in Gentrification?

In 2015, Los Angeles-born artist London Kaye hung a large, crochet depiction of three children inspired by Wes Anderson’s movie Moonrise Kingdom and the twins from the 1980s thriller The Shining on a building in Bushwick next to the popular Bushwick Flea (an upscale flea market). She captioned the corresponding Instagram post with the hashtags #yarnbomb, #streetart, and #bushwick.

A few weeks later, Will Giron, a lifelong New Yorker and tenants’ rights activist, came to visit his aunt in the neighborhood. It was her building that had been yarn-bombed, and Giron was angry. Kaye had not asked permission to hang her work and when Giron complained to her and the head of Bushwick Flea, Rob Abner, he was met with a strong response: Abner threatened to call the Department of Health on his aunt, who sells Salvadorian food outside of her building, and said Giron should be grateful, because the crochet art would likely increase the value of his aunt’s property.

To Giron, it wasn’t only about the art. He felt like his family’s neighborhood was being overtaken by white outsiders, lured in part by Bushwick’s new creative scene, which didn’t care about the desires of those there before them.

“It was really about agency,” Giron told me recently. “People come in and act like they can do whatever they want. Kaye wouldn’t have done the same thing on Long Island or in a white neighborhood.”

I looked to see how community-forward design and planning could help with safety issues. While this source should be taken with a large grain of salt, when neighbourhoods are gentrified through design, it also changes the way the space is used. Places that have little to no street-facing spaces like porches, benches, or small gardens, have less community networks and could see a rise in crime.

More examples of visualizing data.

An important distinction to understand in this area of research.

GDE750 - WEEKS 1-2

STARTING POINT

The most successful project from the program so far was my book on storm porches - a unique architectural feature of Atlantic Canada. Not only was it well received, I really enjoyed the process of learning more about publishing and book layouts.

Susanna’s Phase One welcome video – key takeaways:

Identify areas of interest, key themes

What is your research question?

How might I…?

Who is this for?

What ethical considerations might I have to make?

What experts can I connect with?

INITIAL IDEAS

Houses I’ve been in – art installation investigating relationship to home
Invite participants to make a house, draw a layout of their childhood home
Visual language based on place
Series of books
Book of niche places
Workshop on memory – draw layouts, streets, places
Visual identity of Halifax, Nova Scotia > unique architecture and visual traits / visual memory of place

INITIAL RESEARCH

Cape Breton half houses. There’s a lot to dig in to around this topic; particularly loss of industry, but where I am not part of this community I would have to be very respectful and careful not step out of bounds as people still live in some of these homes.

How to cut a house in half

Many of the houses on the island are so-called company homes, built decades ago for coal and steel workers.

A lot of these buildings are duplexes, where one half is still lived in by a family, and the other is empty and boarded up.

Often the vacant half is demolished. The house is literally cut in half, and an internal wall converted to a weatherproof external one, leaving a family living in a free-standing 'half-house.'

The alternative is that the vacant house is simply left to fall into ruin, raising the risk that it takes the other half with it.

A filmmaker from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. His first short film THERE LIVED THE COLLIERS is a short 16mm experimental documentary about the wooden duplexes built one hundred and fifty years ago to house coal miners in his hometown.

A falling population has turned once-thriving neighbourhoods into ghost towns.

"What you're witnessing is a community just crumbling," says John White, a teacher in the area.

For many years, the island was supported by coal mining and steel production. As those industries have declined, so too has the area's economy, with the population falling nearly 20 per cent over the last 20 years.

With between 600 and 800 abandoned houses, the Cape Breton Regional Municipality has almost as many empty homes as Vancouver. About 40 per cent of houses sold last year went for less than $100,000, while there are pockets where homes have been valued at less than $10,000.

The population is also aging — nearly a quarter are seniors — and when White asks his students who has a parent working out west, he says as many as half raise a hand.

"It's actually heartbreaking for me, because this is my territory, this is where I grew up," he says.

LEARNINGS

I was really inspired by the video on design for social change, as this is an area I would like to explore further as a designer.

PRIMARY RESEARCH PLANNING

With my area of research being related to identity of place, architectural styles and history of Nova Scotia, a key element will be gathering primary research through the collection of visual data.

Inspired by the prolific work of the Bechers, I would like to capture visual data through photographic catalogues, and then grouped my similar features or patterns that may emerge.

By placing several cooling towers side by side something happened, something like tonal music; you don’t see what makes the objects different until you bring them together, so subtle are their differences.
Hilla Becher obituary, the Guardian

For my on-site data collection, I gave myself three objectives to determine what I should document and photograph:
- buildings that felt visually significant to Atlantic Canada
- places that brought forward an issue to be addressed
- homes that piqued my interest in detail or design

OTHER MASTERS PROJECTS

I also explored what other master of design students have been making to see how my project could sit among my peers.