PLACEMAKING & WAYFINDING STUDIO, 2020-Present
project overview
Creative partner, Jacob DeGeal, and I founded Creative Blocks in April 2020 after being awarded Salem's Public Artist in Residence (PAiR) for 2020. Our residency proposal promised to activate areas of Salem, MA using our main medium: stenciling. We believe public art leads to community engagement and pride, and can be used as a tool for communication between the city and its citizens.
Creative partner, Jacob DeGeal, and I founded Creative Blocks in April 2020 after being awarded Salem's Public Artist in Residence (PAiR) for 2020. Our residency proposal promised to activate areas of Salem, MA using our main medium: stenciling. We believe public art leads to community engagement and pride, and can be used as a tool for communication between the city and its citizens.
Modern Millie, vintage clothing store
Cheese Shoppe of Salem, wine and cheese shop
Oak & Moss, plant and home goods store
Salem Witch Museum, museum on the history of the witch trials
Coon's Gifts, gift card & souvenir shop
Salem Cycle, bike shop
The Flower Child, 60's-themed gift shop
COVID-19 CITY GUIDELINES & CREATIVE QUEUING
We began our residency of April 2020, soon after the COVID-19 lockdown took place. The pandemic greatly impacted our work from hands-on interactive public art, to COVID-focused messaging and helpful wayfinding.
Businesses were required to quickly adapt to these new safety measures which included customers keeping a safe distance, wearing a mask, and limiting capacity. We saw an opportunity to use our stenciling as a way to help engage customers to keep to regulations while simultaneously making shop-specific icons to assist local businesses in pedestrian advertising.
From April to November, we worked with twelve local shop owners to make unique and creative queuing outside their storefronts.
Interactive chalk "coffee table" in Derby Square
Close-up of a chair in Derby Square
Spray chalk design for Lynn Main Streets
Spray chalk design for Lynn Main Streets
PLACEMAKING
We believe public space can be a canvas for creative expression. Creative Blocks has worked on a handful of placemaking projects which focus on creative places of rest. In building these moments, visitors and residents are encouraged to sit, relax, and sometimes participate in the public art.
WAYFINDING
During the pandemic, the city had to make alterations to many of the streets to maintain safe distances between pedestrians. In many areas, they implemented "extended sidewalks" by removing street parking and placing plastic barriers as a protective shield between traffic and people. We noticed that not many people were taking advantage of these sidewalks, most likely unsure what the bright orange cones meant. As a way to help signal these sidewalks, we made a walking icon and spray painted it throughout the city. As a way to bring levity to the streets, we began turning each icon into a different character with street chalk, and encouraged others to participate in the art. This not only became a way to remind pedestrians to use the extended sidewalks, but acted as a reminder that these streets belong to residents and you should feel safe and empowered to play in them.
Creature from the Warf
Witch
Skeleton
Werewolf
