Making A Game Plan

Browder worked from images of the school and with school administrators to decide on a section of the school that would have the impact. The front doors that the students walked into every day turned out to be the perfect location. Stratton Elementary and the Art Education Program at the School of Art and Design solicited and gathered fabric donations from the local community.

One of the main goals of the project was to engage the community by inviting in parents and students to work on the layout and sewing of the fabric pieces along with teachers, administrators, university participants, and community members. Several public sewing days were held in the elementary school library where participants gathered together with the artist, to pin and sew monochromatic stripes or shapes for the larger design. Browder provided tutorials to the volunteers who consisted of university students, elementary students and parents, teachers, and community members with a vested interest in the project. The school was the center of this project and was the gathering place for volunteers to come together for the sewing days. The collaborative aspects of this project created many points of entry to engage the parents, the school, and surrounding community. 

Community Sewing Days

Community Outreach

Browder’s community engagement didn’t end with sewing days. In fact, Browder started to engage with the community the moment she arrived in town, talking about the project, asking for fabric donations, and getting people involved in the project. She engaged students at both the university and elementary school through talks about her art practice and the project. She led activities at the elementary school such as allowing the students to color in and design their own version of the project.