“Design Jazz: Improvisations on the Urban Street”
September 25 – November 7, 2009
Pratt Manhattan Gallery
144 West 14th Street, New York, NY
Gallery Hours: Tuesday–Saturday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Public Reception: 6–8 p.m. Friday, October 9
http://pratt.edu/exhibitions
The second part of the exhibition will chronicle the design process of nine young designers working to create street furniture for possible inclusion as part of the Sustainable South Bronx’s Greenway Project, a community-led plan for a bicycle/pedestrian greenway along the South Bronx waterfront on Lafayette Avenue in Hunts Point, one of New York City’s last remaining industrial areas. Sustainable South Bronx is a community organization dedicated to environmental justice solutions through innovative, economically sustainable projects that are informed by community needs.
The exhibition will showcase the designers’ process through a documentary film on the project and installations of their work. The film, which was completed by current Pratt students, captures the stories of the community and chronicles the designers’ ongoing dialogue and engagement with Hunts Point community members.
“Our goal is to engage Hunts Point community members and let them drive the decision making process,” said Johnson. “There was a lot of interest in the prospect of a design that residents could learn to fabricate themselves so that has been the design team’s focus,” she added.
The designers’ work represents the beginning phase of the Greenway Project, which is slated to begin this fall. Pratt alumni George Estreich, Zachary Feltoon, Daniel Jeffries, Jason Pfaeffle, Emily Potter, and David Wright—along with three invited Canadian designers Paul Dolick, Paul Kawai, and Yen Trinh—will collaborate under the direction of project leader and Pratt professor Robert Langhorn and project manager and Pratt alumna Kristina Drury. They will work as part of the Design Incubator for Sustainable Innovation, which is part of the Pratt Center for Sustainable Design Studies, headed by Johnson.
The project led by Johnson is in collaboration with Miquela Craytor, executive director, Sustainable South Bronx; Kellie Terry-Sepulveda, executive director, The Point Community Development Corporation; and Michael G. Cluer, landscape designer with Mathews Nielson Landscape Architecture, the firm responsible for the design of the Greenway.
Johnson, an alumna, is the Academic Director of Sustainability at Pratt and the director of Pratt’s Center for Sustainable Design Studies (CSDS). She is also the founder and director of the Pratt Design Incubator for Sustainable Innovation.
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