This has been one of my favorite projects to work on. The subject matter, the freedom to approach it through my own creative lens, and the people involved have all really made it special. 

To start, I received some IG messages one day from a person involved with Artprize asking me to check my emails and to confirm whether or not I was still interested. I had applied for their mural grant open call, but hadn't heard anything and figured I hadn't gotten it. It happens. Found out that my email was instead just sending her to spam and that she'd been trying to reach me! I confirmed that yes, I was definitely still interested and not too long after, as I was in the airport about to board to fly back to Berlin, I got another email from her letting me know that I was selected for the project.

So after getting back home, I was connected with Brent from Construction Simplified, the owner of the building, and provided with some resources on the Eastern European population in the area and how he really wanted a piece that highlighted them and their contributions to the area. Which, for me, was instantly something special, as I come from an Eastern European family and upon further research, the area in Poland where many of the people in the West Fulton area originated is only a couple of hours from where I live in Berlin, Germany. I proposed the idea to Brent and the others spearheading the project of an old hutch with ceramics on it. The type that you see in your grandmother (or mother's) kitchen and that for me, feel like home and nostalgia. They went for the concept wholeheartedly, despite vocalizing how it wasn't at all what they initially had in mind. So I spent a week mapping out the locations in Poznan, Poland (the previously mentioned area in Poland) where I could find the "Bolesławiec" pottery as well as what present day ceramicists are making. I wanted to learn more about the patterns, what they grew up with, and what meant what and intended to make a day trip to Poznan to learn more.

After a day in the city and many, many photos, both of individual pieces, but also many of the patterns on the pieces, I came back home and got to work creating the concept. I knew that I had a long wall and the pieces needed to hold their own, but also needed breathing room. Which meant that I needed to narrow down the numerous photos to just 3 objects as starting points as well as to create some patterns that would carry on the artistry of the originals that I was referencing. As with most of my works, I got to work sculpting the objects in blender and planning out where I wanted the main viewpoint to be. I didn't want it to be the parking lot itself as this is a piece made for the neighborhood, not just the building's employees, and after getting some measurements from Google Earth's data, I figured I would make it mainly visible from across the street. 

As for the individual items, there were several things that I took into account. Long before IKEA or cheap particleboard furniture was the norm, Grand Rapids was one of the furniture capitals of the country and I wanted to make the setting a hardwood cabinet/shelf that would reflect on this. The chicken was a nod to my own upbringing and the chicken ceramic cookie pots that we had, the center was based on a piece that I found and loved the hand-painted pattern on in Poznan, with some Lily of the Valley flowers to nod to my own Slavic origins in the South as well as the prevalence of the flowers both in the Grand Rapids area and in Western Poland. In addition, my main reason for choosing it was that it's often a rebirth referencing flower and a symbol for Spring and I wanted to highlight that narrative with the challenges and experiences that many faced when leaving their homes in Eastern Europe to start again in the Midwestern United States. The Baba do sera on the right with her little babushka felt like the familial matriarch and as this was a piece that I wanted to reference the feeling of your grandmother's kitchen, felt like a fitting way to finish off the piece. 

The title of the piece, "Rekodzieło", means handmade and is in reference to the handcrafted nature of everything in the piece as well as my own artistry and craftsmanship that went into creating the mural itself. I have a deep respect for my own Eastern European culture and feel that in many ways, it's the basis for my artistic interest and the reason that I was able to paint this mural in the first place, and was beyond honored to be able to pay my respects in such a format. 

Big thanks to Brent from Construction Simplified, the Carnevale brothers who were so supportive throughout the process, and everyone from West Fulton and Artprize for making this happen in the first place.