 Hello everyone and welcome to Talk of the Town. I'm James Milan and today I am in the studio with a couple of folks that I'm really in looking forward to talking to. Cecily Miller is here from the Arlington Commission for Arts and Culture also known as ACAC and for the purposes of our conversation we may refer to it as the Arts Commission. So Cecily thanks for being here and also we are here really to introduce our artist or ACAC's artist in residence for a year. Michelle Lugie is here and we are going to be discussing both the particular project that Michelle is going to be spearheading and the opportunities for community involvement in that project and get some background on Michelle's history as an artist etc. So thank you both for being here we really appreciate it. So to begin with Michelle I just wanted to ask you to just give us a little background about your particular journey as an artist to this point. Is it something that you came out of the womb knowing or what? Pretty much I think I have sort of always identified as an artist and I went to Boston University to study sculpture and after school I started to look around for what I felt was my really what my theme and my work was going to be about and I started to make work that was based on nature versus humankind and the way that we interface with the world. So I used a lot of natural materials and combined those with cast-off materials and while doing that kind of work I wanted to use plastic and move into plastic bags and I learned about the plastic debris in the ocean about 10 years ago and I learned that I could crochet plastic so I started to make work on that theme back then. You know I before we get into the specifics of you know how the artists and residents came to be etc. I just wanted to ask you like because I think people are always interested in knowing does a person who is who identifies as an artist that's what you do for a job. Is that something that you that you just there was never any doubt in your mind that you that that's what you were gonna do and you do whatever you need to in order to be able to do that or is it something that you're you feel like you have to balance with I don't know more commercially reliable sources of income kind of thing. I do I feel like a lot of people people come to it in different ways but it's sort of a calling I think and for me I knew even though I like I don't have a financial backing in my family so there was there was a time where people said where does the money come from you know but I think that if you have the will you make it work so you know I've been able to fortunately I have a wonderful husband who supports my endeavors as an artist but I'm also you know always have worked for myself as well so yeah. So I wanted to get we want to focus on the the project itself pathways that you're going to be undertaking and ask for both of your perspectives so Cecily for instance from the Arts Commission's perspective what you know how did you go about identifying Michelle and deciding to start this program of artists and residents this is something you do regularly or should give a little bit of background because Michelle will be creating a large-scale piece for the Minuteman bikeway a section of the Minuteman bikeway that's in the cultural district that for three years now we've been commissioning public art and developing it as as a vibrant part of the cultural district and a place since thousands of people go there an accessible place to experience art and also from the beginning we've been interested in engaging the community of Arlington in interacting with the artwork that's on the Minuteman and so two years ago Adriah Arch led an effort to create something called Ripple which was a knit bombing on 12 trees and we recruited we put the word out and we recruited a 57 member knitting brigade of awesome people who created beautiful panels to wrap around trees and this was an experiment for us to see what would happen if we put a call out to the public to say you know participate and and share the ownership of this public artwork it was so successful that I'd been sort of thinking about how to how to build on that project I met Michelle at a talk that she gave actually at the Harvard Science Library I'd seen her work before but in this talk she explained the way that she makes plarn which is this yarn made from plastic bags and how she crocheted it and I also get a sense of her character and which I just think Michelle is a lovely and welcoming and generous person and people will really enjoy interacting with her learning from her working with her so I thought well this is a really interesting opportunity to bring another artist to build on this idea of engaging the community and making a bigger piece than one person could make and then the environmental message struck me as something people in Arlington would really respond to I'm aware that kids at the Thompson School had organized to get plastic straws out of their classroom out of the lunchroom I think they even built on that work to get rid of all plastic from their lunchroom they're trying yes we've spoken to them yeah and and the adult front plastic bags have been banned from Arlington due to community activism so it just I know that stewardship of the environment is really important to folks here so for multiple reasons it seems like the perfect project yeah and and Michelle how about from your perspective how does an artist in residence position fit into your life is it something that you're oh this is great this is exactly what I'm you know hoping for or you know how does that work for an artist well this is a really wonderful opportunity as Cecily said that to make more than one person can make I am sort of limited by the amount that these little hands can crochet and so to have 57 people or you know maybe more maybe less contributing to that project I think it's gonna be amazing so so the knitting brigade is already on board is that we had one meeting already and there was 20 participants show up showed up and there's more to follow you know people keep expressing their interest and then we're reaching to other parts of the community so and how tell us a little bit about because Cecily's already mentioned how Arlington is right environment for a combination of art and environmental values on display activism etc how has that been part of your own work all the way through yes how have you combined the your whatever your concerns or values are on the environmental sphere with your art well I usually start with a sort of natural looking object and I'm using unorthodox materials to create those natural forms and some some of them can be like for example I'm crocheting with plastic bags so the brown plastic bags that you get from Shaw's or Home Depot have this really kind of natural looking color when you you know process them into a yarn they they can appear as a very natural looking you know object a hive or a nest or that kind of thing yeah we've seen some pictures of some of your work and it is to me it's pretty amazing and very cool again that we're taking as I mentioned to you guys off camera before we started that you know you got this material that is inherently toxic and bad and industrial and origin and mostly in use etc and then you're transforming that not just into objects of beauty but again objects that evoke kind of you know biological forms and processes and so I I particularly think that that is an inspired kind of combination and that people obviously are going to enjoy if people in Arlington who do get involved with the project are going to enjoy being able to contribute to something that ends up you know having presenting plastic in that form you know almost I assume it's almost unidentifiable right it's really transformed by the time it you know gets to the final of the object the final form yeah it's a it's a it's an interesting question how do artists contribute to activism how are artists different from say someone who works in an advertising firm and decides to donate their expertise to an activist cause and comes up with like you know really clever but really clear slogans for an ad campaign to protect the environment artists are not going to be didactic in their work and they're not going to give one message and Michelle actually has a quote that she uses when she does her presentations that's a really beautifully articulates the fact that art can hold contradiction so here are these pieces that she's creating as you say out of this kind of poisonous invidious material that's crept into every aspect of our life that we want to ban and prevent and and yet she's she's enhancing our environment with it she's creating things that we desire what does that mean and so it just prompts you to think about it prompts you to think about plastic it's place in our world what can we do to resist our own desires you know say the next time you want to buy that bottle of water because it's convenient it's an object of desire maybe you're going to say no I want to explore a little bit more what you mentioned earlier Cecily about public art and how there's there are at least two probably many many more than that interpretations of what public art is I think many people would think oh public art is art that you see in public or that you put in a public place and people have an opportunity to experience it in that way but I noticed that you mentioned talking about it earlier and talking about this project there's a public the an aspect of public art here where the public is helping to produce the art itself and you're inviting them into this process so tell us about the timeline for we are just at the beginning in fact I know that there's a kickoff event to introduce you officially to the community happening I believe at the library is that right on at Robin's library on December 9th from 7 to 9 it's a Monday night and we hope people will come out we're planning a very engaging evening Michelle will give a slideshow where she talks about her work and see examples of installations that she's done in interior spaces and and also outside but we're also going to have a fifth grader named Judah Almond who writes his own music that's environmental activism he's a vegan we're going to have someone from the green team to talk about what they've been able to do on the youth front to to limit plastics and we'll have somebody from the Zero Waste Commission talking about their activities so we're going to show people how to make Plarn so it'll be a really engaging and interesting evening and I hope people will come and find out about the project great and that will again be on December 9th which was Monday night 7 to 9 at Robin's library but that also is the beginning again of the kind of official start I assume of your residency or at least it's an event to introduce you to the community as we said do you want to talk about the Fox right so they'll be the Fox on the library that so the Fox library has a knitting group that will be meeting to as like a month or weekly check-in in terms of the participants that are making things for the project will come in and have an opportunity to engage with other parts of the community we're also having a I'm going to that we have a collection box there for the bags there we're exhibiting some of my work on a bulletin board outside and then I'll be installing work on the inside of the library just to kind of raise awareness of the project and that and I wanted just to say the the libraries have been an amazing partner for us they've been really generous in opening their space to the project and we'll have storage space in the basement of the Fox we want people to donate their plastic bags especially from newspaper delivery so we'll have this collection box right in the lobby and as Michelle was saying she's actually doing a public art installation in the library to kind of prompt people to participate so they've been wonderful partners I have to say I've been noticing for years as I bring our plastic bar of trove of plastic bags coming mostly from newspapers over to stop and shop that that bin is constantly overflowing there so I imagine that they will be happy as well as everybody else to contribute you know our plastic bags to such a worthy cause yeah I am curious though about the the timeline you've mentioned now that there's a group that's come together at the Fox who are going or they're already you know have been knitting there and they'll be doing stuff on the on the project on a weekly basis we're going into winter but I guess people that doesn't matter right because people can just start to produce the materials as needed indoors you know in through through the cold in the snow no problem right exactly we're having a more or less monthly workshop somewhere in the community and then this weekly meetup at the Fox library and then other other aspects like we're right now we're we're working with the council on aging to have a workshop there in January we are working with the Arlington Center for the arts part of our plan there is potentially to work with their teen counselors teach them how to to do the crocheting and then enlist their help in doing a workshop for teens at the Robbins library in February we've been wanting to get up to the heights to Arlington Heights and do some programming there which is not officially part of the cultural district but we can certainly engage folks in contributing to the project that will be on the bike way so we met with the owners of the roasted granola and they are like over the over the moon happy to be participating so Michelle will also be doing an installation in their storefront which seems like it's a kind of informal community center for sure and we'll have a workshop and one follow-up kind of meetup activity there probably in March so we're hoping to do a project with the Odyssey school in the after-school art club and with the green team so we're still kind of working out the details of all of these things and I'll say this if there's a group out there that would like to learn how to do this project would like to participate contact me we might be able to set something up where you just got it one of the members of the knitting brigade just got in touch with a Boy Scout troop leader to talk with them about creating plarn and maybe learning to crochet so it's it's accessible although I found it initially challenging but I think pretty much anyone can learn to do it right obviously you just in in your description there Cecily I think you did a great job of kind of reflecting exactly what ACAC this umbrella arts and cultural organization in town is really all about which is reaching out to different elements in the community to connect them and in this case around this particular project but I think that that also well reflects the work that you guys do in general and you're describing everything from roasted granola to middle schoolers to octogenarians who you're going to be reaching out to art is such a powerful tool for building community bringing people to together to celebrate their values and what they you know what they love about the place that they live and meet people that they maybe don't ordinarily meet cross paths connect people it's really and it's it's this has been such a welcoming community could I mention a few supporters because the Mass Cultural Council gave us the initial grant to to get this whole thing started which they're an amazing resource for people who live in the state and we also raise money every year through something called cheerful where people buy appropriately enough chairs right chairs that have been transformed into artwork and the Friends of the Fox is contributing to the work that we're doing at the library so it takes a village will probably do some additional fundraising to it's an ambitious project for us it's the biggest project we've done today so what more question on the more personal scale out of curiosity is this for you is this the I imagine this is the main thing that you're going to be doing with your time over the next year but is it is the only thing or how does again how does a a year-long tenure as an artist in residence how does that fit into your life as an artist oh that's an interesting question it's well art you can it can really take over your life but I I will be spending you know many hours working on this project and doing giving workshops and teaching crochet but I also teach at Lesley University and a small ceramic studio in Framingham called Community Kiln and I have my own work I have an exhibit at Boston Sculptor's Gallery coming up in 2020 in the starts November 4th I think so I have to prepare for that as well so it's all about budgeting time right right so this does need to fit in with a lot of with a number of other obligations makes makes sense but I'm sure that you will be prioritizing this as well the ACAC over the course of the next year it's an interesting challenge I think for an artist like Michelle whose your pieces are usually sort of in this neighborhood of size to work in a public space because the whole scale is different and so I hope that this project will also support you know a kind of a new area for Michelle to explore so it will sort of support her private vision of what she wants to do with her art in a way that you know maybe teaching in a university doesn't necessarily do that and could lead to other ideas other projects it's absolutely true I think that I mentioned before I'm sort of limited by what or I have felt limited by what I can make and the idea that this is something that other people can help me to produce whether it be someone that I hire or volunteers in a community project it's a way of expanding my practice so it's exciting yeah actually what both of you just mentioned remind me that I wanted to ask you how much how clear is either your vision or your guy's collective vision about what this is all gonna look like and how much do you know is just going to be get started and things are going to happen and there's a kind of an organic nature to whatever the final product is yes I think that it you know it will be within the language of the work that I've already produced but exact locations are still you know being defined and the scale like to how how much does 20 people produce or 50 people you know I don't really know how much is going to turn up at the end so so yeah it's yet to be determined but I think it's gonna be fantastic we could call this piece evolution right right it is actually called pathways right well pathways is the name of the initiative to get artwork okay I wanted to make one other quick point which is another great supporter of this project is Charlotte Milan who's the city's recycling coordinator and who's the fantastic person and she will also be putting a plastic bag collection bin at DPW so that's another place really the community can support this project by donating donating plastic bags well it's hard to argue with a shout out to my wife so let me just yeah I mean you've you've mentioned you know you things have occurred to you to bring up as we've been talking I want to make sure before we close our conversation that we have not left anything out that you feel needs to be mentioned either of you and actually before that or hold that invitation in your minds and by all means respond to it but let me ask you this one question if folks want to get involved is this a commitment that they'll need to make over a peer over some period of time or is it something that they can kind of come into one of these meetings and make some kind of contribution and then I'll come back for a month what are you looking for in terms of you know either time or effort or energy or commitment from folks out in the public who do want to get involved I think we really are looking for as many people to participate as possible and we realize that not every person can you know make half a project half a giant sculpture so we're looking for people to donate bags or process the bags or sort the bags or if learn to crochet and any amount of participation is really welcome yeah I think one of the differences actually about this project from ripple with ripple people knew a specific panel size that they had to knit and buy a certain date and with a certain palette and then it was up to them what sort of design they did in this case people can sort of dip in and out there are kind of shapes component shapes that Michelle is going to distribute worksheet kind of pattern for and someone could make ten of them someone could make a hundred of them and then they'll be incorporated into a larger sculpture and then there may be some people so people can dip in and out according to their schedule and then there may be some people who are inspired to become more creatively involved and may work with Michelle and just you know assembling the things that they've made because this is not everyone is not just doesn't need to be an elf there may be some people who want to take things a step further and get a little get get a little more involved in the visioning but definitely Michelle is in the lead and that she'll be responsible for the creative vision we've been talking about potentially there being sort of three groupings that are almost like micro environments on the bikeway and that respond to the shapes of certain trees maybe or landscape elements so it will be site specific but use the fact that you walk the path that maybe you'll see oh up in the tree are a series of kind of nest shapes and over here is something wrapped around a different shaped tree and it will kind of unfold and you'll realize this is all part of one work mm-hmm and is there an endpoint I mean is there a point at which you're gonna say okay we are done never well we're talking about starting an installation physical installation in in July okay and and whenever you're done with the work that you're doing you will declare it and then victory that sounds great so I just did want to return to that question I threw at you guys a couple minutes ago which is anything we're missing anything else you want to remind our audience of obviously we do want to mention the kickoff one more time I'll let you do that hey so yes Monday December 9th we'll have a kickoff event it'll be festive interesting we have we'll have refreshments live music conversation about plastic activism and Michelle will be presenting a deeper talk about her work and that's a great you'll and we'll also be showing people how to make plans and our first workshop will be at the Fox library on January 4th and we'll be kind of publishing a schedule of workshops on artsarlington.org slash residency so we'll be updating that regularly plus you can follow the Commission's work on Facebook artsarlington on Facebook for news and updates and hopefully we'll come back here absolutely and or or have people come out in the field and document some of the workshops that would be great great anything that I think we covered it all right well thank you both for being here and this is great I mean obviously there are you as you have detailed there are virtually no barriers to entry for anybody who wants to get involved there's going to be something that almost anybody can do to contribute and I think at the end of this we're going to have again things of beauty all along the bike path to these different places and a sense that it has been a true community effort to make that happen so all to the good so thank you guys for doing that thank you so much and we here at ACMI will be very happy to be part of this in whatever way we can as well so good luck to you both thank you this is talk of the town you've been watching I'm James Milan on behalf of Cecily Miller and of Michelle Lugie I'm saying thank you for being here and we'll see you next time