Text for school group proposal:

D.I.T. Do It Together projects

Do It Together, or DIT is a student arts group that focuses on creative acts as a group activity, rather than focusing on the objects created thereafter. The intention of this group is to bring people together in interesting ways to make and create things. The physical objects that materialize from our events and meetings will be positively funneled back into the community. DIT would also function to increase awareness of the many resources available at Lewis and Clark and share the knowledge and use of these resources with as many students as possible.

Activities would in include: regular Craft Nights, student-run seminars about creative endeavors (like how to make a poster, how to embroider, how to think about performance in everyday life), group art shows that focus on community participation, performances, baked art sales, zine-making workshops and much more.

DIT is also to intended to function as somewhat of a satellite group, focusing on and collaborating with other student groups at Lewis and Clark. An example of such collaboration would be holding a poster-making seminar with DIT in conjunction with KLC in order to teach interested students good ways to design posters while at the same time helping KLC publicize an event. By participating, the students would have a chance to be part of DIT and KLC as well as show their work around the school.

In addition our intention would be to operate on as low a budget as possible, focusing on available, sustainable and cheap resources. For example, DIT would reuse available material or use materials found at thrift stores. An example of such a project would be to hold a series of open seminars that focus on “appropriation," “collaboration," “reuse,” and “thrift." The group of interested students would take a field trip to the Goodwill Bins in Sellwood and work together to find as much salvageable material for the lowest available cost. We would then work together in altering our found treasures in different ways to create works of art. We would work to engage the rest of the community in joining us to alter the found material and as a conclusion we would have a show displaying these objects somewhere on school campus. The intention would be to sell the works of art at affordable prices in order to fund the next DIT project. The group would then be moving toward having a number of self-sustaining collaborative art series that in turn would fund successive projects. Students who participated would learn skills about salvaged materials, including what is safe and what is not, a method of encouraging people to participate, how to hang a gallery show, as well as the process of selling work.

Another project idea would be to have a Baked Art Sale. This would include having a seminar discussing different ways to decorate cakes or making edible works of art. The food would then be photographed and sold to the highest hungry bidder on campus. The photos could be later displayed as a show, while the food could be deliciously consumed. Students would learn how to bake delicious treats, different methods and opinions on edible art, and about alternative art shows, namely outside of the gallery.

Most importantly, students would learn to work together sharing skills and knowledge to learn from and teach one another. The collaborative process is a rewarding one and DIT aims to help create settings in which this process can unfold successfully for the students involved while at the same time having positive, far-reaching effects on the whole campus population of Lewis and Clark.

This group will also operate with the intention of working outside of but with the art department, and every other department, focusing on being an inclusive as possible to the entire community in hopes to demonstrate that everyone is an artist, and creativity is cool.