~ Presents ~
THE ART
I first started thinking about what types of wood would have been used during that era. One of the reason the fire burned so hot, so fast, was the wood. Most building materials where salvaged and reused as much as possible. If a bank or a larger building where to come down, a house would be built using all the reclaimed materials. Likewise, if a house were to come down those materials were used to construct smaller buildings and in this case, the shanty towns of Chicago during the 1870’s. The wood I used was donated by Think Flux, a local design build company here in Milwaukee. We estimated the Hemlock timbers to be around 150yrs old, making a connection with the wood of the great fire. I then burned the edges of the inner wood piece to age it further and give it an authentic smell, look and feel, as if it had been reclaimed from the fire. The new school of architecture rose out of the burnt embers so I chose to create an elaborate welded steel frame inspired from the architecture of the era. I also wanted to hint at the future of the day which was the Chicago world’s fair, by installing a light fixture that contains an Edison bulb.
THE CAMPAIGN
I was booked as a RAW Natural Born Artist and was in the MOSAIC showcase. RAW events are multi-faceted artistic showcases. Each event features a film screening, musical performance, fashion show, art gallery, performance art and a featured hairstylist and makeup artist. I am honored to have been one of the hand-picked talent who were being featured at RAW MOSAIC. For the show I needed a way to draw attention to the event and break into a new market so I created a mini marketing campaign. I created a historically inspired word mark as well as flyers and social media banners to generate a buzz about what I was creating while keeping the branding for the MOSAIC show consistent.
This is a part of my #VintageFuture body of work.
Available for purchase – http://mingadigm.bigcartel.com/product/minga-great-chicago-fire
