India Inspired Art+ Trash Installation

Felicia Follum Trash Installation Art

Felicia Follum Trash Installation Art

This installation piece was inspired by my comparison of American methods of dealing with trash and other countries. America tends to hide our trash even though we have way more trash than most countries. I compared this with the crazy amount of trash in the streets in India and other countries I have visited. In addition to the visible differences trash is often upcycled and reused in various ways. The reuse of trash and recycling leads to various jobs as well.

Check out the video below and be sure to subscribe to see my artists statement when I publish that post. Also subscribe to my YouTube channel to see lots of Art videos.
 

Felicia Follum Trash Installation Art

Felicia Follum Trash Installation Art

Felicia Follum Trash Installation Art

The Locust Effect and The Problem of Poverty

The main topic in “The Locust Effect” breaks my heart. It is basically the argument that I made for my final project in my Ethical Philosophy of Global Justice class.

Violence and crime affect the poor. Trafficking, rape, and other forms of violence are problem of an unequal distribution of resources.

Though this book is specific to the developing world, it was seeing this poverty in my backyard as a kid that helped me to really see the problem of poverty for what it is.

#26Acts of Random Kindness

26 Acts of Random Kindness

When tragic events occur it is natural to want to help while simultaneously not knowing how. These 26 acts of kindness may not directly help the victims but they are certainly ways for you to make a difference in your own community. Below is a possible random act of kindness for each of the 26 people in the Newtown shooting.

Adopt a Family project

You can read more about the origins of the #26Acts and #26RandomActsofKindness movements on NPR.org.

1. Pay for the person behind you in the drive through or at a toll booth

2. Take a neighbor out to a move

3. Make supper for an elderly or sick neighbor

4. Adopt a family for the holidays

5. Give someone a hug

Poverty and Crime

I created this handbill design in response to the controversy surrounding a "law criminalizing the homeless" which was passed in Denver this past May. 

I have always enjoyed being around homeless people, helping them, and learning from them.  Experiences while living in Rapid City included volunteering monthly at the Mission, reading the Bible with a couple people when I worked at a downtown Bible and Book store, and volunteering for Food not Bombs.  These experiences in addition to spending time with various homeless people in downtown Denver have given me a unique perspective and understanding of individual's situations.

Many of the stories I have heard help one to see the humanity in those living in poverty.  Once you start to hear and understand why someone is living on the streets, it becomes easier to empathize with them.  Many homeless are war veterans struggling with addiction and mental disorders, or women and children who escaped abusive situations. 

TO lean more about the law check out the following links

Troubling Increase in Criminalization Laws Continues

Homeless Camping Ban: Denver City Council Passes City-Wide 'Urban Camping' Ban

Upcycling Inspiration for Earth Day!

For Earth Day I thought it would be appropriate to share some of my Upcycling projects, my Upcycling Pinterest Board and my  World Water Poster.

Circuit board inspired Art
More Circuit Board Inspired Art
Circuit Board Gift Created from an actual circuit board
Upcycled Shopping Bag
Upcycled Men's Shirt into a Shopping Bag Part 2
Paper Beads in Haiti

T-Shirt Necklaces
Dead Roses

Paper bead art lesson in Haiti

Some of the 150+ projects that can be found on my my Upcycling Pinterest Board include rubber band cards, Gumball Machine Fish Tank, Newspaper Art, CD Jewelry, toilet paper tube and plastic bag projects, Lego necklace, QWERTY key art, old window projects and many many more fashion, decorating and art ideas.


I am sure that these ideas will provide you with just the project inspiration you are searching for this Earth Day!

What are your favorite upcycling projects?

Education in Response to Haiti

Did you know that less than 1% of what the world spends on weapons in a year was needed to put every child in school for the same amount of time, but it did not happen?

The above poster uses this quote and a photo of school children in Haiti.  The community I was in seemed to have a decent number of kids in school; however, most of the kids were still just running around.  All of the children I gave art lessons to were not in school this was about 40 each day.

For each 11x17 poster sold ($25) I will donate enough to Thomazeau, Haiti to sponsor one child in school for a year.  Please do let me know if you are interested.  If you would like more information about sponsoring a child or teacher for a year, please let me know. 

See more artwork inspired by my trip to Haiti.

The Good Mule: Artist Statement

This past weekend I was fortunate to be able to attend The Good Mule 2012 Conference as the Featured Visual Artist. I participated last year so was pretty excited about being invited to be the artist. See more of my thoughts from The Good Mule.

I am currently finishing up my last semester at the University of Wyoming and will be graduating in May. I will be graduating with a in Fine Arts and a second major in Humanities and Fine Arts (HUFA) as well as a minor in Graphic Design. My areas of emphasis for the HUFA degree are Philosophy, Religious Studies, African American and Diaspora Studies, and Art History. My dream job is to have an art studio where I can continue to create art and work with people through teaching, art therapy, and graphic design lessons.

The pieces that are on display come from a couple different bodies of work and addresses a variety of topics. These topics include LGBTQ issues, Christianity and the LGBTQ community, African American religious culture and history, Native American reservations, and poverty.

Make it Plain is my most recent body of work and focuses on African American Religious history and culture with the goal of helping people understand religious figures such as Malcolm X and James Cone. Make it Plain will be up in the 234 Gallery during the Shepard Symposium. If you would like to see the entire show, this would be an excellent opportunity.

My next body of work will be dealing with sex trafficking and modern day slavery. Be sure to check out my blog and Facebook page to track the progress of my upcoming work and learn more about individual pieces and the research that went into their creation. The URLs are on my business card.

I am certainly up for discussion about concepts, inspirations, the bodies of work these individual pieces come from, collaborations, sales, or art and activism in general.

To learn more about the Good Mule check out their website.

World Water and Haiti

I created this poster in response to my Haiti trip.  The community we were in was incredibly fortunate.  They had their own well (about 1000 people) so that they had drinking water within in a couple miles; however, the kids would pick up our water bottles and pretend to drink.  It was adorable, as you can see.

The idea of a Haitian child pretending to drink from a water bottle creates a sense of cognitive dissonance.  When we look at how many children die each year from bad water and realize that Haiti ranks last in the world for drinkable water.  60% of the population does not have safe drinking water and a child mortality rate of more than 13 times that of the United States (10% of that is attributed to water related skin ailments and dysentery which lead to dehydration).

 
World Water Day is March 22nd, 2012.  Learn more about the world water crisis at the UN site or water.org.

Water and golf courses

Haitian Abstract

Just thought I would share a photo that I took while in Haiti.
I like this image as a photo, but would love to push it a little further.

I am not sure exactly where I will go with this, but

I would like to draw the or paint something similar.

I really like the lines and shapes.

What would you like to see this turn into?