The Urban Forest Project took place May 2008 in Ann Arbor, MI. I was one of 30 designers selected to submit a design for a banner. We were to use the tree as metaphor to raise awareness about sustainability issues in urban areas.

Since I was getting married that May, my banner was inspired by my family tree and the sustainability of a family name.

Once the installation was taken down, the banners were converted into messenger bags and auctioned off to raise money for the Ann Arbor Ecology Center.

This piece is part of the Elevate Design project. To learn more about the project, visit eleveatedesign.org or click on the picture above.

These posters were created by method of chance. I randomly took pictures by pointing the camera without looking through the viewfinder at places that were open 24/7. I then selected the 7th photo from each location and sent it to a musician.

I told each participant that they had to write a 24 second song based on the photograph. They had only one hour to write the song and the time started when they looked at the photo. After I heard each song, I created sheet music for each song, inspired by John Cage.

Each poster incorporates a line drawing from the original photograph, email conversations between me and the musicians, and the new sheet music that describes how the music sounds. I guess the next step would be to have someone new try to play the song from the sheet music.

Photo by Alicia Gbur