reActivation

I just returned from my first trip back to Chicago since the pandemic to reignite community and plaster together. First stop is always downtown. This time I decided to bring my skateboard for doses of expedited travel so I could cover ground quick. 

Chicago is the birth place of where my first hand-casting workshops went big. Chicago BIG! It is also where the idea to bring police and youth together through the act of touch was born. In 2017, I met Regina Hightower, Chicago Police Sergeant. Our first event was at Pullman Elementary School in May 2017 where we invited officers in to hold hands and make plaster castings with the students. 

Within a 20 minute span of time, everyone in the room opened up. Those awkward moments of touching a strangers hand and dipping it in goo gave way to conversation, dialogue, and friendship. That event sparked a whole series of additional events at both the 005th District Police Department, Poe Classical School and Wendell Smith Elementary.

Fast forward to 2022. Regina retires from the Chicago Police Department and starts her own 501c non-profit dedicated to creative outreach through arts, PreOla Impressions. I am so honored to help her kick-start her own pop-up art workshops! 

Our mission this time was to cast the hands of her local community to kick-off her non-profit! The events were held at a local Starbucks with a perfect setting and atmosphere for mess making and art gathering! 66 hands were casted in two sessions. That means 66 lives were positively impacted through plaster! 

Special thanks to Mary Ferazza for the photos!