Spotlight on Digital Media And Learning

2.25.11 | In this week’s webisode, StudentSpeak goes behind the scenes at the Mark Bradford Project, sponsored by Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art.

Bradford, who’s known for abstract work that explores race, class and gender, is collaborating with Chicago community members as part of a year-long audience participation residency designed to inspire collaboration and community engagement.

Working with students at Chicago’s Lindblom Math and Science Academy and the Chicago Public Library’s YOUmedia space, Bradford helped teens explore the theme of mapping. Bradford’s own work is very rooted in place and his experience growing up in South Central Los Angeles. He encouraged students to create art drawn from their own communities and daily experience as well.

“He’s so dope. Picking random stuff on your walk back and forth from work and making it into art is just crazy,” Raymond Abercrombie, 17, a YOUmedia student told Spotlight.

Student projects included creating digital videos and mixed media collages. 17-year-old Shaondell Black created “The Air I Breathe,” a video based on Mark Bradford’s video “PRACTICE.”

Students worked with Bradford at the YOUmedia space and online, using YOUmedia’s learning network, iRemix, to collaborate and exchange feedback with their peers and the artist. They also shared their work with mentors and MCA staff. 

“He basically showed me something about my work that I had never seen,” YOUmedia participant Edward Green,16, told Spotlight. “That really surprised me.”

“The students are really inspired by the work that Mark’s doing,” Mike Hawkins, lead mentor at YOUmedia, told Spotlight. “There’s something to be said, too, about the MCA opening its doors to our students and saying: ‘Your work matters.’”

The students plan to present their work at the MCA later this year.

You can read more about the Mark Bradford Project here.

StudentSpeak, a video series produced by Spotlight, goes behind the scenes to show how teens use digital media in their daily lives. View previous webisodes here.