Upstream Animated

Meet the Artist, David Luke and Organizer, Upstream Arts

Interdisciplinary artist David Luke has collaborated with Upstream Arts (UA) to create a quartet of unique animated movies. Taking poems written by UA teaching artists and program participants with disabilities as base text, these works make visual the vibrant voices of program participants, expanding the creative process from the UA programs into a new realm of public engagement. The movies take advantage of photographic imagery, collage, vector graphics and drawings. These elements interact with the text of the poems using Flash (an animation application).

Upstream Arts provides arts programming for youth and adults with disabilities. In its classes, teams of teaching artists lead theatre, dance, visual arts and poetry activities designed to develop social and communication skills central to success in school, work, and life. In the course of a residency, participants collaboratively write a variety of poems. These poems capture the dynamics of each group, as well as the experiences of individuals within the programs. The poetry is then used as a springboard for exploration of other artistic disciplines.

The project will culminate in students from Wilder Complex joining Upstream Arts at their annual meeting.  The interaction of each of the poems will invite attendees of Upstream Arts’ annual meeting to choose, via an assistive technology switch, which poem they would like to view. Additionally, students from the Wilder Complex will be invited to attend and perform at the Upstream Arts annual meeting. The works will also be screened on the windows of Pillsbury House and Theater (located on the corner of Chicago Avenue and 35th Street in south Minneapolis) the nights of June 12th, 13th, and 14th, 2014.

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  • Upstream Animated sample

    Upstream Animated sample