Our Stamps  

YEAR Our stamps

Artists: 161 folks from Orange Grove Centers

Partners: Orange Grove

Description: It’s about making a mark, saying it’s me and I’m here! In this case, we adopted a process adaptable to each participant we worked with. Orange Grove participants had a wide range of functionality, many with very limited cognitive and physical abilities. There were also those who were blind, deaf, mute, wheelchair bound or needing to work on the floor. MM facilitators learned how to appropriately scaffold the process and created an approach that was adaptable. We succeeded in working with, I believe, every single available person at their level, offering micro decision making moments and breaking down the physical process of making marks into tiny movements to accommodate each person. 

Facilitators worked with these amazing participants in workshops at 11 sites throughout Chattanooga to create shaped stamps on cloth which were then embedded in large painted fabrics resulting in stunning abstract collages. These had been destined to be part of an outdoor mural, but the location’s surface was found to be not be ideal for the material.

The Orange Grove folks were clearly empowered by being able to express themselves. They demonstrated great pride in their accomplishments expressed in the amount of hugging, cheering, fist bumping, high fives, and the presenting and posing for pictures.

Facilitators included Shea Brill, Bria Gober, Kate Forbes, Robin Howe, Judi Jasinski, Amanda Brazier, Randy Fairchild, xxx and Frances McDonald.

Workshops for Our Stamps were funded in part by the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga.