"We Have Hands, Let's Use Them!" Stephanie Dyson for You and the World

Hello all! This is my third, and final blog on SLATE about my YATW (You and the World) Project! (click on all the images to enlarge them)


A bit of background:

In Ms. Dunn’s 9th grade English class at SLA, we are called to find a topic that interests us and, throughout the year, gradually become agents of change. My topic was Art in Philadelphia and I wanted to highlight what we have to offer as an artistic city. You can find my first and second blogs on SLATE (the SLA blog).


Though my process was simple and straightforward, it is still in the works, and I think it highlights the vast importance of technology in this day and age.
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(above, Philadelphia's 30th Street Station)

In School

On April 28, I created a google form comprised of questions that everyone can answer about art and artists and the meaning of both. On April 30, I did about seven interviews of my peers. I tried to choose students of all grades, but only a certain number of people showed up for their interview. Nevertheless, this amount of people was perfect for my work. The questions were short, sweet, and simple. However, a few of my peers were avid interviewees and gave me lengthy, thoughtful answers. The questions were:

1. What is Philadelphia known for?

2. What is art? Does it have to be seen?

3. Who are artists?

4. Should artists band together to make this city beautiful



Below is a video of the interviews with a bit of commentary, please watch!


As young artists in the city of Philadelphia, we see art around us all of the time. Everywhere we go, art is intentionally or unintentionally on display. Not everything is beautiful and not everything is aesthetically pleasing, but art is still very alive in our city. For children that go to public schools, this ‘call to arms’ is louder than ever with the proposed budget cuts ahead. Over these past couple weeks, I have never been so passionate with my education as I am now. On May 7, I participated in my very first protest- one against these terrifying budget cuts, walking out of my school building with a massive crowd of fellow students and down to 440 N. Broad Street to protest with sincerity on the steps outside of the Philadelphia School District Headquarters. (Full story) . In a few weeks, my dreams of starting a beautification club will come to light. I’ve spoken to our principal, Chris Lehmann about painting the school and we’ll be doing just that in a week or so with a project titled "We Have Hands, Let's Use Them!" This is the first installment of many projects and mural-esque paintings we'll be doing that focuses on the budget cuts and why education is so important to us. Much thanks to all who’ve volunteered and helped me with this portion of my project!



Outside School


When it comes to art, my main medium is photography. When I leave high school, I’m going to college for photography- I want to make it my life. My friends and family are such big supporters of mine and a very close friend of the family has given me the job of Event Photographer for her dance company’s recital. I’m extremely excited that on June 9th, I’ll have my first big photogig of the year ( Dance Journey’s 2012 performance photos )

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​(above, the young ladies of Dance Journey dancing bollywood style during last year's Open House)

Not only am I photographing for events, I’ve started a tumblr blog just for my photography called “Aestheticia” pronounced as-the-tish-uh, not so much as a psuedonym, but as an idea. I want to turn Aestheticia into a movement. I want to be a stle of photography that truly encourages photographers to beautify real-time, and to make life aesthetically pleasing. Throughout March and April, I went on many photography expeditions with my friends and by myself. There were times when we found ourselves in neighborhoods we weren’t even sure of, and times where we felt right at home. This You and the World project has helped me branch out; In the first week of my blog (April 27th was the starting date), I gained 35 followers. My pictures have circulated the interwebs and I now have upwards of 300 followers (the screenshot below was taken on May 10th) and have sold four prints of my photography to three friends and a photography enthusiast in Virginia! I also went to two arts-type festivals (Mt. Airy Day, PIFA- Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts) and plan to go many more over the summer starting with ArtScape (The nations largest free arts festival!) in Baltimore during July and ending with the Brave New Voices Festival in Chicago in the beginning of August.


(below is a photo of a piece during 2012's ArtScape when I went with a friend for the very first time)
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​(above: 1. a best friend of mine on a photography expedition with me in March; 2. my blog's home page; 3. 296 followers by May 10th! I'm ecstatic!)

I find this to be a tremendous achievement as many of the pictures that circulate on tumblr are all of places like New York and Paris and Italy, unbeknownst to the rest of the world that very few of the people reblogging these pictures have ever been these places and that Philadelphia is beautiful. I want to help get our city to the point where it’s not “New York’s Unsuccessful Little Brother” anymore. This is our city; it’s big, it’s vast, it’s beautiful, it’s hidden. We need to get ourselves out there- I want to do that with my photography.

On this blog, I will also create a page specifically for our beautification club titled “The Aestheticians.” When our very first project is done, I’ll post on all of my social networking sites about it. Pictures and footage will most definitely be on aestheticia.tumblr.com


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I want to thank everyone who’s kept up with my project these past months! It is crucial that we get the word out there about artists and the beauty in our city! Please visit http://www.aestheticia.tumblr.com for my photography and please, please, please do ALL that you can to be informed about the School District’s 2013-14 Fiscal Year and the budget cuts we are likely to undergo. More information can be found at:

http://thenotebook.org/sites/default/files/Lump%20sum%20resolution%20FY13-14%20%28FINAL%29.pdf

*All of the photography in this blog post is mine, please do not steal any images. Thanks!

"WE HAVE HANDS, LET'S USE THEM! "

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