May Issue 2001
Revival Brings Its Design Camp Meeting to Rock Hill, SC, for the 4th Year
Picture if you can, a revival meeting of twenty nationally known craftspeople, designers, environmentalists, architects, engineers and recyclers - all talking trash. Now entering its fourth year, the Revival - Design Camp Meeting in Rock Hill, South Carolina focuses on strategies to reduce the waste stream; increase environmental consciousness; and work collaboratively using recycled and salvaged materials to create prototypes intended for the home furnishings and accessories market. The design camp will take place on the Winthrop University campus from May 22 - 27, 2001. Revival is one of the cutting edge approaches to economic development that has been nurtured by support from the South Carolina.
Arts Commission's (SCAC) Cultural Visions Council. Directed by representatives of more than 30 state government agencies and other statewide organizations, the council's primary focus is the training and funding of local communities interested in connecting their cultural resources to redefine, renovate and restore their towns. Begun with a planning grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1991, the Cultural Visions Council's success has won it funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and appropriations from South Carolina legislature. "I have become progressively more convinced of the power the arts have in building community, establishing identity and purpose, and motivating residents to develop a vision for change," says
Ben Boozer, founding director of the SC Downtown Development Association and former co-coordinator of the Cultural Visions Council. "The Arts led the charge in the revitalization of Rock Hill, SC, and it is fitting that the arts council there, once again, is taking a leadership role in the state-and the nation-through the ongoing collaborative presentation of Revival," says Ben Boozer. Design Camp is coordinated by the Rock Hill Arts Council in partnership with Winthrop University and the Cultural Visions Council. The arts council is considered a model in developing partnerships, most notably with the City of Rock Hill, which matched a NEA grant of $150,000 to renovate two old downtown buildings into the Center for the Arts. The Revival project is considered an excellent example of the council's innovative merging of arts, educational, economic and planning initiatives. Revival invites nationally recognized craft designers to develop home furnishing prototypes using primarily recycled materials in a collaborative studio environment. Co-creator of Revival,
Ellen Kochansky, a fiber artist and quilter,
explains its purpose, "The principle on which this workshop
was based is this: artists and designers do not have enough creative
time. My professional community is the craft world, a national
network with some common characteristics: generosity, practicality,
and a great deal to teach. From this group the invited artists
were chosen. We generally have experience in multiples, and most
of us have design and production businesses of our own with many
years' experience. We dream of a situation, especially in the
company of our peers, which would allow us to tackle an area that
relates to, but is different from our usual routine. Revival offered
this chance, and provided a bonus...the perfect opportunity to
mentor students while exploring the design process."
Workshop materials are obtained from in- and out-of-state manufacturers
and salvage yards. Chemists, product designers, engineers, government
recycling agencies and resource banks consult and work with the
designers to assess material viability. Among the first fruits
of this national demonstration project was an exhibition of prototypes
created the first year and refined in home studios. Mounted at
Winthrop University during the 1999 Design Camp, this collection
was soon expanded with over sixty new prototypes created during
the Revival. The exhibition was the first step toward building
a product list that could be marketed and sold from offices in
South Carolina. During the past year, Revival's sales entity,
Ripple-Effect, was chartered by the State of South Carolina as
a tax exempt organization and federal tax exemption status is
being pursued; an exhibition and sale of identified products was
held during the 2000 camp which produced over $7,000 in sales
orders; and a staff person was hired to liaison with designers
and help with the marketing of products. Ripple Effect has a newly
named board of advisors and is also in the process of creating
its own sales website. The venture capital invested by the SC
Arts Commission's Cultural Visions Council has spawned a fledgling
enterprise that has had a ripple effect throughout the state.
The South Carolina artists who participated in Design Camp developed
relationships with more experienced designers and are now working
collaboratively with many throughout the country. Revival has
created a successful model for wedding the skills and expertise
of the nonprofit and for-profit sectors, resulting in several
artists selling their prototypes, as multiples, to attending retail
consultants. Design Camp has also changed the perception of design
and its application to practical concerns by garnering articles
in Craft Report, Linens, Domestics and Bath, and was the subject
of a "State Spotlight" report published and distributed
by the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies. Revival was also
profiled in a half-hour program produced by South Carolina Educational
Television. These projects have been supported by grants from
the Cultural Visions Council of the SC Arts Commission, the American
Craft Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts. As an
ongoing project, the heart of Revival's success is an artistic
one best captured by Kochansky who says, "The cross-fertilization
of ideas and practical solutions to design problems happened most
effectively because we were focused on a common design effort:
a tightly defined project, with a time constraint. The issue of
sustainable design, using recycled materials, became central to
the growth we all experienced as a group, and set us each on new
paths of discovery."
For more information on Revival - Design Camp Meeting or Ripple-Effect, contact Jayne Darke, SC Arts Commission, at 803/734-8682 or e-mail at (darkejay@arts.state.sc.us) and Tiffany Turner, Information Coordinator, Rock Hill Arts Council at 803/328-2787 or e-mail at (rharts@cetlink.net).
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