The Alief Swarm for The Alief Community Center
The Alief Swarm will create an uplifting experience and provide a transition space to all residents entering The Alief Community Center. At first, viewers will see pieces on the wall that appear to be birds or butterflies, then as they walk into the atrium, the piece will expand upwards in the open space, creating a flying migration of what will then be revealed as 1000 CNC cut images of shoes shaped like butterflies, floating and flying above. Through its forms this indoor piece will be connected to the outside butterfly garden on the grounds of the community center.
Community Involvement and ownership is a large component of The Alief Swarm. The piece will be suspended from the ceiling space of the East Entrance and on the walls of the entry way. Comprised of over a thousand of what appear to be butterflies but upon closer inspection the viewer will see that they are made of shoes. I would like to ask Unified Hoods and Heads Up Houston to help me get the word out about my piece as well as through an online voting component, help me select the shoes that I will use to create the 1000 individual CNC cut printed dichroic plexiglass shoe-butterflies. The residents will see this piece upon entering the building, so their input and involvement is vital for the meaning of this piece that will give them a direct connection to the community center space. To this day, whenever I pass by Donovan Park in the Heights, I look for the three tiles my 2 daughters and I made on the entry wall. A piece of our family will always be there at the park through the artwork that we made twenty years ago. I want this feeling of ownership for the residents of Alief with The Alief Swarm, where the shoebutterflies represent all of the residents of Alief.
Why call it The Alief Swarm? A swarm is the word for a large group of bees going on the attack or emigrating to start a colony in a different location. Like bees, any group of people can be considered a swarm emigrating and working together, fiercely toward a goal. The seed that Dr. Paul Quillian planted for a youth center in Alief 60 years ago, is now growing into this spectacular community center which will combine Parks and Recreation, the Library and Health and Human Services, all in one place. The many services that the community center will offer abound and within this unified swarm mentality, successful and positive outcomes will be the result that The Alief Community Center will strive to create for the Alief residents.
The Alief residents voted and these are the shoes they selected
First Place – Converse Chuck Taylors
Second Place – Nike Air Jordans
Third Place – Workboot
Fourth Place – Vans
Fifth Place – High Heels
May 2022
