Big Picture - October 2020 - 22

BARBARA CHANDLER ALLEN
FOUNDER/PRESIDENT

P H O T O C R E D I T: J A S O N VA R N E Y

FRESH ARTISTS | PHILADELPHIA
freshartists.org

"Barbara had the vision to see enormous possibilities of harnessing
this new technology [large-format printing] to help re-imagine the
way we engage, inspire, and educate disadvantaged children, and the
tenacity and strategic thinking to seek the best advice and alliances
as a way to develop this vision into an innovative, entrepreneurial,
financially stable, and successful social business."

BIG PICTURE

October 2020

- TIM MARKLEY, PRESIDENT, MARKLEY ENTERPRISE

You were hired by the Philadelphia Superintendent
of Schools to decorate the 850,000 square-foot
Education Center with 350 pieces of artwork
created by K-12 students. Can you share why and
how you designed and implemented a new use for
large-format digital print technology and how this
project impacted your career?
In 2006, the new Superintendent of the School District of
Philadelphia stood next to me in the huge, empty, unfinished
atrium of the new 850,000 square-foot Education Center and
told me he "wanted to see children's art everywhere he
looked!" I asked what his budget was and he told me, "Zero,
but tell me what you need and I'll find the money." Daunted, I
asked my son, an industrial and environmental graphic
designer, to meet me there the next day, and I repeated the
challenge to him. Without looking at me, he scanned the
atrium and said one word - like in the movie, "The Graduate"
- digital. He explained digital sign-printing machines could
blow up children's art on a large scale, we could mount them
on lightweight rigid foamboard, and float them off the wall
with simple standoffs, without glazing or heavy frames. He
and I had worked together on a project filling the hallway of a

design-themed charter school with huge photos of high-design
products, and he knew this was the way to tackle this vast
building quickly and make a real statement showing off the
kids' spectacular artwork.
We approached a local printer whose six kids had gone
through Philly public schools, and he offered to do the printing
pro bono, "in between his retail work," as a gift to pay back the
school district that enabled all his kids to have successful
careers. We scanned K-12 children's art at a high resolution
and they started printing it in three different sizes, which we
quickly nicknamed, Mini Bear, Baby Bear, and Mama Bear! It
took us almost 18 months to survey, plan, and slowly install
the hundreds of amplified reproductions of kinetic kindergarten tempera abstracts, brilliant middle school watercolor
landscapes, and exceptional high school acrylic portraits of
Philadelphia's iconic architectural landmarks. As the artwork
went up, section by section throughout the building, over and
over visitors and employees would stop us to say, "This is
extraordinary! I want to buy a copy of this!" Our answer was
always, "Sorry, no. They're not for sale!"
Then the district's funding began to disappear. Their 256
art teachers were given only a small stipend of 83 cents per
child to buy a year's worth of art supplies for their classrooms.
Then that budget disappeared. We were sitting on a big idea:
start a nonprofit called Fresh Artists where children would
donate the use of their art to help other kids. Corporations
donated money to Fresh Artists to deliver art supplies to
schools in need and received a tax deduction. Fresh Artists
installed inexpensive, large-format digital reproductions in
corporate donor's offices as thank you gifts from the kids. It
was a win, win, win, win - everybody won!
When the nonprofit was founded, we started paying our
printer-friend to print our panels, but his international parent
corporation went out of business. By that time, SGIA [now
Printing United Alliance] had adopted Fresh Artists as a nonprofit
educational partner, and several pieces of printing, laminating,
and finishing equipment were donated to be a demonstration
printing workshop for teens. We realized we could print our
own panels, and the rest is history! Roger fell in love with all
aspects of printing and took SGIA classes in Fairfax, Virginia.
We were in the printing business! The more we learned, the
more we wanted to learn more! We loved every aspect of
printing, and sharing it with youngsters was just plain joyful!

http://www.freshartists.org

Big Picture - October 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Big Picture - October 2020