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Sample One: Humanities/Theology/Related Projects
(no cover sheet or biographical sketch included in the sample)
II. Art Opposing Trafficking: Raising Awareness with Contemporary Art Installations
Contemporary art installations communicate by visually filling and transforming a space. This project
involves creating a large, room-size installation in the Duke Art Gallery, on the APU West Campus. The
pieces planned are multiple columns extending up from the floor toward the ceiling, like stalagmites,
filling the Gallery (see Appendix 2).
Each column addresses an aspect of the destruction of women and children through sex trafficking. The
objects used in the installation are common to childhood and to the lives of women—dolls, toys, games,
yarn, netting, fabric, and silk flowers (see Appendix 1). The techniques used are familiar to women—
rolling balls of yarn, making pom-poms, knitting, crocheting, and decorating.
The balance this project strives to achieve is to create and present work that reveals the destructive
machinery of trafficking, without being destructive itself. This project is planned to reveal, to heal, to
cause people to care, to pray, to act, but it is also planned to do so in a manner that is appropriate for the
Christian university setting.
The APU Art Department has offered to host a one-person art show of this project in January 2011. It has
also generously offered to publish a printed catalog of the work, with essays about both the artwork and
the trafficking of women and children (exhibit catalogs are the premier method of documentation and
dissemination for the visual artist).
Dissemination of this project includes installing the work during the first week of August, photographing
the show for the catalog, disassembling and storing the show, re-installing and showing the work in
January, and distributing the catalog to other universities. This project has the potential to be installed on
other university campuses, to raise awareness among students about human trafficking.
III. Purpose.
The post-modern art world developed a peculiar requirement for artists who want to address personal
issues in their artwork. Artists are generally not accepted and respected unless their work is based on their
own personal experience, or collective cultural experience. For example, Kara Walker, who addresses the
mistreatment and rape of female slaves in the Antebellum South, is accepted and respected for that work
because she is African American. She is able to address issues of slavery because it is part of her
collective cultural experience.
The result of this post-modern bias (or post-post-modern bias), is that certain issues are rarely addressed
in contemporary art. The trafficking of women and children is one of these issues. This places my life and
my work in a peculiar place. The United States definition of trafficking of a child includes any child who
has been prostituted or used in pornography. Since that was a significant part of my childhood, it has
naturally become a part of my artistic expression. Recently, my artistic expression has evolved from
personal trauma and healing to the global issues of trafficking. According to the art world, I am qualified
to make this work because I have lived the issues I address.
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I am also in an unusual position because I have been trained as a professional artist. While I have used art
as an agent for healing, I have not created art solely as part of art therapy, but rather as part of a
professional, artistic practice. Anyone can use art as an agent for healing, but only a professionally trained
artist can make art that functions at a professional level at the same time. My personal experience,
combined with my training, enable me to address issues of sex trafficking through contemporary art
installations.
The purpose of this project, then, is to create and present a professionally designed art installation that
utilizes the insights that I have, that can only come from a survivor of trafficking. This installation work is
my work to raise awareness and call students to become involved in combat trafficking.
IV. Background and Significance of the Project.
There are only a small handful of books and articles that have been published on the trafficking of human
beings today. The earliest books were published in the late 1990’s. However, the majority of books
available today have been only been published in the past 5 years. I have read extensively about
trafficking in Asia, both today and in the past (WWII Comfort Women trafficked for the Japanese
soldiers). I also spent considerable time during my sabbatical reading about the manner in which women
and children are trafficked today, what organizations are combating trafficking, and how each specific
organization targets traffickers.
At this time, after more than 2 years of research, I am not aware of another artist who has a background in
both trafficking and contemporary art installation. There is currently a traveling exhibit, Journey, created
through the collaboration of a few artists who are already famous in Britain (two actresses, a graffiti artist,
costume designer, playwright, and photographer). This is the one exception to the art world and people
who make artwork about issues. Famous artists may make art about any cause they decide to adopt.
The installation is a result of their research into brothels in Britain. The installation is made in seven
shipping containers. One container re-creates a room in a brothel. This work has had substantial press and
has traveled to New York. The installation has significance as professional art, but not as work by a
survivor.
There is a series of quilts being made, using squares created by survivors. This survivor’s quilt project
accepts squares in any medium or expression. Most of the squares are made as part of art therapy. The
project has significance as emotional expression, but not professional art.
There are a growing number of movies and documentaries addressing trafficking. Photographers are
documenting the problem. Poets are writing about what trafficking. And art is being sold to raise money
for organizations fighting trafficking. Art students are making art in response to the pain they read about.
And all of these expressions are important in raising awareness, but they are made with second-hand
knowledge.
The United Nations named the first painter to be awarded as their Goodwill Ambassador to Combat
Human Trafficking. Ross Bleckner, a well-known abstract artist based in New York, traveled to Uganda
to work with children who had been trafficked as soldiers and prostitutes. He worked with the survivors
to make art, using art therapy techniques to bring healing. His work became part of the healing process for
these children. But while their paintings are being sold to raise money for further healing, they don’t
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function at the level of professional art. And while Ross Bleckner is a professional artist, his personal
work does not address issues of trafficking.
The difference between current art expressions about trafficking, and what I am doing, is that the art I
make functions at a professional level in the art world. And the insights I use are first-hand, from being
trafficked as a child.
V. Description of the Scholarly Project.
Human trafficking has grown into a world-wide phenomenon that provides the third highest income for
organized crime, behind the sale of drugs and of arms. This is, in large part, due to the re-sale factor of
human trafficking. Drugs and arms can only be sold once. Women and children can be sold hundreds and
thousands of times. This installation will address the devastation of this type of abuse.
General preparation for a large installation project begins years prior to the project, with the gathering of
objects (dolls, toys, games, yarn, netting, fabric, silk flowers, etc.). The objects I will be using for this
installation have been gathered over a period of 4 years. Specific preparation begins months prior to
installation, and follows predictable steps: ruminations, pre-preparation, planning, preparation, compiling,
installing, photographing, striking (taking down a show), storing, advertising.
During my fall 2008 sabbatical, I was able to create six, small art installations about the trafficking of
women and children for sexual exploitation. Continuing to utilize the work from my sabbatical, I created
another seven installations by the end of July 2009 (see Appendix 1). These small installation art pieces
were circles on the floor, or lines hung on the wall. All of these installations will be incorporated into the
larger whole of the proposed installation.
Therefore, many of the bases of the “stalagmite” forms have already been created, as well as some of the
hanging pieces. The work that remains is to create the stalagmite structures, a few pieces that will be
entirely new, and the integration of all of the parts into the whole.
The process of making these smaller installations enabled me to develop a visual language that describes
the destruction of being trafficked. For example, some of the dolls I use have no eyes, due to the empty
soul of women and children who are trafficked. In one installation, the eyes are replaced with small, red
balls of yarn, as an indication of pain. I also started to use a wax seal impressed with the letter “H.” This
represents the fact that once a child has been chosen by God, nothing that is done subsequently can
remove the seal of the Holy Spirit.
The stalagmite structures in this installation rise up from the floor, as our prayers for trafficking victims
rise to God. Over the past two decades, there have been specific scriptures that have been immensely
healing. During the fall semester, I will create a brochure that coordinates these scriptures with the
significance of each column. The January 2011 show will coincide with National Trafficking Awareness
Month. People attending the evening opening will be invited to participate in a prayer vigil. People will be
able to walk among the columns, look inside them, and use the images and scriptures to pray for the
victims of trafficking.
Due to the need to document the show for the catalog, the entire show will have to be finished, installed,
photographed, and taken down for storage by the end of the first week of August. The art intern(s) will
assist in this August installation.
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The following charts are my outline and timeline combined. They are the best way I found to show how I
process information and plan a large project.
MEET W/JIM D.
Bring sketch book
Gallery dimensions
Space outside gallery
Hanging apparatus by August
Format for catalog
Paint wall(s)?
Exact dates to install in August
Opening day in January
Trafficking Awareness Week?
Trafficking Awareness Day?
HAND WORK
Finger weaving matched yarn
Double strand?
Yarn strength?
Wrap hula hoops with matched yarn
ATTIC
Bird cages
Yarn to match canopies
Doll/film reel pull toys box
EBAY
Rust canopy
Burgundy canopy
Mini dolls
Stuffed birds
Bird branches
PREP HOUSE
Pack away Dec. art
Sewing set up
Sort supplies
Rest of office to living room
Hook in dining room ceiling
Large work spaces
TAX RETURN
Print Amazon, eBay
Calculate expenses
Collect tax forms
Buy cake for Mom
½ return save/repair car
½ return for show
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GALLERY MODEL
Drawings of all pieces
Lists of needed parts
Widths at base
Placement in gallery
Red river decision
Email Linda Lewis
August photography date
HAND WORK
Stuffed birds
Hanging objects
Learn to use knitting machine
Holes punched “Milagros” feet
RESEARCH
Cost of child in various countries?
Ask Sue Clark re: Thailand
Contact Not for Sale
Prices used for red boxes?
Lunch boxes?
THRIFTING
Plan one outing/week
Azusa? San Bernardino? Gina’s?
Hanging objects
Matching fabric for bases
MICHAEL’S
Small bunches bridal flowers
HERRCHNER’S
70 skeins Red Heart Collage
Crimson Maple
20 skeins Paton Divine Yarn
Regal Red
STAPLES
Paper for scriptures brochure
Metal-edged bulletin board
Labels and envelopes
Paper for cover letter
Black ink
BASES
8 from 2008-9 + 3 more
Doll/film reel pull toys?
Red Boxes?
Bird cages?
HANGING OBJECTS
4 from 2008-9 + 7 more?
Hands, feet, yarn
Pom-poms?
PLACEMENT IN GALLERY
Movement around pieces
Disability mobility
Facing which directions?
With or without red river?
INTERN(S)
Easy to talk to
Hard working
Molly? Skyler? Cara?
Room and board?
Supplement $8 wage?
SUPPORT AT BASE
Cardboard?
Hold weight of objects?
Moveable from the top?
See gallery floor through base?
Fully collapsible?
TRANSPORTATION
How many in my car?
Others in mom’s car?
Safe in open truck bed?
Scott’s truck?
Dad’s truck?
February/March
Ruminating
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PAIR UP PARTS TOGETHER
Art in base of columns
Hanging objects
Ring supports inside columns
HAND WORK
Body/film reel pull toys
Red Boxes, bows, interior lining
Assemble parts of each column
Collapse, place on cardboard, wrap
BROCHURE
Ask Marsha Fowler to proof choice of texts
Revise as needed
Print at APU?
Art Department covers print cost?
THRIFTING
Continue one outing/week
Azusa? San Bernardino?
Gina’s
BASES
Assembly line all bases
Cut cardboard to sizes of hula hoop bases
Adhere to hula hoops
Cover with fabric
Attach to netting
NETTING CANOPIES
Cut to size
Sewn to shape
Connected to base, rings, and hook
Attach matching finger-woven rope
Able to hang 20+ feet high ceiling/any gallery
May/June
Compiling Pieces
With Art Intern(s)
FACILITIES MANAGEMENT
Drawing of red river
Ask permission from whom?
Theatre office?
HAND WORK
Hanging objects
Finish wrapping hula hoops in matching yarn
Experiment with attaching base to columns
BROCHURE
Titles of each piece
Scriptures matched with each piece
Layout of brochure
THRIFTING
Continue one outing/week
Azusa? San Bernardino? Gina’s
Hanging objects
Matching fabric for bases
U-HAUL
Largest TV box, double strength walls
3 boxes? 12 bases to package
installations?
Large roll “saran” wrap
Price total cost to rent van
Borrow van?
U-LINE
Large roll bubble wrap
3’ wide? Large bubbles?
Check prices for “saran” wrap and boxes
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WORK WITH INTERN
Information from contact files
Comprehensive spreadsheet of all contact info
Gallery contact info for So Cal univ/colleges
CCCU gallery contact information
Mailings and printing labels on computer
CHARITY CAPILI, Graphic Designer
Catalog design and layout
Photographs
ASHLEY GEIGER, Graphic Designer
Artist Package, matching catalog design:
Logo (H is for Holy wax seal)
Business Cards (seal on back)
Letterhead
Labels
PROFESSIONAL PRINTING
Prayer brochures
Artist/Survivor business cards (best quality affordable, 2-sided)
Letterhead
Labels (print at home?)
ORGANIZATIONS FIGHTING TRAFFICKING
(send catalogs for contacts, not shows)
Carol Smolesnski, EPCAT USA
(also Diane Churchill)
DJ and Melissa at CRTEC
Melinda Ige, Zoe
Tamara Ross, Deputy DA, SB County
Susan Clark, World Team
Network to find university and gallery contacts
COMPOSING LETTERS
Compose general cover letter to professors
Compose general cover letter to gallery directors
Compose personal letter to Ambassador Luis CdeBaca
Send packet to Luis CdeBaca
Compose personal letter to Hillary Rodham Clinton
Send packet to Luis CdeBaca
PROFESSORS RESEARCHING TRAFFICKING
Jamie Gates, Point Loma (networking website)
Amy Stumpf, Cal Baptist
Amy Carpenter, School of Peace Studies, U of San Diego
Katherine Kaufka Walts, Human Rights of Children, Loyola U, Chicago
Sandie Morgan, Lydia Today, Vanguard University
Benjamin Perrin, U of British Columbia
E. Benjamin Skinner, Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School
Jonathan Todres, Georgia State U College of Law
Fall 2010
Disseminating
Outside APU
Marketing Intern
EMAIL GALLERY
Tallest gallery ladder
Shorter gallery ladder
Spot lights (22 minimum)
Replacement Bulbs
INSTALLING IN GALLERY
Place work on floor
Random distribution (not lined up)
Color seen from doors
Disability spacing (3’ clearance minimum)
Larger pieces scattered with smaller pieces
Openings facing walls? Doors?
Lighting—one spot light each base
Spot light in middle also?
MENTAL NOTE OF THINGS TO CHANGE
EASIEST WAY TO HANDLE/INSTALL ART
REPEAT ENTIRE PROCESS IN JANUARY 2011
MINUS PHOTOGRAPHY
PHOTOGRAPHING SHOW
Overall show images from both doorways
Overall show images from inside gallery
Overlapping of columns
Individual pieces shot against white wall?
Move photo lighting to each piece? (time is expensive)
Move pieces to stationary photo lighting position?
Need assistance moving pieces
Carry from the top?
Move as many pieces as possible to save money
Minimum 3 detail shots each piece
No gallery lighting during individual photos
TRANSPORTING ART
½ of installation in PT Cruiser?
Other ½ Mom’s Car? Intern’s Car?
Fragile pieces on top
Yarn/fabric/ plastic pieces on bottom
How high can pieces be stacked?
CARRYING ART
Art intern? Or hire Nick? Or Daniel?
Art from house to cars
Car to Gallery
Gallery to cars
Cars to house—store until January
August
Installing Show
With Art Intern(s)
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VI. Dissemination.
There is a grassroots movement to combat the trafficking of human beings that is just beginning to spread
throughout colleges and universities. The immediate need is to raise awareness, and to motivate students
to become involved in this area of need. Studies and field work indicate that the next 25 years will be
critical in the eradication of human slavery. The generations in our colleges and universities now, have a
very strong desire for social justice. They are thus most likely going to be the new abolitionists who will
focus on finding a solution to the injustice of human slavery.
The proposed show already has the first stages of dissemination built into it: a place and time to be
installed, and a catalog designed and published. Beyond the installation of the show, the dissemination
involves the help of a marketing intern. The marketing intern’s work begins after the art intern’s work
ends.
I have already begun the process of networking with professors on other campuses who are working to
combat trafficking. The intern will take the existing list of contacts, and expand on that list, researching
contact information such as email, website, and mailing addresses. The goal is to contact not only the
individual professors already involved, but also the gallery directors on those campuses. The catalog will
be sent to individual professors and gallery directors, along with a cover letter and show proposal.
Once the contact information is gathered, I will personally email the professors involved, and the intern
will mail the project information packet to both the professors and gallery directors. After the packets
have been mailed, both the intern and I will make follow-up contact to verify the possibility of taking this
project to those campuses.
VII. Brief statement regarding how the proposed study fits into the applicant’s long
range program of research and plans to apply for external funding.
It has taken many years to try to identify how to best use my knowledge and my artwork. I have worked
and waited for decades for America to acknowledge this hidden scourge against its children. Within the
past few years, it has developed terminology that allows these issues to be addressed (sex trafficking is
more palatable than child prostitution and pornography). Non-profit organizations, sociologists, social
workers, counselors, and international businesses are all acknowledging the problem (both within our
borders and internationally).
Legal systems are being set in place to adequately prosecute people involved in the trafficking of human
beings. Organizations are working to help foreign governments enforce their laws that are already in
place. The American government has publically recognized the need to become involved in combating
human trafficking. Systems are in the process of being created to assist trafficking survivors in the lengthy
recovery process.
Up until this point, I have funded all of the art I have made, including documentary photography and
assistance with installation. This is the first grant I have applied for in support of my work to fight the
trafficking of women and children. But this is the just beginning of projects that extend beyond the scope
of what I can personally fund from my salary. I have started to search for external funding sources. The
funding sources and scholarships I have found thus far are designated for survivors in developing
countries.
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It is possible that with the official acknowledgement of trafficking in the United States, that there might
be governmental support for large projects. Ambassador Luis CdeBaca, Senior Advisor to the Secretary of
State, Director, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons is the person I will contact
regarding this possibility. I have heard him speak, and he is both humble and approachable. Just to cover
all possible sources, I will also send a personal letter and catalog to Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has also
written about human trafficking as a priority on the current administration’s foreign policy agenda.
I’m pretty realistic about the fact that I probably won’t hear back from either of these officials. However,
since they have both been outspoken (in writing and in speeches) about the need to combat the trafficking
of human beings, I will see if they are open to the potential of using contemporary art installations to aid
their efforts.
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VIII. Budget: Application for an Art Internship Assistant Grant
Name: XXX Phone Number:
Department/School: Art Department / CLAS E-mail address: [email protected]
1. Student’s Name: not yet known
2. Student’s Major: Studio Art
3. X Full Time Student □ Part Time Student □ Graduate Student X Undergraduate
4. Intern/Research Assistant Estimated Total Working Hours: 300
5. Amount of Internship Money Requested: (Calculate by using the hourly wages for either
graduate or undergraduate students which can be found in the current student handbook)
Art Production Internship: 300 hours @ $8.00/hour = $2,400.00
6. Explain briefly but specifically what this intern/research assistant will do.
There are various stages of preparation for large installations. The art intern will assist in many
different stages, working independently for 150 hours, and working together with me for 150
hours.
The art intern’s independent work includes tasks such as processing and organizing dolls,
knitting 70 skeins of yarn with a knitting machine, and creating rope from 20 skeins of yarn with
a hand-held rope knitter.
The art intern’s work together with me includes tasks such as moving and organizing supplies,
assembling various parts of the installation, installing the work in August, assisting the
photographer, taking the work down, and storing the work for the January 2011 show.
7. How will this particular internship enhance the intern/research assistant’s university
education?
When I was first studying art, I completed three art internships (unpaid, for credit), with two
professors who were creating art installations. The experience I had in working with
professionals, transforming room-size spaces, has influenced my own art-making process. Even
when I was making individual sculptures, I was still aware of the potential of presenting them as
an installation.
Our art students rarely have the opportunity to work on projects of this scope and magnitude (the
APU art department does not require internships). Room-size installations are, by size alone,
often collaborative. This internship would afford our student(s) the same opportunity I had, to
experience collaboration in large-scale art installation.
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VIII. Budget: Application for a Marketing Internship Assistant Grant
Name: XXX Phone Number:
Department/School: Art Department / CLAS E-mail address:
1. Student’s Name: not yet known
2. Student’s Major: Marketing
3. X Full Time Student □ Part Time Student □ Graduate Student X Undergraduate
4. Intern/Research Assistant Estimated Total Working Hours: 75
5. Amount of Internship Money Requested:
Marketing Internship: 75 hours @ $8.00/hour = $600.00
6. Explain briefly but specifically what this intern/research assistant will do.
The Marketing intern will:
1. identify professors that are beginning to address issues of trafficking (I have already made
initial contact with a network of Christian universities/faculty/staff/students, so the intern
will have information to work with and expand from)
2. gather contact information (email, addresses, websites) on people involved
3. inform me of what is being done at each specific university, so I can personally contact
individuals identified
4. identify and contact the gallery director at each institution
5. prepare and mail packets (cover letter, catalog, and art show proposal) to professors and art
directors at universities identified
6. conduct follow up through emails and/or phone calls
7. How will this particular internship enhance the intern/research assistant’s university
education?
Marketing students do not often have exposure to the process involved in promoting artwork.
Many artists are gifted in art-making, but not art-promoting. This internship will prepare the
student for freelance jobs serving artists in this area of need.
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VIII. Itemized Budget
Name: XXX
Proposal Title: Art Opposing Trafficking
Projected Cost Hours Requested
Art Supplies
Each year, for the past 9 years, art scholarship has cost
about $5000.00. I fund this from my salary. I will cover
the basic cost of the objects needed for this project.
Installation Photography
Professional documentation of artwork (Linda Lewis
Photography) costs $125/hour. This project will
probably take a minimum of 4 hours to photograph. I
will fund this from my salary.
$ 5,000.00
$ 500.00
Art Production Intern(s), April – August
Contemporary art installations take an incredible amount
of time to prepare. My particular style of installation
requires the preparation of hundreds of pieces. The
scope of this project includes a minimum of 11 art
pieces, which require hundreds of hours to complete.
Fully funded, the art intern(s) would contribute hundreds
of hours, working both independently and with me, so
that I would be able to maximize this show and
publication opportunity.
The process of creating the installation in the proposed
space is also rigorous, and requires a minimum of two
people working together The production intern(s) paid
by this grant would assist in installing the entire show
during the first week of August, so that the installations
can be photographed for the catalog.
Marketing Intern, Fall
I have already begun the process of networking with
professors who are addressing issues of trafficking. The
marketing intern would identify and contact the art
gallery directors at each university/college where
trafficking is being addressed, to create partnerships
between professors, trafficking clubs, and art
departments.
$ 2,400.00
$ 600.00
300 hours
75 hours
Total of Scholarly Project $ 8,500.00
Total Funded by Applicant $ 5,500.00
Total of Scholarly Project Proposal Request $ 3,000.00 375 hours
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