Crown Point Strong
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The Crown Point Strong project is a series of pieces of various meant to spread community pride throughout the city of Crown Point. My goal was to let people share their pride in the city that they live in, just as people show their pride in other things that they are passionate about. It's important to love where you live, and it is that shared love that brings the community together to achieve great things.
This poster was inspired by the stylistic posters of the mid-1930s to the 1940s and the popular South Shore Arts posters. This particular poster focuses on The Grand Old Lady Courthouse, which has become a symbol of Crown Point since this version of the courthouse was finished in 1880.
Spread Community Pride
These sticker decals follow the same idea as the poster but take the original design and make it portable, in which people can share their love for their community wherever they please. Whether it's on the laptop you take to school each day, on the back window of your car, or even on your own luggage, this decal is available.
I was inspired by the many stickers available at national and state parks, and the many more across the internet on websites like Redbubble. Compared to a large poster, small trinkets such as this are easy for people to acquire, as they are normally more reasonably priced and easier to bring with them, which made these stickers sell quite well with the people of Crown Point.
History Shapes us
It is no lie that we have a connection to history, and photography is but a way to connect to further connect to those who have walked the same streets and shared the same space as us in the past. Looking into a black and white photo the past sometimes feels so far away, like a distant memory lost to the sands of time, one that can never be reclaimed as the calotype photos fade away deep inside of an album hidden away.
With my interest sparked to learn more about Crown Point's storied history, I began digging through various albums of photos of their history at the local library and found this photo of either a Memorial Day or 4th of July celebration taken by an unknown photographer in circa 1884. I decided I wanted to restore the photo and recolor this tiny moment in history, re-connecting the town a little bit more with its past, hopefully sparking their own interest in their history.
Once finished, this piece was donated to the Lake County Historical Museum, located In the Grand Old Lady Courthouse in Crown Point, IN.
A Community United
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic swept over the world, changing our lives forever. Businesses shut down, lockdowns were heavily enforced, and the world seemingly went on pause. Despite this, spirits still were high in many communities across America, as they found ways to connect and support each other, despite having to stay in their homes.
This small social media campaign was during the spring of 2020 made to support and thank our hometown heroes during the course of the pandemic. It was made to show that despite the darkness in the world at the time, we were one community, strong and together. The post on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook encouraged viewers to share and interact, in order to spread it across the community. It was shared over 100 times by the people of Crown Point across its various platforms.