Placefulness

Graphic design has been referred to as a tool of inquiry — a method of thinking visually. Design can polish, beautify, hierarchize, eliminate, prioritize, propagandize, or disseminate. Using spatial inquiry as a primary mode of investigation, I argue that graphic design is also a process of attention and care. How can graphic design be a tool of expansion and inclusion? By encouraging spaces of attention and listening within the built environment and virtual worlds, we can think critically about power dynamics, interiority and exteriority, and subjectivity and objectivity. Within this phase of late capitalism, I focus on leftovers, scraps, and the historically unpictured to experiment with methods of interruption and connection. In Placefulness, I take on the role of the radical cartographer 1 in order to map landscapes of imagination and amplify under-projected narratives. Through examination and recombination of often invisible lines of inclusion and exclusion, I draw attention to historic and local multiplicities of experience in order to advocate for a more just future. By interrupting the dominant narrative signals of historic ‘place,’ Placefulness prioritizes an immediate sense of the lived and local

Engagement and Disengagement in Art Interventions with Memory Impairment

Introduction. Studies have shown art intervention to be an effective therapy for patients with memory impairments, leading to overall positive behaviors, increased quality of life and decreased caregiver burden. We conducted a preliminary study to evaluate and compare the effect of participation in weekly art appreciation and painting sessions on the behavior of memory impaired residents in an assisted living facility. Methods. Residents’ behaviors were observed during art appreciation and active painting sessions over a six-week period. Each session consisted of either viewing and discussing artwork or actively painting in the style of the artist discussed. Positive and negative behaviors were recorded and tallied throughout the sessions. Over the course of 12 sessions, the 7 observers made a total of 1957 observations of a variable patient population. The total number of both positive and negative behaviors was compared between activities, over time within sessions, as well as over the six weeks. Each session was percent normalized to the time interval with the highest occurrence of select behaviors. Results. Upward trends for positive and negative behaviors were noticed in ap- preciation and painting sessions respectively. The negative to positive engagements ratios for each painting session showed an increase in negative behaviors. Disengagement increased as the appreciation sessions progressed and decreased as painting sessions progressed. Overall, positive engagement increased in both appreciation and painting sessions. Conclusions. Despite several confounding variables encountered in this study, we demonstrated art appreciation and active painting to be a viable non- pharmacological therapeutic approach for individuals with memory impairments.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1258/thumbnail.jp

Hvad er på menuen i børnehaver med økologisk mad?

Der en god chance for, at en stor del af maden i dit barns børnehave er økologisk. Mange af landets daginstitutioner har omlagt deres indkøb til økologi, og mange har Det Økologiske Spisemærke i enten bronze (30-60 % økologi), sølv (60-90 % økologi) eller guld (90-100 % økologi) (Fødevarestyrelsen, 2014).En undersøgelse fra DTU Fødevareinstituttet sætter fokus på, hvad institutionerne serverer for børnehavebørnene, og om økologiprocenten har betydning for menuen. Menuplaner fra 28 institutioner tyder på, at børnene i langt overvejende grad får serveret sund mad. Der er dog store forskelle fra sted til sted på, hvad børnene får at spise. Brugen af økologiske råvarer spiller en vis om end mindre rolle for, hvad institutionerne serverer for børnehavebørnene