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| Center on Public Awareness This triptych poster series addresses the Roosevelt Institution's challenges to increase access to higher education, make America work for working families, and reduce dependence on foreign and unsustainable energy. A hand printed silkscreen edition of these posters will be framed on display at the National Policy Expo 2007. Access to Higher Education Challenge Triptych Poster Series by Nick Bradley The Center on Public Awareness was selected to present it's Four Freedom Poster Series at Roosevelt's first annual Policy Expo in 2006. The posters were on exhibition at the Academy for Educational Development in Washington D.C. Here are some brief descriptions of the selected posters. “Light Bulb Poster”  by Justin Smith How should an artist, or designer, visually represent the Roosevelt Institution? After many initial ideas the light bulb connection to brightness shone as an apt visual metaphor for the intelligent energy of Roosevelt. Working with the idea of brightness I sought to represent the difference in opinions, beliefs, and thoughts inherent in political policy debate using different abstract patterns within each light bulb. Vertical contrasting lines and dot grids as well as random halftone images were used to create and define each light bulb (student mind) individually from the other light bulbs. Seen as a whole, the grouping of individual bulbs form a larger bulb shape representative of the collaboration among students and the combination of individual efforts to produce something larger and brighter than could be achieved individually. Differences in thoughts and opinions matter not when everyone works together to make the collective light even brighter. “Vintage Four Freedom Poster”  by Nick Bradley The fellows of the Roosevelt Institution at Otis have created this Four Freedom poster series to display around Los Angeles. Originally inspired by Franklin D. Roosevelt’s state of the union address to congress in 1941, the painting series was completed by Norman Rockwell in 1943. Distributed in the Saturday Evening Post, the four paintings representing everyday American freedoms, spoke to millions. In 1943 the US Office of War officially commissioned Rockwell’s paintings to be printed and posted all over the world in an effort to sell war bonds. The original four freedom poster series by Rockwell is arguably the most reproduced art in history. This vintage poster is an advertisement for worldwide freedom, originally created in 1941, and digitally enhanced by Nick Bradley in 2005. By researching politics, mass media, and art history the students are educating themselves on the importance of context, subject matter, and messages in art. These posters were created within the context of the first student-initiated class in Otis history under the organizational structure of the Roosevelt Institution, the nation’s first student think tank. For information on how to join the Roosevelt Institution at Otis please contact student affairs or visit our website at www.rooseveltinstitution.org/otis “Freedom of Speech”  by Nick Bradley The freedom of speech is a rarity in the world today. Even in many countries that claim free speech, evidence to the contrary is plentiful. When freedom of speech is in question, everyone listens, but relatively few actually speak their minds or make their opinions heard. In the contemporary, passive, apathetic culture of college—where everything seems like a dutiful task—we shall rise above the ordinary and make our voices heard. Free speech on the Internet is a growing issue as our culture endures an unprecedented era of privacy violations, online predators, and highly sensitive information. As a democracy we must debate what information we want available on the Internet and what information we must censor. If Americans choose to uphold free speech on the Internet will it be at a cost to our national security? “Freedom from Want”  by Kenny Harris In an attempt to use Robbie Conal's method as a model for my poster design I choose to use utilize humor and an easily distinguishable icon to illustrate my concept. I decided that a humorous way of showing money as being worthless would be my best bet, so I took my camera and headed for a public restroom. After shooting a few images of a rather disgusting toilet paper roll I photographed a twenty-dollar bill and imposed it onto the roll on the computer. The image was poignant and readable; the roll of cash ready to be used for wiping made a clear point, and the text, “Freedom from Want,” summed up the message while remaining apolitical. “Freedom from Fear”  by Thomas Velazquez In reviewing my work, I brought on the challenge of defining and acknowledging our Freedom from Fear. As my poster portrays, we currently do not have a sense of tangible fear but the cloud of fear that is held in our military force. I believe that I developed my poster in conjunction with the invisible cloud of fear that we all hold. It is unfortunate that people do not realize that our taxes help fund our military force in the United States and that its budget has reached an amount where as the imagery in my poster is not far from economically possible. Even though my poster indicates the potential act of violence on American soil, my motives are strictly peaceful. There is no denying the truth of the world around us, the use of military imagery of war and prospects of war are used for their symbolic representation of force. “Freedom from Fear” is shown for the purpose of further defining the real fear. In the end the poster shows that the use of force is not peaceful, but has to be acknowledged and defined for there to be a solution, and have freedom from fear. “Freedom of Worship”  by Justin Smith In my poster I want to communicate the seriousness of this freedom and possibly explore the consequences of it being ripped away from us, slowly but surely. Two images that immediately come to mind when I think of religion and free thought are Albrecht Durer’s famous drawing of praying hands and Auguste Rodin’s sculpture of thinking man. The first image recalls religious associations of piety, faith, prayer, hope, and delivery into salvation. The second image of Rodin’s thinking man represents intellect, analysis, contemplation, humility, curiosity, drive, and exploration. I hope that designing a poster emphasizing the importance of freedom to worship as one pleases, or not to worship at all, will concentrate attention on the civil liberty. In our current state of war many civil liberties have been repressed and some blatantly infringed. Illegal wiretapping by the National Security Agency and the suspension of Habeus Corpus for detainees of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility violate civil liberties explicitly protected in the constitution and the bill of rights. Public Awareness specialists from Otis have created a Roosevelt poster campaign for national exhibition. This grassroots poster campaign promoting Roosevelt's "Four Freedoms" serves the public as a reminder that citizens of democracy must stive to maintain freedom's various forms. Four Freedom Speech The Center on Public Awareness has also been selected to present three photographs from Nick Bradley's, "A Day Without Immigrants" photo essay at the Policy Expo. Bradley has selected these three images from a much larger selection of images, to be produced in large format for the Expo. Descriptions provided by the Los Angeles Times. The public awareness campaign is designed to illustrates and promote Roosevelt policy to local, national, and non-profit media outlets. Partnering with the on campus S.I.G.G.R.A.P.H. and off campus Americans for the Arts will help strengthen our message. In Context: Roosevelt's address on The Museum of Modern Art, as printed in the Herald Tribune on May 11, 1939 Group members: |
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