David's biography

director, Big Picture Alliance

I come from New Jersey. It's taken a long time to get to a place were I can own that fact as something that has formed my vision of the world and not as something that I look upon bitterly. I lived in Union. From the Garden State Parkway, you can see the World's Tallest Watersphere as you pass my home town. The World's Tallest Watersphere has become, for me, the primary symbol of that town; a sort of memorial to a place that I once distained but can now take pleasure in seeing as simply misguided and rediculous. I'm currently amused at the fact that spellcheck does not even recognize the word "watersphere" which leads me to believe that it's not even a real thing, thus making my point that much truer. People in Union do not talk of the Worlds Tallest Watersphere. Somehow a thing like this is overlooked. I find that kind of odd but enjoyable.
I studied fine art for many years, beginning as a painter and working through many mediums until I landed where I am today, primarily casting rubber sculptures and working with video. Now I see myself as a "Philadelphia artist" and i think that is a great thing. It's easy to be down about this city if you don't really give it a chance. What it lacks on the surface, it makes up in so many different ways that deserve to be recognized.
My last professional job, before working for the Big Picture Aliance, was as a product designer for a company that designs and manufactures Krazy Straws. I was the lead sculptor and designed many of the Krazy Straw drink containers that you can find in Walmart and dollar stores, i.e. the Sippy Snowman, the Sippy Skull, the Tropical Fish drink container, etc. I mention this mostly because it is a fun fact that tends to amuse people but also because the sheer absurdity of sculpting these things everyday has certainly taken it's toll on who I am today, much like the "World's Tallest Watersphere" has.
I'm excited and honored to be working on this Zoe Strauss documentary project. It is difficult to decide whether this project is much less absurd than designing Krazy Straw drinkware. I go back and forth on my opinion on that. "How does one make a documentary about foster kids making a documentary about Zoe Strauss?" This is the question that I ask myself every day. Fortunately, I think I have some answers to that and the process has been even more rewarding than i could have imagined.
When this project is over and my eating and sleeping routine becomes more normal again, I will resume my other, far less absurd project, an experimental Civil War film co-starring a rubber squid-like puppet.

Esther's biography

Producer, Big Picture Alliance - "Zoe Strauss: The Documentary"

Hillside, NJ was forever changed the day Adalberto and Norma Rosa gave birth to their Puerto Rican queen, "Esther" Rosa. Crazy and curious since birth, I bounced back and forth between two elementary schools, four high schools and four colleges before starting a career in media.

I've been privileged to spend the past 5 years with talented artists producing television programming for TLC and ABC Family on shows like "A Makeover Story", "Trading Spaces", and "Back on Campus".

This summer, though, will be better than anything I've done before. Why? Because, I will get the chance to produce a documentary about THE Zoe Strauss and eight of the silliest, most inspiring, curious and talented young Philadelphia artists-in-training I've ever met.

Who could ask for anything more?

Tom's biography

My name is Michael Thomas Vassallo. I was named after my father, so I was always called Tom to prevent confusion. Until I started college, very few people knew that Tom wasn't actually my first name; when I got to school, however, all of my records listed my name as Michael. This has caused people to call me many different names - Tom, Michael Tom, or even MTV.

I was born in Philadelphia on July 7th, 1986; I've lived in Philadelphia ever since. I grew up in Roxborough, but I attended middle school and high school at Masterman in Center City. During high school I participated in video programs at the Asian Arts Initiative and at the University of the Arts; from these experiences, I knew I wanted to study film at college, with the eventual goal of making my own movies.

Right now, I am about to enter my junior year at Penn; I am majoring in Cinema Studies with a minor in Fine Arts. I recently made a semi-permanent move to University City, where I live in an apartment with two roommates and a slightly insane Siamese cat. I spend most of my spare time watching movies, reading, going to see bands, or spending way too much money at the coffee shop around the corner from my apartment.

Joanna's biography

sometimes i shave my legs and sometimes i don't
sometimes i comb my hair and somtimes i won't
depend on how the wind blows i might even paint my toes
it really just depends on whatever feels good in my soul...

India.Arie 'Video'

I come from farmers and firemen. My dad, James McCarcum Lee, grew up on a farm in rural Tennessee with his parents and his brother Willie. He used to ride a mule to school. My mom, Joan Louise Baldassano Lee, grew up in Staten Island, NY with her parents, five siblings, and her Sicilian grandparents. Her dad was a fireman. Their 'Guess who's coming to dinner' tale began when they got locked in a hospital bathroom together with an old man 36 years ago, and along the way they've had four children: Suzanne, Joanna, Jimmy and Lizzie. My tale began on St. Patrick's day in 1975.

I grew up in Northern NJ, went to college in RI and spent three years teaching and doing non-profit work in Pittsburgh before moving to Philly in 2000. Though I still don't know exactly what I want to be when I grow up, I'm pretty sure that it will have something to do with young people. I'm hoping that my PhD in developmental psychology, which may or may not be completed by 2008, will help in that regard.

In 2002 I was working at Community College of Philadelphia overseeing programs for high school students when my boss told me about this new center being opened for older youth in foster care. I've seen the AIC grow from serving 5-6 youth per week to serving hundreds, and I've met too many wonderful young people along the way to count. Though I officially left my position as the CCP/Technology project coordinator at the AIC in November 2005, I always knew that I would stay involved. I was super excited when Evelyn Busby, the AIC director, contacted me about the summer project with ICA and BPA, and now that the project is in full swing I'm even more excited.

My roles in life are many- I'm a sister, a daughter, an 'auntie jo jo', a girlfriend, a professor, and a friend. But being 'Ms. Joanna' has always been one of my favorites.

Johanna's biography

I was born in 1966 (do the math ya'll, how old does that make me next month?) in Ithaca, New York but I grew up outside of Philadelphia. When I graduated from UPenn I said I was never coming back to Philly, but you know what they say about never saying never. I lived in New York (worked for a private art dealer), Toronto (all about a guy), Washington (went to graduate school), Miami (first museum job), Seattle (life reorganization), and Cleveland (another museum job) before moving back to Philly in 2002 (current museum job at the Institute of Contemporary Art).

I learned about the Achieving Independence Center (AIC) in 2004 when the Institute of Contemporary Art was working on an exhibition with the artist Pepón Osorio. The exhibition was based on Pepón's three-year artist's residency at Philadelphia's Department of Human Services. During the summer two AIC members, Tara and Farassa, worked with Pepón in his studio helping to fabricate one of the artworks for the exhibition. They also worked with me on interpretation and programming. Farassa's interview with Pepón appeared in the exhibition brochure and Tara assisted with the Youth Jam, a public program that featured the talents of many AIC members.

I like to work with teens and artists because I'm interested in different points of view about contemporary art and what I want to know is what art means in our lives? So I'm really excited about this project because we've got artist Zoe Strauss and teens from AIC but we're also working with video experts from the Big Picture Alliance to create a documentary. This is going to make one super amazing story!