The idea for State of Progress

The idea for State of Progress came about in the summer of 2005. Carissa and Joanna had just met that spring teaching a children’s costume workshop for the Lower East Side Garden Parade. Both ladies had traveled through urban areas, small towns, rural expanses and farms from Mexico and Central America, to Northern China, to New Zealand, to Europe. Their adventures collected inspiration from local and indigenous markets, street fairs, carnivals and through the passing landscapes of rural villages and coastal regions. They had sought out good food, local culture and sustainable living. A conversation started about their shared passion, fascination and interest for state fairs, carnivals and festivals. 

They shared a great curiosity to experience and create with the changing environments of their own country. Carissa had already made three cross-country trips in America as an adult.  As a young kid, Joanna’s parents took the family camping and driving through most of the States.  But neither could say they had experienced the markets, fairs and regions of their own country in the way they had explored others.

How could they combine their love for travel, investigation, eating fresh farm goods, growing & horticulture, making innovative art, creating new relationships with others who support and share these passions, and teaching and sharing with those who may not?

They started with an idea to install interactive exhibits at state fairs. The idea grew into a multi-disciplinary endeavor that tours farms, fairs and sustainable communities in the U.S. by alternative fuel with the State of Progress Traveling Photo Booth from August to November, 2007.

Plant inspirations

Carissa has volunteered on organic farms through WWOOF in Italy and New Zealand. She built an organic greenhouse at Chico State University, ran an organic composting education site, and most currently runs a tropical Greenhouse and organic garden at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum. Her plant knowledge is always growing.  As a natural science educator in the inner-city, she is invested in learning and educating families about the wonders of plants, the ethno-botany of healing, diet and culture.

Joanna has created and cared for three home gardens in Chicago, Brooklyn, and Oaxaca, Mexico including extensive indoor plantings, outdoor gardens and food plots, as well as a terrace, fire escape and windowsills. Theses varied climates and environments have sharpened her skills for strategic and adventurous planting.  She’s conducting multiple investigations into seeds and heirlooms, plant cycles and soil health. She believes that fresh, healthy foods create the foundation for health and happiness.

Creative arts inspirations

Joanna and Carissa create from a patchwork of mediums with a wonderful ease of collaboration and sink of styles. Mixing fabrics, found and designed prints, photographs, audio, written word, found collections, sewing, gluing and reconstructing. The artists’ collage scenes and spaces together, intermixing ideas that flow into hand constructed pieces with thoughtfulness to simplicity and function. With great attention to detail and a resourcefulness for foraging second hand materials, both artists create works that recontextualize objects, words and images. Joanna and Carissa research the histories, methodologies and aesthetics of themes they present in their arts. They find inspiration in the formation of new ideas through the exploration of concepts, locations, communities and interaction.