By Christine Schaefer | Daily Reporter
HANCOCK COUNTY — Yeabsera Tabb is just a few months away from graduation at Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU) in Marion with a Bachelor of Arts in Design for Social Impact. Never heard of that field before? You’re not alone.
“It’s seeing a problem in your community and using art and design skills to address the problem,” Tabb said.
As an area of study that incorporates architecture, the arts and sociology, design for social impact figures into parks, common areas, schools, offices, retail and historic districts and open spaces — such as Greenfield’s Living Alley and the area along Pennsy Trail.
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The official definition from the IWU website says: “Design for Social Impact prepares students to synthesize various aspects of design to plan, design, and manage spaces in such a way to not only improve the quality of life for those individuals within those spaces, but also to empower such communities through involvement in the design process itself. We focus on real problems working alongside real people, giving you the experience, you need to compete in the field of design.”
A recent project Tabb worked on with other students in her major was the design of a permanent outdoor area for Wonderspace. Wonderspace’s current mission is to create unconventional — and portable — play areas for children. Picture a giant Tinkertoy set coming to your school gym and you will have an idea of what the company does.
Tabb and her fellow students were commissioned to create a plan for a permanent play area for the organization. Among the questions Tabb and her crew asked themselves were: “What is play?” And “What would encourage creative energy?” The answers the students came up with was to take components from nature to create climbing areas inspired by ant tunnels and beehives or a bamboo swing with beans inside to create the sound of an African rainstick.
She also — along with a design team — planned the Marion Made Fashion Show, a community collaboration that allowed people to gather and connect. She invited keynote speakers including Trace Fashion’s CEO Kristin Salat and IWU professor Annake Stasson. She also designed some of the clothes modeled at the show.
Tabb was adopted as a teenager from Ethiopia. Her parent now live in Greenfield, but she graduated from Knightstown High School before heading on to IWU. Her degree will be a Bachelor of Arts in Design for Social Impact.
Tabb, a senior and an African American, recently petitioned the 1920 Gallery on the campus of IWU to host a Black History Month themed show in the gallery called “Black Presence.”
For the multi-disciplinary show, Tabb did taped interviews with Black women at IWU — faculty or students — to record their experiences. As visitors walk through the gallery to look at the visual imagery, the recordings play so that people get the sense of entering into a conversation.
“The point of the show,” Tabb said, “is to create a physical and emotional space for people to think about Black presence — and to enter a conversation of joy, frustration and anger that we all experience.”
Tabb will wrap up her student career in April with her senior thesis show. With that exhibit, she plans to lean on her fine arts skill of printmaking. The exhibit will be accompanied by a book — constructed of hand-made paper — to go along with the display.
From there, she is headed to the Harrison Center in Indianapolis. Having already interned there for two summers, the one-year fellowship will keep her busy while she contemplates her career trajectory.
Yeabsera, an African name meaning ‘work of God,’ is a very fitting name for an artist.
“I love art, I love being an artist,” Tabb said. “I love using all the different techniques and I love combining fine arts and design thinking into design and problem-solving. I don’t know what that will look like, but whatever doors open in the future, I’m ready.”
