How Art Connects Our Club, our Supporters, and Our Community
The following is an editorial submission and does not directly reflect the collective opinion of all FMFC supporters who align themselves with the mission of The Flock (though it would be cooler if it did).
Words & Photos: Andrew Schmidt Video: Jeffery Anderson
While Forward Madison's return to playing at Breese Stevens Field for the 2021 season was absolutely a welcome one, there was work to do in creating common, functional spaces for players and staff that were compliant with not only league COVID19 protocols, but also Public Health Madison & Dane County's protocols. The players needed more space. A small crew (including players, front office staff) cleared out a section under the grandstand and moved all the equipment out of the old locker room space into the new one. But the space lacked a personality and warmth the historic brick and concrete couldn’t provide.
A discussion formed between Community Engagement Manager and club captain Connor "Turbo" Tobin, FMFC Art Director Cassidy Sepnieski, and myself about what we could do to make the space more inviting and set it apart from other sporting organizations, and it quickly became about more than just a one-off beautification project for the locker room. Instead it would be not only an art install, but a residency of sorts for local artists, and one where two of the pieces would be auctioned off each year to raise funds for the artists but also for the Flock Soccer Foundation, whose goal is to give people in our community access to soccer programs and the health benefits that come with them regardless of physical ability or their families' finances.
In the longer term, the plan is to give other Madison artists a chance to be a part of this project, where their work can be on display for multiple years to players and fans, but also to raise funds crucial to building the game of soccer in the wider Madison community.
We had some very big questions to answer:
How do we make this a space that feels like a home base that looks and feels like who we are as a club?
How do we give this space an identity that matches this club and city?
Who could provide a visual aesthetic that is in a word, "Madisonian"?
When the question came up of who would be our inaugural artist, for me it was always Triangulador. His work is a Madison staple. Everybody knows about the flamingos on the corner of East Johnson and Blount Street, the mural he did with Henrique Nardi on Monroe Street, and even where it all started, the pieces on mattresses, couches, and other furniture we'd see every August 15 moving day when the student and downtown housing leases expire. His work is iconic Madison. It's unmistakable.
For FMFC Art Director Cassidy Sepnieski, this project was a representation of synergy between the FMFC community and the local arts scene, “For me, in a new role that’s focused on connecting art to the club, working with Dane Arts to bring in Triangulador felt perfect. Asthetically, he brought an authentic and exciting feel to this project, and his process of working with the energy of the space made sure it all tied in together. Seeing the pieces installed was rewarding, knowing we can connect local talent to the stadium we know and love.”
Triangulador’s pieces kept with a running theme of his work: using recycled/discarded items as a medium; the “canvas” in this case were recycled coroplast stadium signs. The pieces include club colors but the palette wasn't limited to that -- I'm not even sure if he meant the symbolism, but the fact that players who represent this club, this city, get to walk into this space every day and see not only the club colors, but ones that represent a wider variety of skin tones: who they are as players and also as people. That to me as a FMFC supporter who grew up in Madison, is huge.
But that's really what we're about as a club: it's not just about the game, the results on the pitch, it's about so much more than that.
I really think that for players who especially might be coming into this club from elsewhere, playing professionally for the first time, Triangulador's art creates a sense of fun, of identity, and a sense that these players are a part of something bigger than third division soccer. They’re a part of a community.
Andrew Schmidt is a co-founder of The Flock, and its President since the 2019 season. He enjoys cold beverages, loud music, and smiling on special occasions. You can find him on Twitter, ranting and raving about who knows what on any given day.
