“Fresh cotton candy.”
“Then a warmth.”
“To leave you.”
Those are just a few of many three-word phrases projected on the side of a Forest Park building by artist and woodworker Joshua Longbrake. For a few hours on certain evenings, Longbrake broadcasts a new phrase on a wall near the Forest Park Public Library.
Initially, Longbrake designed the project, called Three Words, to be happened upon by passersby.
“I always loved seeing things where they aren’t supposed to be.” Longbrake said. “I just like the idea of someone taking their dog for a walk and… pausing and wondering ‘what’s going on here?'”
The words can be almost anything, though Longbrake said he has no interest in being negative or “throwing punches.”
He said he wants viewers to reflect on the words personally, rather than consider who put them there. “My hope always is to start an internal conversation with someone who views any kind of work I do,” he said. “If I want to incite anything, I want to incite wonder.”
The conversation a piece of art inspires between the artwork and the viewer is why Longbrake has always been drawn to art, he added.
At the beginning of the project, Longbrake, who loves reading poetry and writing, would come up with the phrases, keeping a note of them on his phone. Eventually, he started seeing potential phrases around him, like the words “Standard (slightly wet)” on the checkout screen at Portillo’s, which Longbrake said would make for a good projection.
“Because I’m thinking in these three-word phrases, I start seeing them where they’ve been all along,” he said.
So why three words? Longbrake actually started with a two-word phrase, “Thank you.” He wanted to find a length of phrase that, while not too short, also was not always a complete sentence. After talking with Steve Juras, a friend and fellow artist, Longbrake landed on the three-world sweet spot.
“It felt more open and poetic without being forceful,” Longbrake said.
At Juras’ suggestion, Longbrake opened the project to other residents of Forest Park last week, allowing them to submit their own three-word phrases for projection. Since then, Longbrake has gotten dozens of submissions, which include Spanish-language phrases and the unique submission of “mom mom mom.”
Longbrake has lived in Forest Park for about 10 years, though he has also lived in Seattle, Arizona and Chicago. He said the “overwhelmingly positive” response the project has received from other Forest Park residents has “energized” him.
“People have been delighted that there’s art out here on our street and in our neighborhood. It’s made me feel good as an artist, but also as a person in our neighborhood,” Longbrake said.
Longbrake plans to continue with the projections every Monday night through Oct. 26. People can submit phrases on the project’s website.
When asked what three words he would use to describe the project right now, Longbrake gave two phrases: “Standard (slightly wet)” and “I’m so tickled.”