July 2, 1014 at Bemis Center – Flock House exhibit

“What a peaceful place to work.” April  says as she looks around the Flock House exhibit, which offers room for study and sketching. April works at the Main Omaha Public Library, where Alex Priest, exhibitions assistant at Bemis, curates exhibits at the Michael Phipps Gallery.

As soon as April finishes writing her responses to the 7 Questions, we talk about what she envisions in a Flock House.

April: Cisterns. I can imagine making a thing to let in rainwater, and then moving it closed when you have enough.  There is a new source of water every time it rains.

April: Dakota needs to come here. He lives this way; he knows how to do it, how to survive. I ask her how to bring him here. She answers, I don’t know where to find him, but I will try.

April: The most important idea here is that you can make a house out of whatever you have. I have seen villages of displaced people who make homes, even of cardboard, and they become a village.

April: Another important idea is not feeling the need to fix things up. Still, I still think there is a need to make it your own. (With a Flock House being self-sufficient) you can show how clever you were. How you solved the problem of getting electricity and water. Some would really feel that need for invention, to just create.  Others would want theirs as cute as it could be.

April: In a flock of these houses, I would expect enormous handcrafted diversity. Astonishing invention. Yet, sharing the knowledge of these inventions with one another.

April is on her lunch hour, and only has a moment to enter the Flock House and make a quick sketch.

Flock House structure gives focus to a Ray of Hope