Final Design
Due Thursday, May 5th
Exhibition installation at Blue Planet Thursday, May 5th - 7pm
1. Final line drawing of your design drawn to scale at least ½ ” = 1’ (¼ ” = 1’ for Shunga group).
2. Final color study made to scale (as above). The medium you use for the color study should be compatible with the final work . For most of you, this means acrylic paint or cut-paper.
3. A one-page description of your design concept that includes an overview of the content (in other words short explanation of the imagery and how it is relevant to the site) and any special technical specifications.
4. An (approximately) 8 ½ “ x 11” photograph of your site with its address/location and context (what the wall or place is used for).
- Our exhibition Opening will be on First Friday May 6th.
- The following week (day to be announced) we will have a group critique at the Blue Planet.
Practice Project
Overview and Schedule
Now that you know everything that there is to know about the history, relevance, and context of community-based public art, it’s time to do a practice run. For the rest of the semester you will be working on design proposals for community-based public art works at specific sites in Topeka. Below is an outline of how your time will be spent in developing these projects.
The purpose of this project is to give you as close to a real world experience as possible in all of the steps needed to propose, research, design, and organize a community-based artwork. This assignment has at least two flaws - 1) You (or we) have not been commissioned or invited to do public art projects at these sites. They were chosen so that the class can engage with a range of different settings and so we can learn from each other’s experiences, and 2) The incentive that community members will have to give input and work with you will be tempered by the reality that this is a class project that may come to fruition.
During class, I will be giving a few technical demos, plus presenting information about writing proposals, fundraising, and project coordination. There will be some time to work on your projects during class, but you are expected to put in at least 15 additional hours outside of class on them too.
There will be four sites around Topeka that we will design for. This means that there will be at least three of you who have the same site. Each of you will create your own designs for your site, but, in the first week or so, you will be doing some of your initial research and outreach as a group.
Basic Supply List (you may need additional supplies)
Drawing paper
Vellum tracing paper
Graphite transfer paper
Drawing tools (pencils, erasers, etc.)
Support for final color study (board, canvas, foam core, gessoed paper)
Paint or colored paper for collage
Foam core to build site model
Adhesive
xacto knife
Practice Project
Schedule
March
29 Practice Project Introduction
31 Personal Story - Crystal Site Visits
April
5 Research methods, fundraising, organizing
7 Personal Story – Alex Research Demo #1
12 Research / Preliminary design
14 Personal Story – Lauren Preliminary design
19 Preliminary design
21 Personal Story – Katie M. Preliminary design presentations / critique
26 Final design Demo #2
28 Personal Story – Ashley Final Design
May
3 Personal Stories – Anthony and Cecilia Final Design
5 Final Design
10 Show Installation and final presentations / critique
12 Final Presentations and potluck party!
Reading for February 22nd
Chapter 2: Intersection Repair Overview of the City Repair Placemaking Guidebook
Writing Assignment / Presentation 2
Community-Based Public Art Project - Analysis
1500 word minimum
10 -15 images
Due March 10th
For your second writing assignment you will be looking carefully at one specific community-based public art project, analyzing it in detail, and coming to your own conclusions about whether or not it was successful and why. As with your first writing assignment, you will be making a 10-12 minute presentation in addition to the typed hard copy of your paper.
In your analysis, consider the following:
Intent and purpose of the project
How the lead artist(s) facilitated the project
How the project was financed
What approvals were needed
Community participation
Process used to develop the work
Execution of the finished work
Description and critique of the completed work
Public reaction, perception
Long-term relevance
Maintenance
Below are projects you can choose from. You may choose your own, but make sure to pass it by me before you begin. I would like to know your choice by Tuesday, February 21st.
Mr. Imagination, Salina, KS
Stored Potential, Omaha, NE
The Great Wall of Los Angeles
Grant’s Tomb Mosaics, Pedro Silva
Appalshop: Calls from Home
Love Letter, Philadelphia
Whoop Dee Doo TV, Kansas City
Ferocious Beauty: Genome
Van Go Benchmark project, Lawrence, KS
Tim Rollins and KOS: The Scarlet Letter
Watermarks, Navy Pier, Chicago
Cow Parade, various cities in the U.S. and abroad (choose one city to focus on)
The Aids Memorial Quilt
Thousand Kites Theater
articles from the Chicago Public Art Group website
Reading for February 3rd
excerpt from "Towards a People's Art" by Eva Cockcroft, John Pitman Weber, and James Cockcroft
Writing Assignment & Presentation 1 - Artist / Artist Group profile
1,500 word minimum
10-15 images saved as pdf file on a flash drive
Paper and Presentation Due February 8th
For our first writing assignment, you will be researching an artist or artist group that focuses on community-based public art. Use the library, internet, and original research (calling, emailing, writing, or visiting your subject and interviewing them yourself). Your work should focus on the history, philosophy, process, and completed projects of your chosen subject. The intention of this assignment is for the class to teach each other about a broad range of practitioners in the community-based art world.
Your paper should be typed and a minimum of 1,500 words. You will also need to find 10-15 images to support your paper. Since you will be making a 10-12 minute presentation to the class, these images must be saved as one pdf file and stored on a flash drive. (please ask me if you have any questions about how to do this).
Your presentation should be an overview of your paper illustrated with 10-15 images. You can read directly from your paper if you like, or refer to it for specific passages.
Your paper is due and presentation will be made on February 8th
Here’s a list of possible subjects. Choose your subject, first come first served, and let me know what it is by Thursday, January 27th ( I want to make sure everyone has chosen a different subject.) You are free to suggest your own. Just make sure to pass it by me before you begin.
Project Row Houses
Susan Cervantes – Precita Eyes
Bread and Puppet
Liz Lerman - Dance Exchange
Appalshop
Brett Cook
Whoop Dee Doo TV
Miss Rockaway Armada
Lily Yeh - Village of the Arts and Humanities
Mel Chin
Judy Baca - SPARC
Outta Your Backpack Media
City Repair
Olivia Gude – Chicago Public Art Group
Improv Everywhere
Augusto Boal – Theatre of the Oppressed
Readings
Introduction to the Book "Community Murals: A People's Art" by Alan Barnett
Cultural Citizenship and Social Healing: Art as the Key to Sustainable Community
talk given by Arlene Goldbard on April 27, 2010 for the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program
