Description
Art in the Age of Planetary Distress will introduce students to ways of working outside the boundaries of the traditional studio that engage the defining issue of our time, global climate change. A studio/seminar format, the class consists of reading, viewing, research, experimentation, mending, making and travel. Students will practice questioning and forming new habits as we investigate the material world. Our innovations and material sources will include the relatively new practice of Walking Art (potentially carbon neutral) in which artists design and score walks as solo explorations and communal activities. Materials will include the use of soil as an artist pigment and sculptural building material, as well as industrial/consumer castoffs from a box factory or a thrift store. We will take a 3-day camping field trip to the Land Institute and do a papermaking workshop. Can we engage in ways of living our lives and being artists that are positive for humankind and our planet?