Meets: Tuesday & Thursday 01:30 PM – 4:30 PM
Location: Sculpture Classroom 063, Venturi Art Building
Instructor: Kasia Ozga
Email: kozga@oberlin.edu
Office Hours: M/T/W 8 AM – 9 AM or by appointment
Office Location: Ward Art Building, Office 111
Extending over the fields of new genre public art and social practice, this course introduces art-making that engages directly with communities outside of the traditional institutional structure to initiate collaboration, debate, or social interaction in/with the public sphere.
Students will study methods that inform community-and-collaboration-based art practices. They will create interdisciplinary projects that may include environmental artworks, public projects, radical archives, public interventions, publications and zines, and alternative pedagogies. Works can address placemaking, food systems, environmental issues, social justice, goods and services, and care. Readings, lectures, and meetings with community partners will enhance an understanding of how art can facilitate open dialog in and with the public. Field trips required.
The course will include practical and theoretical components. We will develop skills in project design, visualizations, presentation preparation and execution, light carpentry, and participatory art-making / working with community partners. Project production, display, installation, and documentation will be stressed. All assignments are supplemented by art historical content delivered through lectures, readings, videos and field trips and multimedia content from related disciplines (environmental studies, consumer studies, materials science).
This course is appropriate for students who wish to understand how art created with different publics in mind is made. While much of public art has traditional taken the form of static, large-scale sculptures, our class will consider sculpture in the expanded field as we imagine permanent works in various media and produce temporary installations and social practice projects.
During class, the professor’s lectures will focus on where to find calls for public art, how to select and respond to RFQ’s and RFP’s (Requests for qualification and requests for projects) for temporary and permanent works, and how to develop a public art project proposal from the ground up for public art and social practices, with and without existing community partners. Students will create proposals for artworks based on public art urban planning studies completed by students at Université de la Réunion in Fall 2022. They will also work in groups with the Bonner Center at Oberlin’s network of community partners to develop projects meeting specific needs and focusing on creative placemaking.
Sculpture-making is a process of creation that can facilitate communication between people. My goal is to inspire students to create art objects that engage the viewer in dialogues involving technical and conceptual issues. To this end, we will also spend focused time in class discussing and critiquing students’ work in a dynamic, constructive atmosphere.
Course Objectives:
Students will learn to use decision-making processes and applied skills needed to develop ideas into works of art. Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:
– Create personal, interesting and unique solutions to course assignments
– Develop a proposal for a local public art project in or near the town of Oberlin based on an external analysis of issues facing the town and its’ community
– Produce a mock response to an RFP. Understand how to respond to an RFQ.
– Work in groups with a community partner to develop and produce a unique work of art for that external organization.
– Be able to explain the relationship between the forms you create and the concepts informing your work
– Speak critically about your artwork and that of others. Situate your work in relation to works discusses in class and seen in other contexts.
– Demonstrate the ability to learn from setbacks in the creative process and to evolve creatively as a project changes over time from conception through production. Apply time-management skills to plan and execute various steps towards creating finished works in a logical manner.
Expectations:
This is a studio class that requires a considerable amount of writing (project descriptions, research summaries, artist background information). Students are required to attend off-site meetings with community partners and to spend a significant amount of studio time outside of class improving their technical abilities while forming a personal response to the themes discussed. Finished works should address conceptual considerations and apply the skills demonstrated in class.
Students must come to class on time prepared to work on assignments and utilize scheduled studio time in an efficient manner. Assignments will be completed on assigned dates. The level and quality of participation in both class discussion and critiques impacts the final grade.
Any readings, presentations, or written assignments are to be completed on assigned dates. Attendance is stressed as the class is composed of demonstrations and studio practice. Students should expect to be in class at all times and email me if you have an urgent issue that prevents attendance before class takes place. 3 late appearances count as an absence, 3 absences result in a reduced letter grade – no exceptions. Any late work will result in a lower grade, unless delays are cleared in advance in discussions with the professor. Cell phones must be turned off before class begins, unless they are being actively used for research/ art production.
Methods:
Class sessions will include demos, work time, meeting times with community partners, and presentations or discussions of contemporary sculpture. In-class work time often involves explanations and projects cannot be “made up” at home. Lectures, demonstrations and individual and group critiques are scheduled on a regular basis to expose students to different approaches to public art. All students are required to attend critiques, where work in analyzed and students receive feedback from the professor and from their peers.
Evaluations:
Your studio projects will be assessed and critiqued through individual meetings while work is being executed, through group critiques with professors, teaching assistants, fellow peers, and invited artists, and through a final critique where you will present work that responds to initial feedback.
Grades reflect technical knowledge and creative responses to problems and assignments as demonstrated by student work.
Criteria for grading and percentages are as follows:
RFP and Oberlin Public Art Project Proposals (innovation, craft, concept, technical proficiency, documentation) 40%
Social Practice Project with a community partner 30%
Writing and speaking (includes presentations, critique and group discussion) 10%
Formal presentation and exhibition of work 10%
Class participation and attendance 10%
Materials:
Students should bring a laptop, sketchbook (at least 8 ½” x 11”) and pencil or pens to class. IF you do not have a laptop, you can check one out for free from the library.
Your $65 materials fee covers many of the materials used for class projects, etc. however, depending on the scale of individual projects, additional materials may be needed.
Storage of Work:
Storage options are limited and students will not be allowed to house projects outside of designated and assigned areas. Many of the pieces that you will produce will take up a lot of space for a short amount of time, after which they will need to be disassembled and moved or disposed of. Please see me if you require special arrangements for a limited period of time.
Safety and Clean Facilities Policy:
Safety is a primary concern. Every assignment will have a related safety demonstrations on how to work with tools and materials. It is very important to attend these demonstrations.
After you are done working, always clean the space you have been using and leave it in the same condition in which you found it. The studio is shared by several classes and it is normal for things to need occasional repair. If you feel something isn’t working properly, if something breaks, or you need extra instruction before using a tool or machine, that’s OK. Please see me, the studio supervisor or TA and we can get things repaired, refreshed, and running again.
The Art Department requires students to maintain a safe working environment for themselves, their fellow classmates, as well as for others using art facilities. No food or drinks in the sculpture studios, no casting with hazardous materials outside of designated areas. No sawing of Styrofoam in a non ventilated area. Any spray painting or casting with solvents must take place outside near the sculpture loading bay. Wear dust masks/PPE when appropriate. Please wear work appropriate clothing including closed toed shoes.
Content Warning:
Some artworks discussed might contain subjects that aggravate past or present trauma (in the past many artists have used multiples to explore themes of conflict, war, gender-based violence, etc.). Be respectful of your peers during in-class discussions and please care for yourself as necessary. It is impossible to forecast all content that might be difficult for students to encounter. Use your best judgement, and contact me as needed.
Areas of Study:
– Responding to Calls for Art and other types of project briefs/applications for public sculpture and social practice projects (RFP, RFQ)
– Analyzing the needs and opportunities of a specific site. Researching the social and historical dimensions to a give place.
– Developing a written proposal for a local project based on such data. Researching materials, forms, production partners, and maintenance. Including narrative elements and well as technical information.
– Producing visualizations through traditional means (drawings, maquettes), visual collage, 3d visualization (Sketchup, Blender), etc.
– Working in groups with a community partner to make a site specific work of art for that external organization. Physically producing the artwork using the fabrication lab, loom room, and tools in 062 and 063.
Skill Sets:
– The correct handling of tools and materials in relation to desired forms
– The basics of presenting new work to the public in different contexts
– Understanding sculpture fundamentals: the link between an idea and its representation, the importance of aesthetic choices, gesture, time, space, process, the end product, and audience interpretation.
Selected Artists:
Students may be asked to create short presentations on the work of the following artists:
Rachel Whiteread, Pawel Althamer, Erwin Wurm, Jaume Plensa, Anish Kapoor, Richard Serra, Robert Smithson, Dani Karavan, Subodh Gupta, Barnett Newman, General Idea, Coco Fusco & Guillermo Gomez Peña, Dennis Adams, Mags Harries, Antony Gormley, Andy Goldsworthy, Marc Quinn, Patricia Cronin, Christo And Jeanne Claude, Kamila Szejnoch, Krzysztof Wodiczko, Maya Lin, Claes Oldenburg, Esther Shalev Gerz & Jochen Gerz, Joseph Beuys, Hehe, Olafur Eliasson, Thomas Hirschhorn, Ann Hamilton, Ryoji Ikeda, Reinhard Reitzenstein, Joanna Rajkowska, Andy Goldsworthy, Agnes Denes, David Nash, James Turrell, Robert Smithson
Individual projects:
Students are encouraged to consult individually with the instructor regarding project ideas during class. Finished pieces may be temporary or permanent. Each project can build on or depart from previous projects. Students will be expected to document their work via digital photography during the phases of project development. Finished pieces should also be documented following critique in class.
References:
There is no textbook for the class, however on some weeks, I may require students to read certain articles in preparation for in class discussions. I can also recommend books to students on artists and areas of sculpture that would provide useful departures, on a case-by-case basis, during individual critiques.
A selection of relevant books is available on reserve for students at the Art library. In advance of certain class sessions, students will be asked to complete short readings about relevant topics (exhibition reviews, papers in academic journals, artist interviews) that will be discussed in a collective manner.
Texts may include:
City Art: New York’s Percent for Art Program, New York, Merrel, 2005.
Christo: Urban Projects: A Survey, Boston, The Institute of Contemporary Art, 1979.
Berrizbeitia, Anita et Pollak, Linda, Inside Outside: Between Architecture and Landscape, Gloucester, Rockport Publishers, 1999
Boetzkes, Amanda, The Ethics of Earth Art, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 2010.
Cameron Cartiere et Shelly Willis (dir.), The Practice of Public Art, New York, Routledge, 2008.
Florian Matzner (dir.), Public art : a reader, Ostfilfern-Ruit, Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2004.
Harriet F Senie, Sally Webster (dir.), Critical Issues in Public Art: Content, Context, and Controversy, New York, Harper Collins, 1993.
Deutsche, Rosalyn, Agoraphobia: Public Space and Democracy, Cambridge, MIT Press, 1996.
Doss, Erika, Spirit Poles and Flying Pigs; Public Art and Cultural Democracy in American Communities, Washington, Smithsonian Institution Press, l995.
Tom Finkelpearl (dir.), Dialogues in Public Art, Cambridge, MIT Press, 2000.
Knight, Cher Krause, Public Art: Theory, Practice and Populism, Oxford, Blackwell Publishing, 2008.
Kwon, Miwon, One Place after Another: site specific art and locational identity, Cambridge, MIT, 2002.
Lacy, Suzanne, Mapping the Terrain: New Genre Public Art, Seattle, Bay Press, 1995.
Erika Suderburg (dir.) Site, Space, Intervention: Situating Installation Art, Minneapolis, University of Minnesotta, 2000.
W.J.T. Mitchell (dir.), Art and the Public Sphere, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1990.
Pasternak, Anne, Creative Time: The Book, Princeton, Princeton Architectural Press, 2008.
Eva Grubinger et Jorg Heiser (dir.), Sculpture Unlimited, Berlin, Sternberg Press, 2011.
Rendell, Jane, Art and Architecture: A Place Between, Londres, I.B. Tauris, 2008.
Cameron Cartiere et Shelly Willis (dir.), The Practice of Public Art, New York, Routledge, 2008.
Wodiczko, Krzysztof, Critical Vehicles: Writings, Projects, Interviews, Cambridge, The MIT Press, 1999.
Project Assignments / Schedule:
The class meets 2 days/week. Each class session lasts for 3 hours and requires 3-6 hours of work outside of class. Generally, we will have 1 class session that meets in 063 and one that meets outside of the art building. Some classes will involve students meeting individually or in small groups with community partners, rather than with the group as a whole.
01/31: Introduction, Fill out survey: https://forms.gle/1vdxs6QzraTFB9Rs7 & discuss prior experience with public art and social practice and potential areas of interest. Lecture: definitions and typologies of public art, approaches and theories,
02/02: (*KO Absent), Required Museum Visit with Julia Alexander – meet in front of the museum at 1:30!, study primary source public art project documents and discuss public art on campus and outside the museum at Oberlin. HW: Short Writing Assignment
02/07: Lecture: Contexts and Histories of Urban Public Art. Review Oberlin Case Study Diagnostic Document from Université de la Reunion / City and Urban Environment Impact Study in groups
02/09: Identify ideas + Form 2-person teams for Project #1. Write up initial project descriptions and begin modelling projects from clay or foam with foam wire-cutting tools. Use these models as the basis or inspiration for project visualization in Blender next week. HW: Research & find 3 references in your project theme area & finish project description (1 page word document or pdf)
Theme areas for public art proposals identified by students from the Urban Planning Documents include: street furniture/ benches, working with indigenous plants, food insecurity and food access, solar panels, bike racks, public transportation, bike paths, visualizing sustainability initiatives, responding to poverty and class issues, creating links between the industrial parks and city center
02/14: Blender Demo with Francis Wilson for making visualizations (*KO Absent) HW. Work in 1 or 2-person teams to create a project visualizations for Project # 1 HW: Refine Project # 1 with Blender model + 3 references/inspirations, timeline, budget, & paragraph-long participant bio – You will be turning this project in on 02/21!
02/16: Lecture: Art in The City/ Street Art & review sketches, project ideas, prepare elements of Project #1 in class & work on 2d models in foam, cardboard.
02/21: Project # 1 Due Local Art Project Proposals + short, informal presentations of Project #1.
Overview of potential community partners for final project #3, including City of Oberlin Sustainability Office, Positively Oberlin (Industrial Park), Oberlin Heritage Center, College, Western Reserve Land Conservancy, Oberlin Community Services –> Select/Assign Project 3 community groups
02/23: (*KO Absent) / Woodshop Introduction with Alex Hanson in the fabrication lab
02/28: Work on Project #2. Cardboard models with hot glue HW: sharpen conceptual focus and find references
03/02: Community Partner Meeting #1: define themes and scope
03/07: Work on Project #2. Review cardboard models and translate into wood, metal, and cement fondue
03/09: Work on Project #2
03/14: Lecture: Temporary Public Art Events/ Festivals, HW: Finalize Project # 3 Proposal
03/16: Community Partner Meeting #2 – Project # 3 Approved
– Spring Break –
03/28: Work on Project #2, Lecture: Temporary Interventions and Critical Public Art,
03/30: Work on Project #2
04/04: Project # 2 Due
04/06: Project # 2 due (works installed and viewable by the beginning or class)
04/11: Refine Project # 3 based on Feedback
04/13: Meet with partner for re-approval or begin building/ producing Project # 3
04/18 Work on Project # 3
04/20 Begin building/ producing Project # 3
04/25, Work on Project # 3, Prepare for Installation
04/27 Transport to site and Install
05/02, Project # 3 Due Final Presentation / Community Partner Public Artwork Visit #1,
05/04 Final Presentation / Community Partner Public Artwork Visit #2
Sample projects:
Project 1: Develop a public art proposal for a sculpture for a local site in response to Oberlin Urban Planning case studies completed by students at Université de la Réunion:
1. Pick a theme in reaction to the Urban Planning report we consulted
2. Develop a public art proposal for a sculpture for a local site in response to the study.
The proposal (pdf) includes each of the following on a separate page:
– cover page with artwork title, Tuesday’s date, and your name
– a project description (1 pg) which included specific location information, scale, duration, materials, as well as a qualitative description of what you will make (form and content) and the types of fabricators you would work with (ex. a mural artist, a welder, landscapers, etc.).
– a visualization: a Blender model or scanned/digital sketch or photo collage based on your cardboard or foam models. (Minimum 1 page, can include more than one visuals)
– 3 artwork/artist references/inspirations (1 page, explain in a couple sentences why each is relevant)
– a timeline (1 page)
– a budget (1 page)
– a paragraph-long participant bio. (1 paragraph)
Project 2:
[Original Assignment – MODIFIED: Respond to an RFP or Call for Art for an existing public art project online via a public art agency, nonprofit, or site such as CodaWorx (individual project). Also produce a physical model or design detail to accompany your proposal in class. * We are no longer doing this]
NEW Modified Assignment: Work as a class on a collective artwork or series of public artworks on a theme chosen by students from among the public art proposals for Project 1. –> “Waste Disposal” Make an artwork that fits on or around a trash can on campus.
– Use wood or cement fondue, potentially combined with other materials
– Demonstrate the use of project model-making skills in cardboard and wood-working skills in finished artwork.
– Have your design relate conceptually to the theme of waste/trash (Food waste, E-waste, Plastic pollution etc.)
Project 3: Work with a community partner to develop a sculpture or social practice project (with a physical or prop component) that meets the needs of the host organization in some way (2-3 person project).
References:
02/07 Utopian Architecture : Superstudio, The Memphis Pyramid vs I. M. Pei’s Louvre Pyramid, Yona Friedman, 1960s Utopian Groups, Dysfunctional Plans, Verner Panton‘s Visiona
02/16 ISC Sculpture blog
02/28 Cardboard Construction and artist examples: Cardboard Fundamentals, Cardboard Sculpture Techniques, Tutorial for model-making, Instructables: 11 Ways to Cut and Connect Cardboard, 12 cardboard artists, 290 Cardboard Construction ideas on Pinterest, Eva Jospin
