I've been thinking about the next Eco-Art class this coming fall. I am excited to see what they will end up doing and the projects that they create. I think theres many ways that they could continue to work with and improve the garden. I also think theres ways in which they could continue to add to/ support our projects to have a greater/longer lasting affect on the garden.
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We have been doing some research in terms of the wheels/tires we will use for our storage bench. We are looking at both the environmental affects, durability, and ability of the tires/wheels to work in the mud. After seeing the tires (from a tricycle) that we had planned to use, does anyone have any input? Peter thinks that the current tires will be perfectly fine and we had planned not to buy any of our materials, but if we can't use these wheels we will have to buy bigger, more durable tires. However, this will effect the height of our bench and therefore, may delay our progress.
I am still incredibly impressed with the wood shop machines that Maria, Peter, and I worked with. I did not realize 1) the beautiful wood that was underneath the old, weathered wood we found in the garden and 2) the extent of our/the machines' ability to restore this wood. I am impressed by how well the layers underneath were preserved, which makes me hopeful about how durable our bench will be out in the garden. I know we have so far to go and it is not going to be very easy, but I cannot wait to see the finished project. Showing everyone the picture of the wood before sitting in the garden in the same place it had sat for years and comparing that to the beautiful wood we have now will be very satisfying.
I spent this past weekend at a photography conference in Philadelphia. The theme of the weekend was "Uncertain Times." I attended a panel by Byron Wolfe and Matt Klett about their most recent project, Drowned River . They spent several weeks documenting Glen Canyon and the effects of the Glen Canyon Dam. During their trip, they rephotographed sites shot by Eliot Porter back in 1963. I kept coming back to this idea of rephotography. While not specifically eco-art, their photographs demonstrate the change in environments over time. In Drowned River , they illustrate the negative impact the dam has had on the water. Specifically, the canyon that Porter photographed is now underwater. I am interested to hear how you all think eco-artists can engage with photography in their work. You can check out more of their work here: http://www.klettandwolfe.com/
Over the Feb break, i went to Everglades National Park for a sea kayaking trip with W&L Outing Club. The trip let us embraced and appreciate the true wilderness and we learned to survive on an isolated island. Over the trip, we followed the "Leave no waste" rule from permaculture, which i think is really interesting. We used biodegradable dish washing liquid and other environmentally friendly products when we were on the island and we picked up all the trashes (from us and from other people who left trash and didn't pick them up after) Human leaves footprint wherever they go. What we can do to make our footprints sustainable is to be conscious about the waste we are making and recycle them. It is the same in permaculture design. When we try to build things and make progresses, we have to be conscious of our actions. We had campfire every night and everyone sit in a circle (and we burn the burnable trash such as orange peels and tissues to leave no waste). We also use...
After doing some research, these two multi-purpose furniture designs really stood out to me.
After reflecting on my visit to the Hirshhorn, I remembered this piece in the beginning of the "What Absence is made of" exhibit. This piece drew my attention as it reminded me of the specific piece in the exhibit in Lenfest that we looked at together, which displayed four blank frames. During my visit to the Hirshhorn, I thought a lot about our current and previous project. I tried to focus on the sounds around me. I not only experienced a lot more sound in this place, but a wider variety of sounds compared to the place I had visited for our project. The constant hum of shoes walking across floors and people conversing encompassed the museum along with noises from the videos playing in the background of exhibits. One video of a man named Mike was especially noisy. As I watched and then walked away, I heard laughter and other noises that seemed to blend into the background music. When a phone rang, I couldn't tell whether it was from the video or someone in the room...
A quote that stood out to me on the wall of the Utopian Projects Exhibit at the Hirshhon Museum Because I have a lacrosse game interfering with the field trip to DC next week, I took my own field trip to the Hirshhorn today. I focused my visit on the two exhibits you will all focus on next week. I do not want to spoil anything, so I won't give too many details, but instead maybe get you excited for what you'll see and highlight some of my favorites. In the Utopian Project exhibit, my favorite was the “How can one change oneself?” piece, which gives 5 steps to take in order to change oneself. I won’t completely spoil it since you will all be going next week, but these steps consist of putting on wings. Many of the pieces in this exhibit have to do with wings actually. Most others also include angels or flying. The exhibit “what absence is made of” was my favorite. One that stood out to me was an untitled piece by Didier Vermeiren (below), which...
Since we spoke at the end of class on Tuesday, I have been brainstorming ways in which we could make our seating/area more dynamic and multi-functional. I really like the idea of including some type of storage within the garden, for everything from plates to learning materials. My group had decided to put seating around the oven, so I have been trying to brainstorm ideas to incorporate storage within the seats. This makes the material choice much more difficult, which is something my group was already struggling to decide on. I would love to be able to use the cob for the seating, but I am concerned about the cobs weight-bearing ability. I had thought the seats would be sturdy due to the thickness, however if we want to incorporate storage, I was thinking the seats may be hollow. Hoping that being in the garden/ seeing the garden again tomorrow will generate more ideas!
I saw this tab when i was browsing my Starbucks account. It surprises me because I never actually relate Starbucks with sustainability. For most of us, it is just a popular coffee shop and no one cares about it's sustainable background. But what they are working on is to incorporate quality coffee making into sustainable shop design practices and material cycling. They use recycle coffee grounds in table tops, low-emitting material for adhesive and paints, using materials from within 500 miles, and they save over 45% lighting power. I think Starbuck's practices is also applicable to our campus garden project in that it brings the community together in a sustainable and aesthetically pleasing way. https://www.starbucks.com/responsibility/environment/leed-certified-stores
A lot of art has to do with experimenting with various materials in order to find what you need to accomplish your goals. In all of my reading about building a cob structure, there is no specific formula on how to get the perfect composition of clay and sand. At times, this frustrates me because there is not an exact way to achieve the needed results. Here is where the artistic process takes over as we try different techniques over the next few weeks. Even baking in the cob oven is an experiment. Unlike a mechanized over, there is no way to set the cob oven to a specific temperature. When we are finally ready to bake our first loaf of bread or pizza, I imagine it will take a few tries to keep the food from burning. I also found a few videos about how to build an oven. While the readings have been helpful, I struggle to visualize some elements of the process. Watching these, I was able to get a better sense of the work we will need to do over the next few weeks. Building a...
For this blog post, I wanted to briefly talk about one of my new favorite bands, and the best thing to come out of Bard College (sorry if anyone has any relation to Bard…). Palm, the quartet that is stealing my heart, met together several years ago at Bard. And after taking a music course together there, they were inspired to create their own band. So, naturally, they threw away their already-garnered musical experience and took up instruments they’ve never touched before. The result is a wonderfully-unique form of math rock, reminiscent of early Battles, with Tyondai Braxton (founder of Battles back in the early 2000’s) messing with time signatures to an almost unrecognizable degree. The tracks off Rock Island , Palm’s second full-length LP (that came out just this Friday) follow a path unbeknownst to current contemporary pop. Whereas some songs today, on popular radio or not, tend to follow a certain rhythm to the point of predictability, Palm specialize in throwing loops to the...
I am excited to see what has happened with our experiments with a few extra days of drying! I also read that many of these structures have designs on them like Professor Tamir had experimented with quickly at the end of class. I think this would be something fun for us to do and would make the oven unique! Especially, if we end up making our own small, individual ovens! Just another detail to think about in preparation and start brainstorming, but I think designs could be a very meaningful addition.
After reading the "Earth Oven" article, I was inspired to do more research on various cob techniques. I found myself drawn to the design choices various artists made, a few examples found below. When we are planning to design our own oven for the garden, I think we should be thinking about the aesthetic qualities for the outside of the oven in addition to the traditional structure.
After re-reading the Joseph Beuys excerpts, a few things caught my attention. First of all, the contrasting word choices within each paragraph of the "Energy Generation as Social Sculpture" made the text even more meaningful. For example, the author talks about the two responses to the "oil price shock." On one hand, people "scrambled" and on the other hand, "it asserted pressure to relax. " Similarly, the reading describes Josephs Beuys' work as liberating , comparing it to most other industry experts who were trying to capture . Additionally, I am specifically interested in the use of thermal energy in his works as a means of transformation, specifically because he claims that thermal energy saved his life after his plane crash. I am curious to know if this incident *plane crash* was a sort of transformation in his own life.
This snow art reminds me a bit of a sand mandala. https://blogs.mprnews.org/newscut/2018/02/a-snow-artist-at-target-field/ The artist takes significant time to make something beautiful using natural materials, knowing that it's going to be destroyed very quickly. In a way, I guess this artist has the same kind of peace that Andy Goldsworthy does when he creates his temporary art.
Last semester, I took an art history class with Professor Lepage on Mesoamerica and the Andes. We studied the Nasca people, a pre-Incan culture in Peru. Like other Andean cultures, the Nasca people were deeply connected to the land. The Nasca are most well know for the enormous drawings they made I the Peruvian desert. They are so large they can be seen from Google maps. Archaeologists and art historians still do not know exactly what these lines were used for. One of the theories is that they were used in ritual ceremonies somehow. These line remind me of Andy Goldsworthy’s work. However, the lack of wind and heavy rain mean these lines have been preserved for more than 2,000 years. On Friday, a truck driver purposefully drove through parts of the lines near the highway. You can read the full NYT article below. https://nyti.ms/2GEsR7p Do you all believe this is an early form of eco art? How can we protect these ancient pieces of art work from modern t...