Social Artistry Summer Leadership Institute

I will be making a presentation at the Eighth Annual Social Artistry™ Summer Leadership Institute to be held July 19-27, 2009 at the Unitarian Center in Ashland, OR. Hope to see you there!

Congratulations SOU Students and Community Partners!

We are at the end of our winter term at SOU. Congratulations to all students and community partners for a job well done. Your projects and efforts are greatly appreciated.

Thank you for making a difference.

Sincerely,
Jennifer

Featured Project: Global Awareness

Five students joined forces with OSPIRG to explore how much the SOU community knows about national and international issues. They painted a large map of the world on a piece of plywood. The map was displayed in the SOU Student Union for several days. As people approached this map, they were given a small square of paper with a question that related to a particular country. Once an answer was written on their paper, the person would then nail it to the appropriate location on the map. Would their answers be correct? Would they know the location of their country? A second map displayed with accurate data and facts allows the participant to gauge their global literacy. With a few changes, this project could be easily applied to elementary and secondary curriculum.

Featured Project: Preserving Oregon's Wilderness

Six students teamed up with KS Wild to create postcards and flyers that educate the public about the Oregon Treasures Act. This is a bill that would designate new Wilderness and Wild and Scenic River areas on the Rogue River. The student team spent an entire day on the Rogue River creating and photographing environmental sculptures and installations to be used in their flyers and postcards. The students have collected hundreds of signed postcards to be sent to the Oregon Legislature as testimony to the growing concern over the preservation of this treasured Oregon landmark.

Featured Project: Documenting Student Experiences Around the Globe

Five students collaborated with the International Programs Office and the National Student Exchange at SOU to create a collective scrap-book that documents student experiences in study abroad programs and student exchanges.
Spending time in different countries and learning about different cultures first hand can have a profound effect on today’s student. This project provides an outlet for students to share their stories and memories so that others may be encouraged to do the same. The scrap-book will be housed in the International Programs Office with the hope that a copy can also be delivered to each department on campus. The student team also hopes that future exchange students will add their pages to the book.

Featured Project: Exploring Gender and Sexuality

Four students teamed up with SOU’s Queer Resource Center to implement an art project exploring how each of us interprets our own gender and sexuality. Student clubs and individuals were asked to decorate large boxes with images and words that best described their sexuality and/or gender. The boxes were then displayed in two venues: SOU Student Union and Ashland’s Downtown Plaza. In both instances, the boxes opened up a dialogue about gender and sexual identity with the student team and those who passed by. Visitors were also encouraged to write down their own feelings about gender and sexuality and then attach these drawings and notes to the boxes. This is a project that could easily transfer into a classroom or other group setting.

Featured Project: The National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory

Six students worked in partnership with the National Fish and Wildlife Service Forensics Laboratory in Ashland to create a film documenting the lab’s mission - which is “to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.”

The student team spent several hours learning about the different departments at the Forensics Lab and how their processes are used to solve crimes against animals and plants. Their film melds interviews of lab personnel with informative facts and collected data on the illegal killing of animals. The documentary will be displayed in the lobby of the Forensics Laboratory to help educate the public about its role in preserving and protecting our nation’s fish and wildlife.

Featured Project: The Village Farm

Four students worked with The Village Farm, a cooperative farm in Ashland. The student team toured The Village Farm and learned how it is serving as a model site for sustainable agriculture, practice and education. Since the farm is fairly new, the student team decided to create a testimony board. The team painted a 4 feet by 8 feet plywood board with a farming scene. There are blank spaces on the board where people can explain through testimony why local, organic, and cooperative farming practices are important to them. The board will be housed at the farm, but will also travel to the growers market and to other sites in the Rogue Valley.

Featured Project: “Fragile. Handle with Care. Recycle.”

Three students teamed up with Madrona Arts – a local organization whose goal is to raise ecological awareness through the arts – to create a project titled, “Fragile. Handle with Care. Recycle”. Their goal was to bring more awareness to recycling bins by decorating them. “Every day people dump trash into recycling bins by mistake,” says one of the students working on this project. “It can really be a problem when it comes to sorting the recycling properly.” The student team and its community partner paired up for countless hours of cleaning, priming, and painting metal trash cans.

Each recycling bin was painted with a unique design such as Andy Warhol soup cans, hand prints, or a rotating earth. The words “Fragile. Handle with Care. Recycle.” were a consistent addition to each bin and an appropriate title for the theme.

What is the purpose of this Blog

I established this blog to document the “Activist Art Projects” that have been and continue to be created by the students who take my course. I may occasionally provide links to other artists and activists in the field who are committed to community engagement. I also hope to provide a space for my students to share future projects as they continue to employ themselves in community engagement beyond their college years.

Introduction

In 2006 I created a course titled Activist Art. This course explores and defines activism and the roles artists play in instigating change and igniting community involvement. Along with examining significant historical and current trends in activist art through assigned readings, lectures, and in-class discussions, students are also required to create an “Activist Art Project”. As a Community Based Learning (CBL) course, Activist Art integrates course content with relevant community engagement. In this course, students team up with a “community partner” (community agency) and explore successful strategies and approaches to activist art in relation to the agency’s mission. These meetings culminate into a unique “activist” or “community” based project which bridges the gap between Southern Oregon University students and the citizens of the Rogue Valley.