Community Outreach
As a public artist and an interior designer, I have learned that making a living as an artist often requires the ability to collaborate, communicate, and reflect back to the stake holders their vision through you. Most of the time, this is challenging as you are working with many different visions and priorities, but the rewards are great as you have put yourself and what you have to offer as a citizen and an artist, as they say…”out there”.
This is “project-based learning” in a nut shell. Community art crosses disciplines with little regard for established boundaries; it is often both frustrating and transformative, and there are always opportunities to learn about ourselves.
Each year I have taken on a community /student project with either my elementary, middle school, or high school students. In a community setting, the experience of creating art as well at the artwork itself is changed. What we can hope to achieve is to empower students analyze how art-making practices shape the sensibilities of a community, and for the teacher to think about the range of learning objectives that may be embodied in the project.
Recent community /student art projects:
· 18 murals for the Veterans Administration Hospital in Salt Lake City in 2012
· 18 glass mosaic figures for the Jordan River bridge in Poplar Grove in 2013
· 30 ornaments for the National Christmas Tree in Washington DC in 2011
· 5 mosaic benches for Logan City in 2014
· Design/ build bus shelters with recycled materials, planned for 2015-2016
NEA Our Town grant designated public artist for three sites, 1- story circle in Oxbow Park, 2- 3 totems Sorenson Unity Center, 3- Claim-It street sign sculpture. 2016-2017
This is “project-based learning” in a nut shell. Community art crosses disciplines with little regard for established boundaries; it is often both frustrating and transformative, and there are always opportunities to learn about ourselves.
Each year I have taken on a community /student project with either my elementary, middle school, or high school students. In a community setting, the experience of creating art as well at the artwork itself is changed. What we can hope to achieve is to empower students analyze how art-making practices shape the sensibilities of a community, and for the teacher to think about the range of learning objectives that may be embodied in the project.
Recent community /student art projects:
· 18 murals for the Veterans Administration Hospital in Salt Lake City in 2012
· 18 glass mosaic figures for the Jordan River bridge in Poplar Grove in 2013
· 30 ornaments for the National Christmas Tree in Washington DC in 2011
· 5 mosaic benches for Logan City in 2014
· Design/ build bus shelters with recycled materials, planned for 2015-2016
NEA Our Town grant designated public artist for three sites, 1- story circle in Oxbow Park, 2- 3 totems Sorenson Unity Center, 3- Claim-It street sign sculpture. 2016-2017