Natural Resources: Artmaking & Ecology

Introductory topics in environmental and natural resource issues beyond the scope of exiting courses.

Special Topics courses cannot carry CC designations. Open to degree and PACE students

What is the role of the arts in radically changing human relationships with the environment in a just equitable, and ecological direction? This course will lead students in the creation of lanterns exploring their own relationships and responsibility to natural materials, the environment, and each other. When illuminated, the lanterns will reveal stories, silhouettes, and patterns. Students will: Explore their own values and relationships with the environment and other species by crafting sculptural lanterns drawing on a range of artmaking methods. They will investigate how light and shadow, and the interplay between interiority and exteriority in their lantern projects, reflect their personal or cultural stories. The final project will be in the form of a lantern with a sculptural form, an exterior which is visible when the internal light is turned off or ambient light is powerful, like the sun. In darkness, when the lanterns are illuminated, the interiority of the lanterns are revealed, showing shadow, stitching, and hidden elements. Debate and critique the ethical considerations of material use in artmaking, including ideas about how materials (both living and non-living) can be treated as collaborators with agency. Many other species are treated as ‘natural resources’ with humans as the decision maker for how and when to use and manage them. The same goes for arts, where most materials are treated as inert substances (paint, clay, cloth) waiting for the creative genius of the art to enliven them. But what if we take seriously that these media are always already enlivened by their being a part of the earth, made from the bodies of once-living beings, or perhaps even still alive? Read and engage with theoretical texts and artist case studies that deal with craft, ethics, environmental justice, and materiality, linking these readings to their own creative practice. Learn and apply a variety of hands-on skills such as sewing, willow weaving, cloth-mâché, mold-making, papercut shadow work, integrating these techniques into the design of their final lantern projects.