Collaborative Art Student Projects

	My project has undergone a series of transformations. Here a 4 of the bigger developements of my project:
	1. An offshoot of Wendy and Brett's project: My project consists of three portraits of individuals who I repect in the geology department, a community that means a lot to me. I intend to create a project centered around these people as a way to represent and thank the geology department. After a few readings (the one on Rick Lowe in particular) and class discussions, I realized that my project lacked substance and centered around me; it did not involve any real collaboration. Sure, I planned to interview three individuals and ask them for creative input on my project, but this degree of collaboration seemed superficial; I did not want to be "collaborating" with my thee individuals simply for the sake of fulfilling the course description.
	2. A move outside of Amherst for a concern that requires collaboration - the Environment: Rick Lowe said, “One sure way to engage people is to find something that's bigger than you are, beyond your capacity, and it forces you to build some kind of relationship to others to move the project forward." One way to ensure collaboration is to devise a project that is impossible for just one individual or a one specific group of people. In this revision my project shifts from a focus on campus divides along the lines of students, faculty, and staff to a project that requires input and ideas from individuals from those three roles. Rather than designing a project in which I directly address role tensions at Amherst, I aim to create a project that requires students, faculty, and staff to collaborate.
	3. Three levels of collaboration: A collaborative project on "the environment" is a lofty and vague one; I had to ground my project in the Amherst community. Instead of devising one grand and vague collaborative project about the environment, I devised a three-tiered project. The first part was an artistic presentation of three individuals in the geology department. The second part was a display on past and current collaborative efforts of individuals within the geology department and outside of it. The third part was challenging viewers to think about different ways of using an education beyond the classroom.
	4. Piecing together a community: Members in the geology department piece together a picture that represents the geology community. Volunteers for my project must complete a scavenger hunt about individuals in the department to find their piece of a larger mural.

A few pictures from my project:

Cutting out clues and additional information	Sienna puzzles over the puzzle	A puzzle piece is hidden in the geology bathroom	3 pieces of the picture are up!