Project:

My project is anchored in the class The Practice of Collaborative Art and Wendy Ewald and Brett Cook's campus-wide project. My project developed and transformed through class readings, discussions, and lectures on collaboration, pedagogy, and social issues.

Theme:

Collaboration can occur on different levels such as a physical level, an intellectual level, and a creative level. My project aims at recognizing collaboration on primarily an intellectual because creating a project that depends on the talents, knowledge, and ideas that are beyond the scope of one or even a handful of individuals help to create a respectful community; it encourages individuals to recognize and draw from others' talents and ideas that otherwise would likely go unnoticed.

Concept:

Wendy Ewald's fall semester class, The Practice of Collaborative Art, began with the process of creating eighteen large-scale public portraits of members of the faculty, staff, and students. The first month of the class centered around learning about the campus community project and helping Wendy Ewald and Brett Cook, the two artists guiding the artistic project, find members of the community, create the portraits, and prepare for the community festival. After a month of planning and discussing the larger campus project, I struggled to move beyond (conceptually and artistically) Wendy and Brett's project. Over the course of the semester, through readings and class discussion, my project underwent a few transformations and developed into an exploration of one Amherst community in which I spend a significant amount of time: the geology department.

I decided to focus on the geology department because in my Amherst experience, it is one of the friendliest and most cohesive departments at Amherst . The professors go to tremendous lengths to ensure that students feel respected, comfortable, and part of a community. Compared to other departments, there seems to be less of a divide between the faculty, staff, and students. Whether it is for a lab, thesis, field trip, or social gathering I think everyone in the department is aware of how dependent the success of the department is on everyone who works in the building. For example, my summer research in Death Valley , CA never could have been successful or even happened without the organization help from Jackie, our secretary or my advisor, Whitey, taking three weeks out of his summer to accompany me to California and guide me through my first field experience. Ariel, a fellow thesis student, was my field assistant who gave me advice and provided me with emotional and academic support.

In my project I want to portray three of the many roles within the geo department (there are other important roles such as the Director of the Natural History Museum or the Rock Technician,) and the degree to which collaboration happens within the department. I hope that my project will encourage and applaud collaboration at Amherst . I ask individuals to think about ways in which they can undertake more expansive projects by involving a wider group of individuals.

Method:

Art does not have to be presented in just a visual way. Art can be an expression of movement, sound, taste, or smell. Of course this is an obvious point, but it took me time to move beyond a static visual display. My project is a literal piecing together of the Amherst Geology community.

In the first part of my project, I interviewed three members of the department: one faculty member, one staff member, and one student. Before I embarked on an installation, I wanted to hear different perspectives on the geology department. What conscience efforts go into creating the community in the building? Does everyone feel like they are part of the community?

My installation will be pieced together by volunteers who are associated with the department. To receive their puzzle piece, they first must complete a scavenger hunt about other members of the department. In order the complete the hunt, they must interact with members of the department with whoem they might not narmally interact - or at least interact with them in a different way. After they find their piece, they will velcro it on a large mural that is located in a central location in the geology building.