Public Art and Eco-Justice: Community Collaboration and Civic Engagement With Freshman Undergraduates

• In Event: 60.067 - Collaborative Art and Activism for Eco-Justice Education

Abstract

“It’s radioactive!” Onboard a tourist train to the Grand Canyon, passengers looked out upon 13 people in hazmat suits as they apparently cleaned up a radioactive area. On the other side of the tracks, passengers saw a dozen people in hospital gowns with IVs, solemnly lined up across the span of a half mile. When they disembarked 30 minutes later, passengers greeted three students who explained to them that they had witnessed a public art performance for eco-justice. Their purpose was to provoke awareness of uranium mining and its effects on human and non-human health on the Colorado Plateau.
Purposes
The purpose of this paper is to document and share the results of three First-Year Seminar courses for undergraduate students at Northern Arizona University (NAU). These courses teach students about the intersections between ecological justice and public art, and are structurally mandated to bridge the university and community. Aimed at teaching university students how to collectively organize for socio-ecological change, the First Year Seminar Program is founded upon civic engagement through partnerships built and (re)negotiated over time with community-based organizations and people (Coles & Scarnati, in press; Ganz, 2008).
Perspectives
Lippard (1997) challenges notions of public art that consider any type of widely visible art as “public.” Rather than abstract, generalizable, and inaccessible, she suggests that art becomes public when it is deeply connected to the people and the places in which it is made. Lippard writes that public art is “accessible art of any species that cares about, challenges, involves, and consults the audience for or with whom it is made, respecting community and environment” (p. 264). Accordingly, students enrolled in the eco-justice and public art courses research local, historical issues relevant to their region (Helguerra, 2011). While their audience is not always involved in the design (time constraints), the art projects are geographically and temporally relevant to the purpose and place of the intended audience.
Methods & Data Sources
For this paper, I will present the public art projects and curricular structure of three first year seminars on ecological justice and public art. My presentation is primarily based upon my experience as the course instructor. Data sources for this report and analysis include project photos, formal and informal student evaluations, course syllabi, and planning documents. Institutional review for the protection of human subjects is not applicable for this paper.
Conclusions & Significance
In collaboration with local professional artists, students in the seminars created powerful and high quality public art. Students’ view of what their university education can be, engagement with local issues of concern, bonds to their peers, and passion for their own justice struggles was deepened. Further, the public art pieces created in these seminars impacted the public and had unexpectedly wide-reaching impacts on organizations such as the Grand Canyon National Park Service.

Author

• Nora Timmerman, Northern Arizona University