A recent project with Drawing I, II, and Printmaking students: Every weekend these students and I make small (3 x 5) anonymous drawings and/or prints which are dated, slipped into envelopes, and given away sometime early in the week.
The purpose is three-fold: Firstly, to bring visual artwork to the GC&SU campus and the Milledgeville community at large. Too often we think of art as belonging in museums or galleries exclusively, inapproachable, unaffordable, understandable and produceable by only those initiated in the mysteries of the medium. It can be rarely fun and often overly intimidating. We hope to let the public know that art is available to them, to encourage discussion, spark the imagination, and brighten a day or two in the community.
Secondly to encourage an awareness among our student artists of their place and responsibility within society. We do not work within a vacuum, and our audience need not be our colleagues exclusively...no need to preach to the choir. The arts may be one of the last democratic arenas left in our society, a place where all can experience the sensation of truly making up one's own mind. Those participating in this project are validating their work by widening this arena to include those often marginalized or ignored by the usual art "market," and those who mistakenly believe that art is not for them.
Thirdly we attempt to demystify what we do, to ourselves and to the community. By abandoning our work at bus stops, slipping it under a door or putting it in the hands of strangers and walking away, we deny the preciousness and reject the elitism traditionally associated with our vocation. This helps us from falling in love with every scribble we make and allows us to concentrate on the process of production and growth. I would add that these are only my thoughts. I look to my students for redefinition and reification of this project, as it is not a static assignment to be "completed" but an organic process existing because of all our efforts.
Dated photocopies (or additional prints) are produced of all the work, and journal entries are made involving 1) thoughts on the making of the piece and its final result, and 2) how it felt to abandon ownership of the piece, where it was abandoned or to whom it was given, etc. We feel it important the piece be anonymous (the focus is to be on the work and the recipient, not the artist), therefore no reply letter or other information is included.
Along with visual art, envelopes could include original writings or those by favorite authors, found or fabricated objects, CDs, etc. The work is dated and placed inside a letter envelope which has the following printed on the outside:
"Congratulations! You now own an original
Drawing Linocut Woodcut Etching Lithograph Silkscreen Monotype Photograph Construction Other_____
by a GC&SU art student or faculty."
This media information may be expanded to include: Painting, Digital Print, Poem, Collage, and so on... The corresponding medium is circled and the envelope is dated, sealed, and given away freely.
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