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| Civic Studio |
Civic studio is an applied experimental studio project started in 1999. It operates as a public project and is organized as a course in the Art and Design Department at Grand Valley State University.
It is the ultimate in strange. It mixes philosophy, civic mindless, volunteerism, and art all in one big mash that is often hard to swallow and tastes bitter and sweet simultaneously.
This class has made me feel lost, beaten down, rejected, stupefied and down right angry. There was a period in the beginning where my bones ached to create some type of lasting public art, but that was quickly replaced by a desire to do nothing which in turn became a lack of motivation which morphed into some semblance of respectability.
I have never had a class that I struggled with more than Civic Studio (well Teaching the Non-Traditional Canon is a close second for different reasons) it was so alien and the concepts were so heavy that I often just relegated myself to not thinking about it.
While I struggled others thrived. Those far more culturally sensitive than I loved the class and their touch was soon seen everywhere. I kept wanting to rock the boat and blow up this concept of doing good for the community through whatever means necessary. Every project needed to be put through the gauntlet of committee opinion and soon was wheedled down to nothing. The list of scraped projects is lengthy and a lot of them were insightful but not "good" for the community.
This class is not for everyone, but my experience was meaningful in the end. It taught me never to become involved in committee based art-making.
A complete list of all project ideas for Fall 2012 Civic Studio.
- Baking and serving bread
- Bread Machine / Workshops
- Lint Rolled Ground Prints
- Sidewalk talks
- Recipe share
- Other Way Ministries listening project
- Sunday Soup inspired project
- Recording and displaying dispatch data in neighborhood
- Map of neighborhood using found string
- Add images onto local takeout menus
- Bakery font project
- Playing recordings of local church sermons
- Designs for local bars
- "This is not a bakery" vinyl on the front of the building
- Mapping bricks made by a local bricklayer
- Holistic Gymnasium
- Rooftop Garden
- Exterior text projections dealing with gentrification
- Mobile meeting places
- Playing with different furniture arrangements in the storefront
- Adding found furniture into storefront
- Documentary of locals' histories
- Sharing stories at an open mic event
- Community sketchbook
- Community timeline on storefront windows
- Checkerboard in front of bakery
- Free popcorn and conversation
- Community Radio
- Knowledge share projects
- Alternative economic inquiries (timebanks, alternate currency)
- Embroidered napkin dinner
- Ethnic soup potluck
- Recording sounds from animals in the bakery
- Community projects using leftover doughnut boxes
- Taking pictures of locals and incorporating them into a project
- Youth workshops
- Community quilts
- Mobile dishwashing project
- Recording neighborhood sounds
- Mobile Simon Says game
- Costume Walk
- Zine projects
- Games with a pool table
- InConvenience store
- Hat project
- Tiny House Project
- Bread vs Doughnuts projection
- Food Co-Op/Food Pantry
- Mapping transitional spaces in neighborhood
- Translating gentrification into an abstract art medium
- Bread clay
- 3d map
- American Bread Company Memorial
- Gentrification first aid kit
Ideas utilizing the loading dock space:
- Movie Theatre
- Bunk House
- Hammocks
- Found furniture
- Bike repair stations
- Displaying a fishing boat and then displaying a sail boat
- Displaying a hipster bike and then displaying a modified low-rider bike
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