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A 'green' look at the MIAD senior exhibition
MIAD Senior Exhibition 2008
Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design
273 E. Erie Street, Milwaukee
(414) 847-3200
www.miad.edu
April 18-May 10
By Jeff Filipiak
Posted April 30, 2008. There's plenty to view at the MIAD Senior Exhibition,
with over 130 final projects by MIAD seniors. But as an environmental historian, I
wanted to see how many projects expressed interest in nature, and pondered how
humans might develop a more sustainable use of nature.
A theme that ran through many of my favorite projects was a focus on 'moving
outside.' Artists and designers moved their artwork outside the frame, and insisted
on breaking down borders between humans and non-humans. They reminded
viewers of consequences existing outside the show, and they tried to motivate
people to go outside. I found these objectives quite consistent with those of the
Seeing Green show currently at Woodland Pattern (see my review elsewhere on
this site).
Two pieces addressed the issue of getting people outside, drawing on concerns
expressed in Richard Louv's book Last Child in the Woods. Meghan McGuire's
project is an ingenious thought experiment on how to use the modern technology
that children are familiar with to reconnect them with challenges in the outdoors.
She proposes an 'electronic nature learning tool,' drawing on recent technology
including online connectivity and GPS in order to restore an interest in nature, and
she also used nature (insects) as a model for the form. Users would 'take only
photographs', yes; but they would also take with them an expanded awareness.
The results might be something like what another artist, Heather Webber,
optimistically depicts in her pieces, where an urban child learns the joys of
watching animals from a magical experience, which she suggests through
glowing 'rain animals' in her illustrations.
Zachary Rueter's work explores how humans make sense of such experiences in
nature. In multiple media, he suggests how experiences in nature (hunting,
camping, viewing) become mixed with other stories, and shape our identities. He
demonstrates an appealing mimicry of earlier forms (an extended consideration of
history) including the natural history and exploration narratives of centuries ago,
as well as Asian minimalism. His work, like that of many others, moves outside the
frame; he included a pile of cut wood in his exhibit, reminding us that along with
memory, nature is a site for work and a source of energy. It also provided a nice
olfactory experience in the installation, moving outside a narrowing reliance on
the visual.
Several students presented work which evokes the flow of nature between different
forms. Erik Baden's drawing suggests grass, or other objects, flowing into other
patches of grass – constant movement, no formal boundaries. Karin Haas began
her prints with one natural object, then let each flow into a variety of others, turning
out a bit kaleidoscopic; a bird might border a flower, which turns into a squirrel
by the end. As one substance later becomes another, through eating and through
cycles of birth and rebirth, so her subjects start in one identity and then flow into
others. Jason Santiago's photographs reminded me of "Twin Peaks" or Wisconsin
painter Tom Uttech, with images of ghostly presences in nature; here it is the
human presence that is unclear, blurred – as if to ask what our place is in nature.
While the idea drew my attention, I did wonder if he might've found more different
ways to transform human parts into blurs. Jamie Ohland's work finds a more
comfortable fit, as her paintings of foxes and flowers are designed as portraits of
people she knows. Aspects of people are represented, suggesting overlaps
between human qualities and nonhuman ones. She takes humans, and her art, off
a pedestal; instead, her fox piece spills onto the floor, in a pile of what a fox might
collect, breaking down boundaries between art and life as it breaks down
boundaries between humans and nature. Anna Shovers draws our attention to oil
spills and cut logs, as well as mixing birds and cherubs, on and off the canvas,
reminding us that there are no final boundaries. Ryan Hainey's photographs make
this move in reverse, finding nature where we might not expect it, in industrial
decay. They also echo Edward Burtynsky's work, as seen in the movie
Manufactured Landscapes, demonstrating an eye for how places also go through
processes of mortality and are transformed in ways that produce striking colors
and appealing forms.
In design pieces, Clair Snyder's Alter nation links global warming to personal
consumption, and offers suggestions how to redesign her products into new ones
at the end of their lifestyles, in ways that the "Cradle to Cradle" authors would
admire. Of the architecture and design pieces, the housing proposal by Delia
Lopez stands out for its careful awareness of the proposed site, and its effort to
find more than a dozen sustainable materials, incorporating solar energy,
recycling, and reducing impact.
Kristyn Knicklebine's exhibit particularly impressed me, for the effort she put in to
practicing what she preaches. Her message was comparable to numerous other
communication design pieces I've seen at MIAD over the years. But she also took
the effort to design her display using sustainable materials as well, including the
paint and the lighting in her exhibit. Instead of just handing out cards, she hands
out reusable shopping bags (with lists of sustainable-use suggestions, and seeds to
plant, no less) – an impressive way of making an impression for herself, and a
gesture for her cause, that people could take home with them.
Cari Enot's work addresses three central environmental issues: raising awareness,
consumption, and attachment to place. Her interactive trash can addresses
consumption, perhaps the key environmental problem for Americans; as she
suggested, the 'reduce' aspect of the '3 Rs' often gets lost. (It reminded me of
Naoki Kato, who presented a similarly thoughtful, though quite different, trash can
at the 2006 exhibition.) Perhaps a thoughtful and aesthetically appealing piece
can help focus user attention on the park they might otherwise be littering in.
Whether it does or not, it offers her the chance to get some feedback from
potential users of such a trash can, useful both from design and sustainability
viewpoints. (The receptacle can currently be viewed in Sherman Park, where it is
literally performing a function outside the exhibit.) Enot's work, like Knicklebane's,
suggests how we might put the ideas explored by many of these students
(including others I did not have the time to mention) into practice. As we become
aware of how our bodies rely on sources outside us, and how our actions create
consequences which flow into others, we can look to redesign our actions and our
products in order to create a future that we would find more attractive.
Jeff Filipiak is an environmental historian, humanities instructor, and frequent
contributor to Susceptible to Images.
MIAD Senior Exhibition 2008
Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design
273 E. Erie Street, Milwaukee
(414) 847-3200
www.miad.edu
April 18-May 10
By Jeff Filipiak
Posted April 30, 2008. There's plenty to view at the MIAD Senior Exhibition,
with over 130 final projects by MIAD seniors. But as an environmental historian, I
wanted to see how many projects expressed interest in nature, and pondered how
humans might develop a more sustainable use of nature.
A theme that ran through many of my favorite projects was a focus on 'moving
outside.' Artists and designers moved their artwork outside the frame, and insisted
on breaking down borders between humans and non-humans. They reminded
viewers of consequences existing outside the show, and they tried to motivate
people to go outside. I found these objectives quite consistent with those of the
Seeing Green show currently at Woodland Pattern (see my review elsewhere on
this site).
Two pieces addressed the issue of getting people outside, drawing on concerns
expressed in Richard Louv's book Last Child in the Woods. Meghan McGuire's
project is an ingenious thought experiment on how to use the modern technology
that children are familiar with to reconnect them with challenges in the outdoors.
She proposes an 'electronic nature learning tool,' drawing on recent technology
including online connectivity and GPS in order to restore an interest in nature, and
she also used nature (insects) as a model for the form. Users would 'take only
photographs', yes; but they would also take with them an expanded awareness.
The results might be something like what another artist, Heather Webber,
optimistically depicts in her pieces, where an urban child learns the joys of
watching animals from a magical experience, which she suggests through
glowing 'rain animals' in her illustrations.
Zachary Rueter's work explores how humans make sense of such experiences in
nature. In multiple media, he suggests how experiences in nature (hunting,
camping, viewing) become mixed with other stories, and shape our identities. He
demonstrates an appealing mimicry of earlier forms (an extended consideration of
history) including the natural history and exploration narratives of centuries ago,
as well as Asian minimalism. His work, like that of many others, moves outside the
frame; he included a pile of cut wood in his exhibit, reminding us that along with
memory, nature is a site for work and a source of energy. It also provided a nice
olfactory experience in the installation, moving outside a narrowing reliance on
the visual.
Several students presented work which evokes the flow of nature between different
forms. Erik Baden's drawing suggests grass, or other objects, flowing into other
patches of grass – constant movement, no formal boundaries. Karin Haas began
her prints with one natural object, then let each flow into a variety of others, turning
out a bit kaleidoscopic; a bird might border a flower, which turns into a squirrel
by the end. As one substance later becomes another, through eating and through
cycles of birth and rebirth, so her subjects start in one identity and then flow into
others. Jason Santiago's photographs reminded me of "Twin Peaks" or Wisconsin
painter Tom Uttech, with images of ghostly presences in nature; here it is the
human presence that is unclear, blurred – as if to ask what our place is in nature.
While the idea drew my attention, I did wonder if he might've found more different
ways to transform human parts into blurs. Jamie Ohland's work finds a more
comfortable fit, as her paintings of foxes and flowers are designed as portraits of
people she knows. Aspects of people are represented, suggesting overlaps
between human qualities and nonhuman ones. She takes humans, and her art, off
a pedestal; instead, her fox piece spills onto the floor, in a pile of what a fox might
collect, breaking down boundaries between art and life as it breaks down
boundaries between humans and nature. Anna Shovers draws our attention to oil
spills and cut logs, as well as mixing birds and cherubs, on and off the canvas,
reminding us that there are no final boundaries. Ryan Hainey's photographs make
this move in reverse, finding nature where we might not expect it, in industrial
decay. They also echo Edward Burtynsky's work, as seen in the movie
Manufactured Landscapes, demonstrating an eye for how places also go through
processes of mortality and are transformed in ways that produce striking colors
and appealing forms.
In design pieces, Clair Snyder's Alter nation links global warming to personal
consumption, and offers suggestions how to redesign her products into new ones
at the end of their lifestyles, in ways that the "Cradle to Cradle" authors would
admire. Of the architecture and design pieces, the housing proposal by Delia
Lopez stands out for its careful awareness of the proposed site, and its effort to
find more than a dozen sustainable materials, incorporating solar energy,
recycling, and reducing impact.
Kristyn Knicklebine's exhibit particularly impressed me, for the effort she put in to
practicing what she preaches. Her message was comparable to numerous other
communication design pieces I've seen at MIAD over the years. But she also took
the effort to design her display using sustainable materials as well, including the
paint and the lighting in her exhibit. Instead of just handing out cards, she hands
out reusable shopping bags (with lists of sustainable-use suggestions, and seeds to
plant, no less) – an impressive way of making an impression for herself, and a
gesture for her cause, that people could take home with them.
Cari Enot's work addresses three central environmental issues: raising awareness,
consumption, and attachment to place. Her interactive trash can addresses
consumption, perhaps the key environmental problem for Americans; as she
suggested, the 'reduce' aspect of the '3 Rs' often gets lost. (It reminded me of
Naoki Kato, who presented a similarly thoughtful, though quite different, trash can
at the 2006 exhibition.) Perhaps a thoughtful and aesthetically appealing piece
can help focus user attention on the park they might otherwise be littering in.
Whether it does or not, it offers her the chance to get some feedback from
potential users of such a trash can, useful both from design and sustainability
viewpoints. (The receptacle can currently be viewed in Sherman Park, where it is
literally performing a function outside the exhibit.) Enot's work, like Knicklebane's,
suggests how we might put the ideas explored by many of these students
(including others I did not have the time to mention) into practice. As we become
aware of how our bodies rely on sources outside us, and how our actions create
consequences which flow into others, we can look to redesign our actions and our
products in order to create a future that we would find more attractive.
Jeff Filipiak is an environmental historian, humanities instructor, and frequent
contributor to Susceptible to Images.
| Copyright 2008 Art History Chicks LLC |
| Work by Cari Enot. |
| Work by Kristyn Knicklebine. |
| Work by Zachary Rueter. All photos this page by Jeff Filipiak. |