Getting to Know the Place
2021
As part of my graduate work, I wrote and designed the publication Getting to Know the Place. The book is meant to be an accessible, plain language introduction to how I have approached place-based learning. It presents two projects: work created at an artist residency at Strassel Farm, and the curriculum developed for a university course titled Interpreting Place. I am particularly interested in how humans find meaning on lands that are perceived as damaged or ugly. The book focuses specifically on a site that has suffered from environmental degradation and a faily generic corporate real estate development that encircles a historic site. The book includes a series of activities and exercises that explore the role that socially engaged art can play to foster intimacy and connection with a place, in addition to artwork created by participants in both projects. Getting to Know the Place was edited by Mariah Berlanga-Shevchuk.
