Art, Land, and Storytelling

Students will create place-worlds, or stories upon close examination of the land and their environment. You will choose a local location to research its recent and ancient history from a variety of facets, including municipal, social, geological, its current conditions through documentation, and just spending time there. You will develop a story about this place based on your research, and several guest storytellers will assist in the process. Story sharing will happen through 1) oral tellings or performances and 2) creation of artist books. We’ll perform and distribute artist books in meaningful ways that involve the community.

How have stories shaped our lives? Storytelling is universal and yet it is bound by specific traditions, methods and media that vary between peoples, places and times. Through learning histories and creatively expressing narratives of place, we can grasp the complexities of our urban home, and change our conditions for the better.

The workshop will begin with stories from Native American peoples and will investigate the history and work of Indigenous peoples of our region. We will explore stories through a variety of artistic methods: painting, printmaking, sculpture, performance, sound, and public art. Students will bring a story from their own heritage, background, or life experience that connects them to the land, and will produce a final collaborative piece, combining elements of commonality into a vision for the future, a shared story that we’ll tell together using the materials and techniques we have learned.

Through this work, student will learn methods for grounding their work in the context of their own histories, cultures and experiences, and will build cooperative relationships that respect the land we live on.