Projects – Field Practice

Directions

When I moved to Boston I got lost frequently on runs. Asking directions from locals gave me glimpses of other perspectives and cultural richness of the places. People bring up landmarks they are familiar with, places they pass routinely, things that used to be on the location, or spots they have an emotional connection to. Sometimes people are new to the area or too busy, rushing to and from work with earphones on, to develop a connection with their environment so they cant direct me through their space.

I plan to make eight trips into Mission Hill at various times of day and days of the week to ask directions from residents and workers I find. I have developed a list of over 40 locations of historical significance, current interest and well-known streets in the area. I will secretly audio record the interactions. After gathering and editing sound clips I will put them on a blog so that people from outside the community can learn about Mission Hill’s community and landscape.

By asking directions from people who live in Mission Hill I hope to force people to discover their neighborhood if they are unaware of it or encourage curiosity if they are aware of it. By posting evidence of this experience on the Internet I hope to encourage others to explore the area in person or virtually and change the connotations Mission Hill has outside of the neighborhood.

-mariah

A Forgotten Past

Continue reading “A Forgotten Past”

Tokens of Appreciation

Download Map here »

Kaleigh’s blog entries.

While wandering the Mission Hill area, I have discovered many sites that a person may not find on a map. Interesting nooks and crannies of the Hill, these sites are unique for their architecture, for their view, for their nature or their materiality. Whatever their particular traits may be, these sites juxtaposed to the rest of the community make them special. Perhaps you are a resident of Mission Hill; perhaps not. Perhaps you have been to these locations before; perhaps you will find a new treasure.

My mission is to help those who are interested discover these spots, and for the time you take to appreciate Mission Hill, I will give you a token of my appreciation. At each location listed on the map will be ten “Tokens” of my appreciation for you to find. They are small, wooden, coin-like pieces, printed with original works of art depicting the site they will be discovered at. And they are for you to keep, if you choose.

What will you get from this experience? I can’t say. Perhaps you will frequent these sites often as a place of contemplation, a simple way to escape the chaos of the city; perhaps you will never visit these spots again. Either way, I hope you enjoy your wanderings.

(My name is Kaleigh O’Keefe Heinhold, and I am a Sculpture/Art History major at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. This is my first public art project, created with the help of Kevin Banker. Please feel free to post responses to the project, or ask me any questions you may have. Thank you all for participating.)

To M&B of Massart Metals….

Thank you so much! You have no idea how exciting it is for me that these tokens meant something to you, and I am very excited to see what you put up at the end of the semester. I hope you stumble across some of the other tokens on your next walk, or take a map and hunt them down. Either way, I’m glad they are special to you. (sorry it took so long to respond, I’m still figuring out this blog thing)

We went for a walk Sunday night at 11:30. We found the tokens on the Parker Hill benches overlooking Boston around 1 AM, probably shortly after they were distributed.

Those benches are an important place for us, and it was important to find the tokens there. There will be a response piece up there after the semester ends. We’ll let you know.

M&B, MassArt Metals

Side two of the map, designed by Kevin Banker. Hopefully it’s legible, I had to decrease the quality in order to get it on the internet.

Side one of the map, designed by Kevin Banker. This morning I dropped some maps off at the Boston Public Library by the Copley T stop, the Parker Hill Library Branch, and Mike’s Donuts on Tremont St. And that’s all of them! I think I’m going to print some more out this afternoon and see if Yes Oui Si will take some of them.

Side two of the map, designed by Kevin Banker. Hopefully it’s legible, I had to decrease the quality in order to get it on the internet.

I used a block of soft linoleum to carve out what basically act as stamps, ink the linoleum, and printed them to small wooden disks. I put my initials, the print number, and this web address onto the back in pen, and sprayed both sides with an acrylic coating to make sure the elements wouldn’t ruin the ink while the tokens are outside.

The tokens were distributed last night, and the maps are going out today. You’ll be able to find them in the Boston Public Library near the Copley T stop, in the Parker Hill Branch Library on Tremont Street, or in other public places around the area (depending on who will let me leave them in their establishment today).

-kaleigh

Make Yourself at Home

What? Free “Family Photos” by the mantelpiece for all willing members of the Mission Hill (And Boston) community. As people come out from Easter mass at the basilica, I will offer them the chance to pose with other members of their neighborhood in front of a hand painted 8’x6’ backdrop of a fireplace and mantle as a faux-family. Each picture will include between 3-6 neighbors ranging in age and ethnicity. Mission Statement: With this event I wish to engage members of the Mission Hill community in an activity in which they voluntarily pose and associate themselves with their neighbors, instating a message of family orientation and values within the community.

-lila

Community Gardening

To view intervention in spring 2011 click here: Ben and Cashel Community Gardening.

Mapping Community

Ltd.

Our intention is to provide a platform for the investigation, production and promotion of site-responsive temporary art projects. With a budget limited to twenty dollars (ltd.) per project, artists and designers are invited to contribute to the dialogue about art in the context of public spaces and geared toward pedestrian audiences, and to participate in a collective examination of the abiding issues of the commodification of contemporary art within the larger economic and cultural organization of our society. Using the Internet and catalog publishing as mediums for dissemination, this initiative is focused on posing new questions and uncovering new strategies, inquiries and territories for art as an affordable and accessible discourse.

Our goal is to assemble a wide range of projects that are approached in a site-responsive manner, operate as positive interferences/interventions in the public sphere, and engage pedestrian audiences in re-examining the past, present and future condition of the places to which they are added, drawing awareness to cultural, political and historical geographies.

To visit website: Ltd.

Streetsmiths

The TV show Beyond Repair was about two guys picking up free curbside furniture, transforming them and giving them back to their owners. Using common objects we would normally dispose we will make new art, revealing those objects as materials and showing that objects are often renewable beyond recycling. We will get the community involved in contributing, helping, or simply being inspired by taking something home with them as a reminder of the possibilities of found-object craft.

-devon and blake

Outline: Mapping Chinatown

Outline is an experimental mapping project that explores relationships between the artist and the city. This project is produced by a group of student-artists from Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

The practice of strolling, drifting and exploring in urban space continues to be a source of inspiration to many generations of artists, writers and adventurers. While this project seeks inspiration in the urban environment through encounters and observations, it is also an attempt to locate a specific place though art and social exchange. The work in the exhibition documents individual artist experiences and interpretations of the quotidian geography and narrative of Chinatown, a community which culturally serves not only Boston but the greater New England area.

Participants: Ian T. Cameron, Jeremy B. Carrion, Susan T. D’Alessandro, Marissa H. Daniels, Kirstin M. Davidson, Neillea L. Dee, Kevin Devilme, Miguelina Felix, Carson J. Halstead, Kelly M. Kennedy, Sydney D. Krantz, Carter J. Lynch, Andrew W. MacConnell, Elisa Melegari, Markus J. Nechay, Lucretia M. Seabrook, Jordan E. Siegel, Melissa A. Spiess, Pierre R. Victor; organized by Jonathan Santos.

Many thanks to: Lydia Lowe, Thomas Chen, Sue Yan Yuen and Wen-ti Tsen.

The Wong/Yee gallery is an art gallery unit of the Chinese Progressive Association (CPA]. It is devoted to partnering artists of Boston area with grass-root community organizing groups to develop and show art that can record and communicate people’s lives and conditions in the community, and to use art as a creative tool to envision possibilities for social advancement.

Exhibition Date: March 15- April 8, 2011
Closing Reception: Friday, April 8, 5-7 PM

W/Y Gallery at CPA
One Nassau Street, Unit 2
Boston, MA 02111
617. 357. 4499
wygallery@gmail.com
Hours: M. T. W. 9-5

To view images from the show: click here.

Mapping the City

This project centers on the relationships between artists and the city, explores the many layers of the city and examines how we navigate through the urban environment in everyday situations.

MassArt Focus: Mapping Chinatown

Community Mapping Project

Students organized by Jonathan Santos are involved with an experimental mapping project, Outline, that explores relationships between the artist and the city. The student participants have sought inspiration from the act of strolling and exploring urban spaces. While the project seeks to inspire through the encounters and observations of urban environments, Outline also attempts to locate a specific place through art and social engagement. The work presented in the exhibitions documents individual artist experiences and interpretations of the quotidian geography and narrative of Chinatown, a community which culturally serves not only Boston but the greater New England area. Outline was recently exhibited at the Wong/Yee Gallery, an art gallery unit of the Chinese Progressive Association. The organization is devoted to partnering artists of the Boston area and grass-root community organizing groups to develop and show art that can record and communicate people’s lives and conditions in the community, and to use art as a creative tool to envision possibilities for social advancement. “I feel as though the most rewarding aspect of the project was the ability to have my work presented in the area that came as the inspiration of my work,” remarked student Carson Halstead. “The whole experience was pretty cool, I had never been involved in such a project before and had my work displayed in such a public gallery.”