Art Event -- Arth SMP

On May 5th, I attended the SMP presentations in Art History by April Morgan and Erica Maust.

April's presentation was curatorial, an examination of artwork of St. Mary's students past. In her consideration of the artwork, she searched for a trend or change in curriculum that was documented in the history of the college as well as identifiable in the artwork. She stated that there was a tangible shift away from skill focus and towards an emphasis on idea, conceptual development, and diversity of source. This is a similar trend in the liberalization of the college evident throughout the past ~30 years that April examined. Out of all of this work, she selected a relatively small number of pieces that she considered representative of this trend and displayed them in the 3rd floor beanbag lounge in the library. As she mentioned in her presentation, the emphasis in pieces was on portraits and landscapes, but she chose a refreshing array of artwork in addition to this general standby for 2D art-- she included drawings, paintings, and a small amount of sculpture and even a video presentation.

It amazed me that April could base a whole SMP off of artwork only from this school, but I was surprised further that she could find as much as she did to talk about. (I suppose my concept of SMPs is still relatively highfalutin.) I found it interesting, however, that the works she was exhibiting showed a less-than-expected trend towards and not away from realism. Although it is typical that the exploration of further idea over skill and craft would lead to greater and greater nonrepresentationalism, the pieces April chose did not show this trend in the least-- indeed, paintings on a whole became less stylized, less painterly, etc. This begs the viewer to look further at the idea that must be nesting behind these works instead of using identifiability as the cornerstone for the concept of a focus on idea.

Erica Maust's presentation centered around a more cultural approach to art history. In her presentation, she introduced us to UNESCO, a worldwide organization dedicated to designating sites and manmade structures as historically and culturally significant. The designations made by this organization publicly peg these places, most often allowing them to become attractions for outsiders and tourists. Erica was interested in how this affected the culture and memory tied to these sites when they are closely connected to a community. She focused on two small towns and sites in Mexico, Palenque and Calakmul, which both consisted of indigenous populace and an ancient Mayan construction.

The consensus indicates that the inhabitants felt invaded by UNESCO, that they'd been impacted economically and felt personally affronted by the thrusting of their place into the public realm. Erica opened her presentation with an adage in Spanish reading "lo que es de todos, es de nadie," or that which is everyone's is no one's. This sheds interesting light on the idea that one collective people in these places must have over time began calling the ruin near them "theirs," and identifying with it... I hadn't before considered the impact it would make on their personal lives when the site was designated culturally or historically significant and made public. It makes sense that publicizing the site would feel as though the site is metaphysically taken away from the surrounding inhabitants. I find this an interesting study of heritage, its nebulosity, and the factors surrounding it; I also find it interesting that Erica focused her art history project not on what an ancient work of art can do for its contemporary viewers, but what the contemporary people can do to it and those involved with it, its "loved ones."