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LAND ARTS OF THE AMERICAN
WEST
LAND ARTS OF THE AMERICAN WEST
is a studio-based, field study program dedicated to the investigation
of land arts from pre-contact Native American to contemporary
Euro-American cultures. Land arts practices can include everything
from constructing a road, to taking a walk, to building a monument,
to leaving a mark in the sand. We learn from the fact that Donald
Judd surrounded himself with both contemporary sculpture and
Navajo rugs; that Chaco Canyon and Roden Crater function as celestial
instruments; and that the Very Large Array is a scientific research
center with a powerful aesthetic presence on the land. LAND ARTS
operates as a collaboration between Studio Art at the University
of New Mexico and Design at the University of Texas at Austin.
Fourteen students led by two faculty, spend a semester living
and working in the southwestern landscape with guest scholars
and artists in disciplines including archeology, art history,
architecture, ceramics, criticism, writing, design, and studio
art.
In LAND ARTS, participants become
cognizant of human interventions in their region across time
and cultures. Occupying the land for weeks at a time, living
as a nomadic group and working directly in the environment, we
navigate issues of culture, site, community and self.
The program is directed by Bill
Gilbert of the University of New Mexico and Chris Taylor of the
University of Texas in Austin. For more information, visit the
Land
Arts Web site.
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