This class focuses on brainstorming and problem-solving to materialize conceptual solutions to site-specific art-making problems. The methodology is fast-paced, down and dirty, and rather fun. We’ll explore intuitive reasoning, improvisation, and bricolage. Students will be guided to make a series of works in response to prompts, questions, and challenges that aim to condense the process of ideation to realization to explore and expand an art-making practice.

Mark Dion is a renowned American conceptual artist known for blending scientific presentations into his installations, exploring how institutions and ideologies shape our understanding of history, knowledge, and nature. Born in 1961 in New Bedford, Massachusetts, he earned a BFA from the University of Hartford and participated in the Whitney Museum’s Independent Study Program. Dion has received several awards, including the Guggenheim Fellowship (2019) and the Joan Mitchell Foundation Award (2007). His work often uses scientific methods like archaeology and field ecology to challenge the boundaries between objective science and subjective influences. Dion frequently collaborates with museums, zoos, and aquariums to examine public perceptions of nature. Some of his notable exhibitions include Follies at Storm King Art Center (2019), Theatre of the Natural World at Whitechapel Gallery (2018), and The Marvelous Museum at Oakland Museum of California (2010-11).

 

Lenka Clayton is an interdisciplinary artist who explores and transforms everyday life into poetic and absurd experiences. She founded An Artist Residency in Motherhood, a self-directed residency program for artist-parents, with over 1,200 participants in 82 countries. In 2017, Clayton and Jon Rubin were commissioned by the Guggenheim to create a major work connecting six venues across New York through a network of social and material exchange. Clayton has been recognized by the Warhol Foundation, NEA, and has received awards such as the Carol R. Brown Award and a Creative Development Grant. Her work is included in permanent collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, SFMoMA, and the Carnegie Museum of Art.