The Beast

Perhaps a brief explanation of how I got to my final idea will help explain it further.
One night, not too long ago, a homeless woman entered the I.D. building. She walked right into the metal shop and took a seat. A few students started talking to her and had mixed reactions, some weren’t bothered and continued to talk to her, others decided they were going to call public safety. The latter had a definite result, public safety arrived shortly after the phone call, and the woman was given some kind of citation for trespassing. The effect of this incident was fairly small, but fascinating. She was only in the building for a short time, but she changed the dynamic of interactions between everyone present. It seemed to heighten some kind of sense of danger in a place many see as private. We each take claim of our studio space as our own, and this intrusion made us very, even if only for a short time, our private space as one that is penetrable.

No irony intended, originally I wanted to do a project I called “Sex in Studio”, in which I would place provocative nude figures in each studio as sort of super-stimuli. The idea was to bring something of the true private realm into what we consider to be our personal space, in order for students to start to question its intent, what’s appropriate what’s not and everything in-between. So basically, what happens when you insert private activities and thought in a communal space that is meant to be private?

I began to question the outcome of such a project, and found the possible value of the end result to not be satisfying. So I decided to do something similar, but different, and perhaps something with a more positive approach. I decided I wanted to keep the focus on RISD studios and do a project that visually represents the positive qualities of each department.
Since RISD is so department centric, and with a little inspiration from a friend who loves to personify animals in her drawings, I decided it was about time each department got a mascot.
I want to assign each department with a shell of what I think represents it best, based on both Celtic and Native American symbolism, using an animal to personify each department. All of these are subject to change and are based on a quick study of animal symbolism. I chose to use animals as signifiers because they carry a lot of meaning, and have so many positive and negative connotations they can be interpreted in millions of different ways. And for the most part, they are more approachable then provocative nude figures.
Animals have been used to represent unique human characteristics in literature, film, and television, so it has been come natural for us to compare ourselves with traits we find in animals. I also wanted to play with the idea of a mascot kind of figure, something that represent the department as a whole, and encourages students to interact with it.

Here are the preliminary assignments;

Sculpture - Elephant

Ceramics - Turtle

Painting - Whale

Textiles - Spider

Apparel - Cat

Glass - Jelly Fish

ID - Alligator

Architecture – Mountain Lion

Illustration – Badger

Jewelry - Raccoon

Intar - Bee

FAV - Bat

Graphic - Rabbit

Printmaking - Bobcat

Photography – Lizard

Furniture Design – Wolf

For my intervention I want to make wire forms of each animal, cover them in clear plastic, and place them in their corresponding departments with a name tag and a brief explanation.

And then I am going to impose a task to go along with the figure. I’m going to leave an opening somewhere on the animal for kids to put whatever they want inside of it, with the preface being not trash and hopefully anonymous(or not) thoughts, opinions, and art. My goal is that these animals become a temporary honorary member of the department, and students develop a sense of ownership of it. The animals will live in their departments; they won’t be tied down in any way and will most likely move within the buildings. At the end of their lifespan within the department I will bring together what is left of the animals, and create a beast by combining all of the forms connecting each and every department. I want to sort through what was placed inside the animals and create a tent structure to blanket the beast if enough material has been collected; if not some other arrangement could be made. It is my hope that this beast be displayed in the Edna Lawrence Gallery, the space where freshmen display their work as a sort of offering to those about to join the ranks.

This project in the end will be a physical representation of the collaboration of all of the departments in a way that didn’t require direct social interaction by intentionally but will most likely foster it through the intrusion of space. Its my goal that through this project you will be able to see and appreciate the value of each department individually and as a whole, understand how the work together.

We are separate, we function separately but we are co-dependent in sometimes an unnatural non-social way in which one would work without the other, but with every loss the first would become less unique.

Here is an example of what the wire form might look like for the Sculpture Department, along with the name tag/I.D. that would be around its neck;

Two Thoughts

As I reflected on my interview with Keith I kept going back to one thing he said, that “Providence is lucky to have the Refugee Community that we do, ”. Keith talked about diversity, and the kind of beautiful new learning experiences refugees and the people interacting with them get to have every day. And all I could think about was the fact that this community, the refugee community, is nearly obsolete at RISD. And of course it is not just the Refugee community; it’s pretty much every community outside of a two mile radius. I am not suggesting that everyone has know about what communities exist around them, but in order for us to become successful artists and designers we cannot turn a blind eye to life, if we had the opportunity to see every corner and meet every person in the Greater Providence area in our first week here I wonder what our artwork would look like. We even turn a blind eye to each other, in order to avoid over-generalization I will speak for myself, as a RISD student I work hard and feel like it truly has a bearing on how much time I am willing to invest in the community.

So I have two thoughts on this, in the form of an intervention.

One would be to represent the center-point of RISD’s campus, or whatever we deem it to be with a giant snow globe, with a model of RISD inside. Most likely it would be a RISD campus map, 3-D or whatnot, in grayscale. And then outside, represent the communities that exist around RISD, maybe using mile markers, and people you can meet, or representations of building with pictures of things they sell, all in color. It would be up only for a day, and probably would require some permission. The event could be as low profile as just setting it up or it could have more to it. For example, it had an entrance and an exit rather, or students got a free bottle of bubbles for coming to explore “Providence”, or maybe they get a handful of colored sand and were able to sprinkle it inside the snow globe onto the grayscale campus.

The effects of this type of intervention I would hope to be of course educational, I am sure people would learn and be able to teach others more about their surrounding communities, and perhaps be inspired to explore it. Maybe students could even add to it if they wanted. Or perhaps it is just a symbolic knowledge that there is a world around us and we can never truly have a great understanding of what that is exactly.

Another idea I had was to physically representing connections that are lost, illustrating the overall lack of community. Using strings to run throughout campus connecting building, homes, and studios. I represented here what it would look like to connect 15 West with the Quad. The sheer weight of representing each student would cause the giant bundle of strings to sag and droop down overhead.

The effects of this type of intervention is less clear, it is not educational in any measurable way, but I can only hope that it would open eyes again to how we do share common bonds even cross-studios.

DISCLAIMER: I have lost my camera charger. Pictures will follow swiftly as soon as I find it.

Interview 1: Sophomore Female Apparel

Q: What does community mean to you?
A:It means being in a place where you can be comfortable sharing your ideas and being yourself, and also a place that stimulates personal development.

Q: Is a sense of community important to you?
A: Yes- a community allows me to learn the most in the best way possible and also encourages my growth as a person.

Q: Where in Providence do you feel most a part of the community at large?
A: At RISD

Q: Do you feel a part of a “RISD Community”? (If so describe it.)
A: It depends on the situation. Within my department there is a strong sense of community and support- whereas outside of it there feels like there is more of a disconnect.

Q: If so, is there a specific place on campus you go to feel most a part of your “RISD Community”?
A: The Apparel Department!

Interview 2- Freshmen Female Undecided

Q: What does community mean to you?
A: Community entails a group of people who live and interact within the same environment and within themselves (one way or another).

Q: Is a sense of community important to you?
A: A sense of community is essential because it is what makes people feel as if they belong to the community they live in. This is what helps us feel “at home” wherever we are.

Q: Where in Providence do you feel most a part of the community at large?
A: For now, Providence is not a place where I have been able to establish a sense of community (too foreign). Nonetheless I have felt “accepted” within the overall RISD community (students, professors, etc.)

Q: Do you feel a part of a “RISD Community”? (If so describe it.)
A: Yes, mainly because RISD ensures to provide an accepting community a wide range of races and cultures. Regardless of where you come from, there will e a place for you in RISD.

Q: If so, is there a specific place on campus you go to feel most a part of your “RISD Community”?
A: Probable the best communities are inside the RISD dorms (where people gather the most).

Interview 3- Senior Male Illustration

Q: What does community mean to you?
A: Community means um people coming together to um wait no let me think about this community means people who live in the same place breaking down their personal barriers to get to know each other and do fun things the end

Q: Is a sense of community important to you?
A: um not really. I guess its important for me to have a community, but it doesn’t matter what that community is

Q: Where in Providence do you feel most a part of the community at large?
A: probably like uh around the isb building and the mail room that were most people get their chores done and buy things at the risd store, that where I run into people I know

Q: Do you feel a part of a “RISD Community”? (If so describe it.)
A: hell yes, um god, most of my closest friends are not in the illustration department, but I also have other friends, but I don’t feel limited in that way

Q: If so, is there a specific place on campus you go to feel most a part of your “RISD Community”?
A: moshaussak, my friends place

Interview 4- Senior Female Illustration

Q: What does community mean to you?
A: a community is a group of people that comes together for a variety of reasons... location, religion, political views, etc.

Q: Is a sense of community important to you?
A: yes

Q: Where in Providence do you feel most a part of the community at large?
A: hm, when i volunteered at cityarts, i felt like part of a community... and i guess i feel like part of a community in the graphic design department

Q: Do you feel a part of a “RISD Community”? (If so describe it.)
A: yes, i feel like i'm a part of the risd community since i live within it every day... however, i'm not sure risd has a particularly strong sense of community, since so much of it boils down to an individual and his/her work.

Q: If so, is there a specific place on campus you go to feel most a part of your “RISD Community”?
A: hmmm probably the design center and second the library

When I began to reflect on public spaces in Providence, I determined that for me one did not exist, or at least one did not exist beyond my public life at RISD. Not having a car, or a bike, limits me to how far my feet will take me or which bus routes I feel comfortable taking. But I’m not convinced circulation is the problem. Jane Jacobs in all her wisdom spoke of a lack of trust between individuals and how that can affect the uses of public space; I would like to bring that argument into the present. Jane Jacobs’s book “The Death and Life of American Cities” was written at a time of a mass architectural rift in society. Suburbs were no longer a trend they were a reality, they rose up and embodied the fears of the newly commercialized American citizen. In a gross generalization, young families had all but deserted the big cities in order to escape whatever evils they believed were lurking inside, the outside was no longer to fear, it was the inside, an impregnated response to WWII. The birth of modern America as a country that functions on fear supported by the media was born. A constructed society that had the means and the time to build upon their values and use its industrial backbone to generate what became what was a powerful well engine machine, America as a leading world power. With this came a renewed since of distinction between us and the outside, and a re-evaluation of the spaces within. Fears projected by communism, hopes created by the Great Society[i], frustrations generated by the Vietnam War, and confusion stirred by the sexual revolution, exposed a society that had become complacent in its mode of operation. The public no longer demanded public space, they demanded safe public space. After 9/11, the public no longer demanded any public space at all; the expansion of vulnerable places where concentrated amount of people would be held was silenced.

How does all of this relate to Providence? We certainly don’t have terrorists, and we surely haven’t seen any holistic change in how we use our public space in the last few years. What cities like providence provide is a shell of what public life used to be, but we no longer fit into that shell. But what happens in the public eye of America has a reflection on every street corner. Think about it, at RISD every building is card access, every door locks behind you, nearly every window is covered.

My conspiracy theories aside it cannot be denied that RISD lacks any real public space, it’s a private institution, all communal spaces are therefore private. That is why my public space, is indeed a private one, the Woods-Gerry Gallery.

I chose this space because it is one of the spaces left open to the public, and still retains the sense of student ownership. It is a uniquely beautiful space that functions as an outlet for social interaction that sustains all galleries, but also supplies a sense of isolation within the RISD community, good or bad.