Artists at the Museum

ABSTRACT

Artistic and educational possibilities abound when institutions open their doors to local artists and allow them to work within their confines. The following case study articulates how the often unrecorded and unseen discourse between cultural workers leads to a deeper understanding and application of strategies that encourage effective collaboration. Made possible through my year-long appointment as an artist-in-residence at a contemporary art museum in Salt Lake City, UT, each example demonstrates how the relational exchange of knowledge between museum practitioners, artists, and the public results in new possibilities for community-engaged art education.

KEYWORDS:

• Conceptual art
• community-based art education
• relational knowledge
• museum pedagogy
• participatory artmaking
• artist-in-residence

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Wood and Eskic, “The State of the State’s Housing Market.”

2 Wood and Eskic, “The State of the State’s Housing Market.”

3 Lynn, “Peaks and Valleys.”

4 Jokela, “Art-Based Action Research,” 600.

5 Krensky, “Engaging Classrooms and Communities,” 27.

6 Post Internet or “postinterent” art is defined by the artist and scholar Marisa Olson, as art made after, and about internet culture. It is the aesthetic “yield” of one’s internet surfing and computer use and acknowledges how networked technologies have changed and reshaped artistic production. For additional information please see Olsen’s article titled “Postinterent: Art after the Internet.” 2011.

7 Net art or “net.art” as it sometimes known, is a genre of art created during the 1990s and early 2000s using the connectivity of the internet as its primary medium. A precursor to Post Internet art, Net art is characterized by its temporality and interactivity, as well as its embeddedness in the digital networks that connect people and a rejection of the commodification of physical art objects. See Josephine Bosma’s “Nettitudes – Let’s Talk Net Art,” 2011, for additional information.

8 McHugh, “Mass Effect. Vol. 1,” 186.

9 UMOCA Executive Director, Laura Hurtado, interview with the author, May 2023.

10 Kozulin, “Vygotsky's Educational Theory,” 42-43.

11 Poehner, “Creative Dimensions of Teaching,” 154

12 Hurtado, interview with the author, May 2023.

13 Hurtado, interview with the author, May 2023.

14 Freire, “Pedagogy of the Oppressed,” 25

15 Pujol, “Walking Art Practice,” 18

16 Wilcken, “The Poet in the Laboratory,”

17 UMOCA Curator of Exhibitions, Jared Steffensen

18 University of Utah art teaching undergraduate student, Nate Milch, interview with Kerri Hopkins, June 2020.

19 Wee, “We Need to Talk about Zines,” 153.

20 Ramdarshan Bold, “Why Diverse Zines Matter,” 216.

21 Piepmeir, “Why Zines Matter,” 235

22 Garoian, “Happenings,” 157.

23 Graham, “Collage as Epistemology,” 29

24 Hurtado, interview with the author, May 2023.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Joshua I. Graham

Joshua I. Graham is a Salt Lake City based artist, educator, and independent curator. He is best known for his site-specific work and community-based artistic interventions. He received his formal art training from the Arts Students League of New York, Brigham Young University, and the University of Utah, earning a master’s degree in fine art and community-based art education. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the College of Fine Arts at the University of Utah in the Department of Art and Art History.