Land Arts of the American West, at the University of New Mexico, is an ongoing experiment and interdisciplinary model for creative and critical arts pedagogy based in place. This program puts students in direct contact with place of the American Southwest through Field Investigations, Research, Creative Production, and Public Presentation/Dissemination of projects. During the program, students travel extensively throughout the Southwest for up to 50 days, while camping and investigating environmental sites, human habitation systems, and questions facing the region. Methodologies include the melding of direct experience, critical research, creative inquiry, interdisciplinary collaboration, and artistic production. Recent topics of investigations have focused on Watershed, US/Mexico Border, Foodshed, Utopian Architecture, Land Use, and Eminent Domain.
Land Arts of the American West is made possible, in part, by the generous contribution of Lannan Foundation.
Bill Gilbert started the Land Arts program at the University of New Mexico, in 2000, based on ten years of field programming at Acoma Pueblo and Juan Mata Ortiz, Mexico. In 2000, John Wenger served as co-director, contributing his experience of over 25 years in the wilderness of northern New Mexico and southeastern Utah. Between 2002 and 2006, the Land Arts program operated as a joint venture between Bill Gilbert (UNM) and Chris Taylor (UT). Professor Chris Taylor currently directs his own Land Arts program at Texas Tech University, http://landarts.arch.ttu.edu/. In 2005 and 2007, Erika Osborne co-directed the program at UNM. Catherine Harris joined the program, in 2009, as Art & Ecology faculty, and Jeanette Hart-Mann (Land Arts program 2000) assumed responsibility for the program field logistics. In 2012, Jeanette Hart-Mann began co-directing the program with Bill Gilbert.
The Land Arts of the American West (LAAW) program has received a five year grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support the creation and operation of the Land Arts Mobile Research Center (LAMRC). In 2015, LAMRC will be offering grants to students who have participated in the Land Arts of the American West field program. These grants will support current MFA thesis projects, international travel for research projects, as well as post-MFA research. Please see Grant Information and Application for details.
Moving Mountains - Land Arts of the American West, is a current film project by director and producer, Sam Wainwright Douglas of Big Beard Films (Citizen Architect), which explores the western phenomenon of Land Arts through the immersive, field-based, pedagogical experiment of the Land Arts of the American West program. The production of this film is still underway and seeking financial sponsorship through the Austin Film Society.
In 2009 the University of Texas Press published the book, Land Arts of the American West, presenting the ongoing collaboration in which artist Bill Gilbert and architect Chris Taylor investigate and create land art with their students. The book is organized around places visited over the first seven years of the program. The over 400 color photographs are accompanied by descriptive information about the site’s natural and human history; student journal entries presenting first-person experiences; essays by William L. Fox, Ann Reynolds, J.J. Brody, and Lucy Lippard; and interviews with Mary Lewis Garcia, Graciela Martinez de Gallegos and Hector Gallegos, and Matthew Coolidge. Woven throughout the text is a conversation amongst Gilbert, Taylor, and writer William L. Fox, covering the Land Arts program’s origins, pedagogic mission, field operations, interactions with guest lecturers, and future directions.
Marije Vogelzang is a pioneer of “eating design”. She is a graduate of the Design Academy in Eindhoven and owner of Proef — a restaurant, gallery and studio rolled into one. She is also storyteller; a kind of gastronomical genealogist, if you will. She examines the psychological, sociological and environmental ramifications of how we eat, with whom we break bread, where our food comes from and how it affects the environment. Vogelzang’s edible architecture is not only sustainable, it is also performative. Each exhibition is meant to awaken the sense and stir the soul. She seeks to situate food within the greater context of our lives; as ritual, as nourishment, as memory and as a gateway to a delectable future.
"Eating design is to design from the verb 'to eat'.”
Designers who work with the subject of food are often called 'food designers'. According to Marije Vogelzang, food is already perfectly designed by nature. Instead, her designs focus around the verb 'to eat'. Vogelzang is inspired by the origin of food and the preparation, etiquette, history and culture around it. For this reason, she doesn't consider herself a 'food designer', but as the first 'eating designer' in The Netherlands.
"There is no material that comes as close to human beings as food."
It is often thought that designers who work with food only design the shape of it. Vogelzang's aim is to look at the content and background of the food as well; the shape is just a tool to tell a story.
"You put my designs inside your body."
After 10 years of experience with food projects, Vogelzang has developed a philosophy consisting of eight inspirational points. They can be used as a tool to inspire designers and creatives about food. Eating design is a uncultivated area with an endless amount of possibilities. The eight point philosophy gives insight into where the possibilities of working with food can lead.
"Food goes to the stomach, but it can also activate the brain and can rouse strong memories and emotions."
The eight points are:
- the senses
- nature
- culture
- society
- technique
- psychology
- science
- action
Above text taken from artist website. Link here to watch an interview with the artist.
