Traveling east of Denver, as the landscape flattened, and trees and houses became scarce, George Perez (BFA 鈥�14) stared out the car window and wondered where in the world he was going.
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Perez, who graduated with a degree in fine arts, was headed to Byers, Colorado, where the 2017 Art and Rural Environment Field School was being held. The intensive three-week field course is designed for students interested in exploring the unique relationship between art and the Western American environment.
His reaction to the unfamiliar landscape became a transformative experience for Perez, who had never seen the sparsely populated grasslands of the High Plains of eastern Colorado.
鈥淭he landscape was like a culture shock,鈥� Perez said. 鈥淚t was such a different type of environment. I didn鈥檛 even know a landscape like that existed in Colorado.鈥�
Perez is an artist in Denver and an artist-in-residence听at the Denver Children鈥檚 Museum that will wrap up next month.听Recently, he participated in a group show titled, Archives As Muse, an eight-person show with the nonprofit ArtHyve. He听conducted research with the help of the archivist/librarian in the听Western history and genealogy collections in the Denver Public Archives as inspiration for art.
The pace of life in the rural areas was much slower than what Perez was used to in Boulder and Denver. Not finding inspiration for a photography project, his usual medium, Perez became antsy and eager to get started on a project. But what?
鈥淚t felt like I should be doing something, like digging a hole for a couple of hours,鈥� said Perez, whose primary medium was photography. 鈥淢y 鈥榓ha鈥� moment happened that day when I realized artwork could be less 2-D-based and parallel more听a performance or a conversation.鈥�
Realizing that digging a hole could be a potential, Perez started making art.
The revelation led to an art project that showed his field school experience from a different perspective. To do that, he attached a cell phone to his belt and made a video of his trips to the hardware store and the laundromat while pushing a wheelbarrow that held his items. The waist-high viewpoint shows his hands on the wheelbarrow handles听and the scene in front of him as he walks along and talks with the friendly townsfolk who stopped to offer him rides.
鈥淭here were no restrictions on the art I chose to do at the field school,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 felt like I could make artwork in a different environment and learn from that. You have a surge of energy. You鈥檙e radiating to be productive.鈥�
Richard Saxton, associate professor of sculpture and post-studio practice, is founder and director of the Art and Rural Environments Field School.
鈥淢ore and more, I鈥檓 seeing students with no experience of being in unfamiliar territory, of knowing how to encounter things that are different from what they know,鈥� Saxton said. 鈥淭he field school gives them a sense of how big the world is and how many different things there are to make artwork about. They internalize their rural experiences and make art that tries to represent those experiences.鈥�
While living and working together in rural environments, students create artwork specific to the landscape using a variety of mediums, from sculpture and printmaking to photography and ephemeral assemblages. The field school is designed to expand students鈥� definition of what a studio practice can be while exposing them to new vistas.
Although the focus is art, the field school is open to students in any major, as well as non-抖阴旅行射 students.
Two weeks of the three-week course are spent in Colorado making art in any medium. One week of the field school takes place on the road. Last year the group visited parts of Kansas and Oklahoma. During long hours on the road, students conducted readings and discussed wide-ranging topics, such as deep looking, local history, sociology, environmental issues and poetry.
Professional artists who work in the rural milieu were invited to give workshops and talks. At the end of the field school, they held an open reception, art show and barbecue for the residents in the Byers area.
鈥淭he students create a community with 12, 14 people they鈥檝e never met before,鈥� Saxton said. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e on a journey and there鈥檚 a lot of transformation that takes place during that time. Artists have moved beyond a time when they鈥檙e being defined by being in a studio.
鈥淭he field school is an experiential course,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檝e had students who were terrified to travel to small towns turn around and focus on that the next semester. I鈥檝e had students not know what they were going to do after they graduate and decide to go to graduate school and study this type of work.鈥�
Sam Arcara, who鈥檚 from New York City, is drawn to wide open spaces. What brought him to 抖阴旅行射 Boulder was the physics department. Growing up in a household of artists, he wanted to continue taking art classes while studying physics. Eventually, he realized art called to him in a way that physics did not. This May, Arcara will graduate with a bachelor鈥檚 of fine art in sculpture and post-studio practices, with minors in art history and philosophy.
鈥淢uch of my artwork pertains to rural environments and the natural landscape,鈥� Arcara said, 鈥渨hich are often overlooked by mainstream culture. The field school鈥檚 interdisciplinary and immersive experience allowed me to go so much deeper in my work.鈥�
One of his projects was a piece that addressed the water shortage on the Great Plains. Lying beneath the land is the Ogallala Aquifer鈥攐ne of the world鈥檚 largest. Water to irrigate crops is being pumped out faster than it can be replenished, which inspired Arcara to weld a small-scale version of a center-pivot irrigation sprinkler. He then froze his sprinkler in a block of ice and placed it on a bed of native grasses he had gathered and left it to melt.
鈥淭he premise was, we have this delicate balance of life supported by water in a warming global climate,鈥� Arcara said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not something that can be supported indefinitely. Eventually you are left with this relic sitting in a dry field. That was the end result of my project.鈥�
The field school is a partnership between and the Corcoran School of the Arts & Design in Washington, D.C. Students can earn 6 credits toward completing a degree.听The field school is also supported in part by the Office for Outreach and Engagement鈥檚听arts and humanities initiative听补苍诲听.听
The 2018 Art and Rural Environments Field School will be held in Conejos County, Colorado.
