The Art Teacher's Guide to Exploring Art and Design in the Community

Ilona Szekely

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781350096318
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Éducation
• Subtopic: Formation des enseignants

How can community art build connection in diverse communities? Where is the art in contemporary libraries? How do you bring subway art into the classroom? Drawing on an abundance of examples from Finland, Italy, New Zealand, Spain and the USA, including the NYC 2nd Ave Subway, the Detroit's Heidelberg Project, the Favel Painting Foundation and bicycle rack sculpture, Szekely inspires readers to look beyond the classroom walls to develop meaningful art experiences for students. She shows the myriad art forms, media expressions, and design professions that have the influence and potential to shape the local environment, reaching far beyond the traditional museum and gallery venue. Underpinned by a clear philosophical foundation, the field-tested approaches show readers how to go beyond the study of reproductions or dwelling on of the masters who are framed in art museums, instead having meaningful art experiences using everyday objects and diverse collective experiences. She also shows that innovative and exciting art lessons don't need large amounts of funding, transportation or even a museum within the local community. Each chapter includes photographs, talking points and key lesson ideas along with links to further resources.

Part I

Art in Public Places and Alternative Museum Sites

1

Service Places

Chapter Outline

Hotels

The Next Generation of Libraries

Cinema Design

City Hall

Hotels

Many hotels have become design landmarks around the world, featuring some of the best examples of modern architecture and housing important design and art collections, which makes them often more like home than a gallery since one can sleep, eat, and live with the art.¹ After having stayed at a few hotels known for their art and design collection, I began to realize how important hotel design is in changing one’s mood. One example is the Hudson Hotel in New York’s Columbus Circle. Coming in from the confines of the city, and ascending up the escalator lit by neon yellow lights, which is a theme color throughout, it feels as though this short journey will land me on a different planet. In his over thirty years of creating hotels, designer Philippe Stark conceived of this hotel in Manhattan. When walking into the space it is a classic example of a contemporary, designer-controlled art environment. The interior spaces, from the art on the walls to the light fixtures and couches, display Stark’s innovative forms and the hotel “has been described as a lifestyle hotel for the twenty-first century.”² Entering the dark, cozy-yet-vast space, all senses are hit by the ambience that Stark is striving to create. Light is softly filtered in by multiple skylights, as well as soft string lights and chandeliers. Once in the space, the busy streets of New York feel far away and a calmness settles in. It is the tranquility that art and design provide by making guests feel at home and yet in an alternate universe.

After leaving the hotel and returning to my classroom, I began to reflect on the experience. How important is building an alternative ambience in creating an art room environment? In the classroom, from the harsh neon lights to the conformity of the desks, students are invited into their studio to work under difficult conditions that are not conducive to feeling at home and creating art. By interacting with art and pioneering design in environments that promote an exciting visual experience, teachers can help students look for inspiration in one’s own classroom.

Hotel Museums

There is a current trend to recover landmark buildings and turn them into hotel museums.³ The most notable example in the American South and Midwest is called 21C, which began in Louisville and has been successfully transplanted to several cities, including Cincinnati, Ohio; Bentonville, Arkansas; and Lexington, Kentucky. “21C” stands for the twenty-first century and features art galleries in their hotel lobby with twenty-four-hour free access. In addition, there is art on prominent display in these hotels’ restaurants and gyms. Art installations overflow into public bathrooms and guest rooms. Generally located in historic downtown districts, these hotels create an important cultural presence in a city by becoming art centers for guests and visitors.⁴

Many examples can be found in Berlin, Germany, a city with multiple art hotel experiences. Hotels such as Art’otel house artist Geor Baselitz’s work throughout the space and offer free guided tours. A second interesting model in Berlin is the hotel Arte Louise, which provides access to the collaborative venture of fifty invited artists, with each designing individual spaces within the building. Each installation lasts for two to three years, and the artists receive 5 percent of the rental fees, a material allowance, and several free nights’ stay.⁵

Local Hotels with Artists in Residence

There has been a long tradition of artists living and working in hotels, going back as far as Claude Monet, who “was the first artist-in-residence at The Savoy in 1901 where he painted the River Thames from multiple views of his top-floor room.”⁶ In exchange for his stay the hotel received a stunning collection of a premier impressionist’s works. This perhaps set a precedent for other artists taking part in various aspects of hotel artistry today, acts that enrich many communities and bring art to the local community and visiting public.

More recently, in 2011, David Dowton, a renowned fashion illustrator, has been the first artist ever to be in residence at the Claridge Hotel in London. Dowton’s lively images document the hotel’s famous guests in drawings that encourage a visual mix of visitors and interior spaces. At the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai, up to eighteen international artists are juried into a stay at the hotel for three to six months in return for leaving a notable trace of their visit. Other hotels hold impressive collections that make a visit to the hotel a special experience. For example, the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, curated one of the largest collections of fine Victorian furnishings and art of any hotel in the world. Hotel establishments like these offer more than just a regular hotel experience—they offer an education of the mind and senses.⁷

The Carlton Arms Hotel, or Artbreak Hotel, in New York City is another example of how artists have become a vibrant part of the space through their art-in-residence program. Beginning in the early 1980s with a permanent exhibition of art, the dark and depressed welfare hotel got a facelift as artists from all over the world covered every inch of space with colorful work.⁸

Hotel Identity

Art has become a fundamental, rather than an ornamental element in hotel design. Fine art has been hung in hotels for decades. There are tales of down-on-their-luck residents at the Chelsea Hotel in New York offering their artwork in exchange for rent. In 1984, Ian Schrager, head designer of the Chelsea, commissioned Robert Mapplethorpe to create a series of prints for Schrager’s first property called Morgans.⁹

But today hoteliers are thinking even farther outside the frame and installing art in the most unexpected ways to challenge guests to think more deeply about their experience. As co-owner of the New York hotel Thompson LES, Jason Pomeranc, said, “The art is a part of the identity of the hotel. Art integrates into the architecture, design concept and what we ethereally call the vibe, the intellectual soul of the hotel.”¹⁰ Schaeffer of the Chelsea Hotel explains that “[a] customer whose imagination is involved in a visit to the property becomes all the more dedicated as a repeat consumer. You feel part of an experience without maybe knowing exactly why.”¹¹ With so many contemporary hotels having a similar corporate overtone, art hotels seek the creation of unique experiences by involving artists in hotel projects to create unique places, setting these hotels apart from the rest.

The concept of housing art events and providing access for designers to reshape hotel spaces with art has become a growing trend. London’s Corinthia Hotel has a theater residency program. Groups such as the Look Left Look Right Theatre Company have artists perform immersive theater pieces with the guests. Other hotels host musicians, dancers, muralists, and writers to create a new culture of interacting with and experience in the space.¹²

When thinking about how art has become an integral part of the hotel space, Dan Vinh, vice president for global marketing of Marriott’s Lifestyle Portfolio, states, “The evolution in how managers view hotel artwork is akin to the shift toward showcasing more local ingredients in a hotel’s restaurants.”¹³ The neighborhood environment that hotels create keeps people coming back to the same hotels, not just as a place to visit, but a show place for the latest in a community’s art.

Teacher/Pedagogy

While students in typical art classes cannot take a spree around the world to view Monet’s art at the Savoy Hotel, most students have opportunities to experience hotel art somewhere in their own region. Understanding the history of art in hotels and the various ways hotels can play the role of a neighborhood landmark-gallery can be a valuable foundation for considering many community spaces as important art education sites. Providing glimpses of what has been done is a good place to start and can spur students to imagine and have discussions about their neighborhood.

Art field trips can involve visits to local hotels. A museum hotel such as 21C encourages visitors, but there are other hotels where arrangements can be made for student visitors. Whether as part of a loftier walk through downtown to see various spaces, or to specifically discuss hotel art, you can foster an important discussion about setting up art in public and private commercial spaces.

As students returning from vacations are eager to report on the good, or bad, art they found at their lodgings, conversations about hotel art can elicit interesting exchanges. Students often critique and suggest alternative designs for local establishments, which they can illustrate through photographs and drawings. Art hotels offer a prime opportunity for students to merge their expertise about art in home environments and art in public living spaces.

A critical awareness of art in the public environment is an important part of growing up as an art-educated individual. It’s also important to discuss “bad art” wherever it may exist, so while it is important to view images and make pilgrimages to great art in hotels, it is equally important to acknowledge the “bad” and ask: what makes it bad? Why do you think it was picked for this space? The questions that help phrase a debate and discussion about good and bad art in hotels are vital to creating a larger understanding of the art world. Discussions like these help students amass definitions and examples, engage in comparisons, and, ultimately, define and refine personal taste.

In hotel art, discussions of how hotels have historically and currently utilized art and artists as a resource can lead to classes thinking of ideas for how they can now, and in the future, form similar partnerships with community spaces and canvases. Will a local hotel hold a show or allow for an installation for student artists? The Marriott Hotel, in Northern Kentucky, has done just that by sponsoring student art shows in their hotel lobby, elevators, and some guest rooms. Hotels in Ohio have provided funds for local art programs through the sale of student-made items in their hotel lobby. Thinking of the hotel as not just a space where out-of-town guests come to visit, but as part of the community, can open it up for young artists to begin thinking of new creative design and display possibilities.

Hospital Art

While not everyone thinks of the hospital as a go-to place to see art, the reality is that visitors and patients often stay long enough to spend time and engage with the art. With this in mind, more hospitals are capitalizing on the healing powers of public art to help bring comfort and stress relief to patients, families, and hospital workers. In Lexington, Kentucky, the University of Kentucky Hospital is one of the exciting places to discover outstanding contemporary art. At first glance, the university hospital is an unlikely place to enjoy a fine collection of art. Yet the space houses local, national, and international artists.¹⁴ Because the hospital was designed with idea that art can be part of any space, several thoughtful exhibition spaces exist throughout the complex. Furthermore, the University of Kentucky is dedicated to involving the hospital community in the process of purchasing and displaying artwork.¹⁵ An advisory committee of hospital staff works closely with the hospital art curator to help shape the exhibition programs. As a result, hospital staff play a key role in curating the different spaces throughout the hospital, so that each office, patient room, and hallway exhibit are unique and chosen with consideration to location.

The idea of hosting art in hospitals is not new. As early as 1965, New York City instituted an executive order to spend up to 1 percent of construction costs on art in all public spaces including not only hospitals, but all new development.¹⁶ Today, many American cities have emulated the 1 percent Public Art Fund concept, which has promoted serious growth of hospital art. Internationally, countries such as England—through the Arts Council of England—and Denmark—through state funding—have also created gallery spaces in hospitals.

Another fine American example of a well-coordinated art space is the Woodhull Hospital Center in Brooklyn, which opened in 1983 with an arts budget of $260,000. Woodhull Hospital used the funds to purchase original prints from emerging artists. Director-emeritus of the Whitney Museum of American Art led the art selection process. In the comprehensive study Cultures of Care: A Study of Arts Programs in U.S. Hospitals Naj Wikoff notes that “more than 73 percent of hospitals have permanent displays of art—nearly half of the hospitals surveyed 48 percent present performances in lobbies and other public spaces, while 36 percent have bedside activities. 55 percent of surveyed institutions have arts activities geared for the health care staff”¹⁷ (2004, p. 2).

When meeting with hospital art curators, the hospital staff passionately expressed a desire to create a more relaxing environment for every patient, visitor, and caregiver. In addition, some emphasized the importance of hospitals providing opportunities for their doctors and healthcare workers to partake in self-expression, as well as to help them convey their emotions of being in a high-stress work environment.¹⁸ Many facilities are serious about their first-class art-making workshops for patients and caregivers. As Wikoff notes,

Seventy percent of the hospitals surveyed engage medical staff in crafts projects as the second most popular means of providing an emotional release, followed by visual arts activities (64 percent), with creative writing experiences make up [sic] 38.5 percent of the offerings. Not all arts activities for staff and patients take place in the hospital building or use paint...