Photos from LONGHOUSE

SOME THEMES & IDEAS

• Nature and Landscape (and sculpture of course)

- Artists have been painting landscapes and gardens since ancient times.

-how can we challenge the definition of landscape?

-can we incorporate tools. Perhaps a lesson on what type of tools it takes to create such large sculptures.

-what about cultural landscapes, industrial landscapes, and landscape architecture?

-landscape continues to be a subject artists turn to when contemplating the ways we

relate to the places where we live and the impact we as humans have on the land.

-what is the expressive potential of sculpture media, techniques, and processes?

• The nature of a classroom--classroom as a form of sculpture?
• Making meaning through design
• Decontextualization, ability to see works through a new context (through the lens of the classroom, or through the lenses of changing environments surrounding the classroom/studio)
• ability to evolve a 3D space in congruence with evolution of our learning
• TEAMWORK--how this creates new kinds of learning and opens up new realms of understanding

Some Thoughts on the Mobile Studio/Classroom Idea

The MoMA featured an exhibit on prefab homes back in 2008 called Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling – basically an example of green home designs shipped to the site and constructed within a week. They were prefabricated structures designed as actual homes by upcoming architects, but I am looking at this as an opportunity to incorporate the arts into this “mobile” structure idea.

Perhaps we could get an interesting looking green structure donated? I imagine Longhouse would rather something like this on the property over the generic portable facilities out there resembling unattractive institutions.

http://greenupgrader.com/3832/pre-fab-101-green-fieldtrip-to-the-moma/2/

COLLABORATIVE DESIGN: The Yurt

• YURTS: I taught a class on yurt design in 2011, a group of 13 of us built a yurt for Colorado College community to keep--it has been taken on numerous class field trips since (Art, science, and literature classes have taken it out, carried into the backcountry, put it up, slept in and taken down)
• How does this relate to our project? What aspects of collaborative design are interesting?
• Transformative and/or nomadic space? What is the value in this? With particular relation to teenagers?

http://rebeccalevi.wordpress.com/2011/07/21/vernacular-architecture-the-yurt/

Step 1: Research The Site

Link: LongHouse Reserve

LONGHOUSE KEY LANGUAGE/IDEAS TO INCORPORATE INTO OUR CURRICULUM:
***nature, beauty, sculptural aesthetic, empowerment, awaken the senses, appreciation and encouragement, art in all forms, gardens, reflect world cultures, inspire a creative life, case study, landscapes as an art form, planting potentials, sound learning experience... teamwork

EDUCATIONAL FOCUS OF LongHouse:
Inspired by the natural beauty and sculptural aesthetic at LongHouse, the Education Committee seeks to empower visitors in a compelling and personal way. By providing a variety of resources to enhance one's experience, we strive to awaken the senses, deepen one's appreciation and encourage the artist within. It is our intent that these resources along with our festivals, workshops, and invitational Student Annual will build strong lasting relationships between LongHouse and our students, educators, families and community.

Mission
LongHouse Reserve exemplifies living with art in all forms. Founded by Jack Lenor Larsen, its collections, gardens, sculpture and programs reflect world cultures and inspire a creative life.

Art Focus
The art focus at LongHouse is ethnographic and handcrafts – both areas of collecting with aspects for every purse. Some of these functions, at least on occasion; most merely lift the heart and expand the imagination.

Garden Focus
LongHouse gardens become an expansive case study of a considered lifestyle at the turn of millennium. The objective is to simultaneously create landscapes as an art form and to demonstrate planting potentials in this climate -- with broad selections of species and cultivars. In an era when such extensive plant collections could be construed as indulgence, the sharing of them is the pleasure of both the Founder and the foundation. Belief is that experiencing such pleasures in relation to living spaces, in time, and with seasonal changes is the soundest learning experience.