Our exhibition at the Queens Museum, a long-time community partner, celebrates 10 years of SPQ by exhibiting works our alumni created after their graduation. Art as Social Action will open on March 24th and will remain open until July 25th! Our skillful artists are Alix Camacho-Vargas, Barrie Cline, Cody Herrmann, Cristina Ferrigno, Erin Turner, Floor […]
https://www.socialpracticequeens.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Image1-1400x933-1.jpg9331400cynthia510https://www.socialpracticequeens.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/spq-logo2.pngcynthia5102021-03-01 00:42:392021-05-12 19:50:10Announcing: Art as Social Action!
We’re proud to share recent recognition and activity of members of the SPQ community! Below are some highlights.
In the Press
Current student, Cody Herrmann and her project “How do you get to Flushing Creek,” was featured in Hyperallergic last November:
Flushing Creek is so hidden by industrial sites and highways, it’s almost invisible to those passing through the Flushing neighborhood of Queens. “I lived in Flushing my whole life and didn’t know that I lived near waterways until I was 20 years old,” Cody Ann Herrmann told Hyperallergic. Now the artist and community organizer is advocating for its visibility through the “How do you get to Flushing Creek?” project, a multiyear initiative involving conversations on the street, a zine with maps, and guerrilla signage.
The How do you get to Flushing Creek? sign installation for City of Water Day (photo by Jonathan Baron)
“If you’re not seeing the problem, you don’t really take ownership or stewardship over it,” said Herrmann, who is currently in the Social Practice Queens MFA program at Queens College. For the July 14 City of Water Day, organized by the Waterfront Alliance, several aluminum signs were covertly installed in Flushing and Willets Point. Each pointed the way to Flushing Creek.
Chloë Bass was also featured recently in Hyperallergic. Her work, “The Book of Everyday Instruction,” exhibited at the Knockdown Center, was included in their list of “Best of 2018: Our Top 20 NYC Art Shows.” You’ll also find her in discussion with museum veteran Lowery Stokes Sims about imagined publics of contemporary art, public and private education, and the challenges of empathy and identity in art. Listen here.
Art as Social Action: An Introduction to the Principles and Practices
of Teaching Social Practice Art Book Launch with Social Practice Queens
Friday, May 11, 2018
6-8pm *RSVP has reached its capacity for this event. If you’d like to be placed on the waitlist, please email media@sdrubin.org.
The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation will host a book launch for Art as Social Action: An Introduction to the Principles and Practices of Teaching Social Practice Art, edited by Gregory Sholette and Chloë Bass of Social Practice Queens (a 2018 Rubin Foundation grantee). Art as Social Action is both a general introduction to, and an illustrated, practical textbook for the field of social practice, an art medium that has been gaining popularity in the public sphere. With content arranged thematically around such topics as direct action, alternative organizing, urban imaginaries, anti-bias work, and collective learning, among others, Art as Social Action is a comprehensive manual for educators on how to teach art as social practice. Several of the book’s contributors, including Pedro Lasch, Sheryl Oring, and Daniel Tucker, will be present to facilitate discussion about social practice methodologies.
https://www.socialpracticequeens.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/ArtAsSocialAction.jpg499333Jeff Kasperhttps://www.socialpracticequeens.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/spq-logo2.pngJeff Kasper2018-05-08 02:59:532018-05-08 02:59:53Art As Social Action Book Launch at The 8th Floor, May 11th
Even though the school year is coming to an end, Social Practice Queens isn’t slowing down its efforts to share socially engaged art. In the next month, the collaborative graduate program (run by Queens College in partnership with the Queens Museum) will showcase MFA students’ art at its annual group exhibition, release a textbook on social practice, and share two students’ work at a major conference.
Social practice art can take many forms. The diversity of the work being done by the students at SPQ can be seen in the MFA program’s annual exhibition, which is currently on view at The Plaxall Gallery in Long Island City. Titled A Fresh Civilityand curated by acclaimed poet and critic John Yau, the show is an exploration of the question “What does it mean to be civil in a world in which name-calling and inflammatory positions have superseded dialog and debate?” The varied responses of the 16 featured artists include performance, video, painting, drawing, ceramics, and quiltmaking. Assistant Professor Chloë Bass, who served as a faculty advisor to the exhibition stated, ”I’ve been delighted by the responses from diverse audiences about how these creative works share poetic truths about the times we live in, demonstrating the beauty of social and aesthetic engagement.” The show will wrap up with a closing reception on May 10, and the last day to view the exhibition will be May 13.
Series: My Big Fat Catholic Tsunami by Ed Majkowski
Two SPQ students, Cody Herrmann and Julian Louis Phillips, in partnership with artist Margaretha Haughwout, will also present Trees of Tomorrow as part of Open Engagement, a three-day conference focused on socially engaged art which will take place at the Queens Museum from May 11 to May 13. The work, made in collaboration with the John Bowne High School agriculture department, is a tour of the trees in Flushing that “expos[es] the ways trees shape, and are shaped by, neighborhoods, economies, and soils.”
SPQ is one of a few programs in the country that offer an MFA in social practice, but it is working to increase prevalence of the medium in schools. To that end, SPQ is releasing Art as Social Action:An Introduction to the Principles and Practices of Teaching Social Practice Art. Edited by SPQ professors Gregory Sholette and Chloë Bass, the book explains the basics of the medium, as well as provides pedagogical projects to teach a variety of topics at the high school and college level. “Greg and I are incredibly excited to share the work of Social Practice Queens, and our engaged friends and collaborators throughout the United States and abroad, with a larger audience, in a way that we hope will be practical, exciting, and change-oriented for the classroom,” said Chloë. The launch of the book will be celebrated on May 11 with an event hosted by the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation at The 8th Floor arts space, and the book will be available for purchase starting May 22. Pre-orders can be placed through Amazon.
https://www.socialpracticequeens.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/1091085.jpeg9001200Jeff Kasperhttps://www.socialpracticequeens.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/spq-logo2.pngJeff Kasper2018-05-08 02:52:512018-05-08 02:52:51Vilcek Foundation showcases what’s new with SPQ this May!
Art as Social Action: An Introduction to the Principles and Practices of Teaching Social Practice Art
Book Launch with Social Practice Queens
The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation will host a book launch for Art as Social Action: An Introduction to the Principles and Practices of Teaching Social Practice Art, edited by Gregory Sholette and Chloë Bass of Social Practice Queens (a 2018 Rubin Foundation grantee). Art as Social Action is both a general introduction to, and an illustrated, practical textbook for the field of social practice, an art medium that has been gaining popularity in the public sphere. With content arranged thematically around such topics as direct action, alternative organizing, urban imaginaries, anti-bias work, and collective learning, among others, Art as Social Action is a comprehensive manual for educators on how to teach art as social practice. Several of the book’s contributors will be present to discuss their work in social practice.
The 8th Floor is an exhibition and events space established in 2010 by Shelley and Donald Rubin, dedicated to promoting cultural and philanthropic initiatives, and to expanding artistic and cultural accessibility in New York City. The 8th Floor is located at 17 West 17th Street and is free and open to the public. Schools groups are encouraged. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11am to 6pm. the8thfloor.org
About The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation
The Foundation believes in art as a cornerstone of cohesive, resilient communities and greater participation in civic life. In its mission to make art available to the broader public, in particular to underserved communities, the Foundation provides direct support to, and facilitates partnerships between, cultural organizations and advocates of social justice across the public and private sectors. Through grantmaking, the Foundation supports cross-disciplinary work connecting art with social justice via experimental collaborations, as well as extending cultural resources to organizations and areas of New York City in need. www.sdrubin.org
https://www.socialpracticequeens.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/AASA-frontcover.jpg300200Jeff Kasperhttps://www.socialpracticequeens.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/spq-logo2.pngJeff Kasper2018-03-01 23:07:582018-03-01 23:07:58Art As Social Action Book Launch — May 11
https://www.socialpracticequeens.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Paula-Frisch.jpg600800Jeff Kasperhttps://www.socialpracticequeens.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/spq-logo2.pngJeff Kasper2017-08-10 00:10:122017-08-10 00:13:43Home of Practice on view August 19-29th
Maureen Connor, Professor Emeritus and co-founder of the social practice program at Queens College, was featured in The New York Times, introducing SPQ and the rise of social practice and collaborative art in academic programs: “We try to teach collaboration,” … “Most artists haven’t had the opportunity to work collaboratively, and many of them find it difficult at first to work that way. For so many years, they have been encouraged to work on their own and in competition with others.”
https://www.socialpracticequeens.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/FIELD-OF-STUDY-1-master675.jpg450675Jeff Kasperhttps://www.socialpracticequeens.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/spq-logo2.pngJeff Kasper2016-02-06 20:07:452016-02-06 20:07:45SPQ in The New York Times! (FEB. 5, 2016)
A Fresh Civility at The Plaxall Gallery
Series: My Big Fat Catholic Tsunami by Ed Majkowski
