Art History Team to Make Public Art More Visible on Campus

Art History coordinator, Dr. Amy Converse, and CoLA faculty members Michael Dee and Dr. Dahn Hiuni, along with interior design professor, Randy Stauffer, are part of the collaborative team awarded this year’s College of Liberal Arts Senior Fellowship.

Their project, the College of Liberal Arts Entrepreneurship Scientific Learning and Wellness Curatorial Collective, dubbed “COLESLAW,” will take art out of Woodbury’s formal gallery spaces and into more accessible, public spaces across campus.

As inspiration, COLESLAW will take the long history of collective practice in the field of contemporary art. The project is intended to be an informal and evolving group of faculty, student, and staff who come together weekly to produce art exhibitions at Woodbury throughout the academic year. These extracurricular seminars will be supported by the courses ARTH 345: “Public Art in the Public Sphere” and ARTH 344: “Curatorial Studies: Theory and Criticism,” both taught by Dr. Converse.

While many social experiences, such as art viewing, have necessarily been pushed into virtual space in the past year and a half, COLESLAW is dedicated to the creation of sensorial and participatory experiences in real-time, real-space, and real-life. Explorations of all types of public spaces on campus will focus on experimental development and process. Multidimensional and relational experiences will question and confront the role of the gallery vis a vis the work of art and its audience. They intend to redefine the identity of the artist and the role of authorship in the process.

COLESLAW’s first major event will be on December 1, 2021, to mark the 40th anniversary of World AIDS Day. Keep your eye out, too, for the many smaller events planned throughout the year.

Last Updated on October 11, 2021.