artist statement created March 2009 for a grant proposal

     In my research I am interested in using the arts as a means to examine social and political inequalities through "mundane" or common everyday experiences.  In this project, I plan to work side by side with Pace University security guards to curate a show which focuses on their artistic, although sometimes accidental, creations.  I am influenced by the work of artists Harrell Fletcher (Portland), Sheilah Aacnhen Wilson (Santa Fe), Sherry Lynn Wood (San Francisco) and The Art Guys (Houston), who use Interventionist or Social Practice strategies to make art in ordinary situations, often with the help of non-artist communities. 
    This project, Security Guards is related to the recent artwork I created for my Project Studio course which introduces professional practices such as developing and hanging work for an exhibition.  I strive to make artwork that integrates social criticism in ways that make the work accessible, or understandable, to a larger demographic than usually attend galleries and museums.  When the work is personalized, viewers are more likely to become active within both the art-making itself and in the social and political movements they value.  
    To make art more accessible to everyone, I am interested in transforming the viewer into an active participant.  To encourage involvement from audience members, it is important to blur the line between artist and audience member by asking "non-artists" to create artwork to be exhibited.  This often results in work which possesses a type of honesty and security uncommon in much commercial art.  For example in my recent project titled Feedback, created during my Project Studio course and installed in Pace's Peter Fingestin Gallery this past fall, I asked audience members to add their own thoughts written on post-it notes onto my photographs.  For this proposed project I plan to re-contextualize artistic projects made by security guards whose creative side is not always present or obvious.  By placing these drawings, sculptures, photographs, organizational elements, sounds, etc into a gallery space, viewers are forced to expand their ideas on what art is and who creates it.  By giving credit to the daily activities these guards enjoy, a level playing ground is created, allowing for respect and equality for people as creative beings.  While this in itself is a statement criticizing the importance of career and status in our culture, it also creates a space which allows others to make their own political and social statements through their creative endeavors.
    It is my goal to use these methods of art making and community building to engage disenfranchised members of society.  While I am currently working towards creating these spaces with the assistance and generosity of grants like these and the opportunities being a fine arts student presents, my long term goals include working with art as form of rehabilitation with incarcerated youth, racial and ethnic minority populations, and your average teenager struggling with questions of identity, independence, sexuality, and purpose. As part of my developmental process as both artist and educator, I plan to study with artist Harrell Fletcher in the graduate art program at the Portland State University, majoring in "Social Practice".  
    With the assistance of this grant I will be able to make a giant step towards these goals, creating my first large scale project with the assistance of a highly knowledgeable and supportive mentor who has created a body of "social practice" performance artwork.  Considering spacial and monetary limitations, I have not yet had an opportunity to pursue many of the projects which I consider to hold much importance in my own development as an artist and community builder.  Furthermore, creating this project in the context of Pace University's up and coming fine arts department, I am excited to integrate the visual arts into other facets of the University, fostering the development of a creative and collaborative community.