Week 2
Since Maya and I met with Nathan last Monday, we have reviewed the inventory of Box 60 of the TAAP archives as well as the inventory of all the boxes. Nathan suggested we look at just boxes 60 and 61, however after reviewing the list of all the boxes, I saw some boxes that were labeled Rural Libraries and other boxes also labeled TAAP. We will have to follow up with Nathan to see if those boxes would be applicable for our research. Maya and I met on Friday to go to Special Collections and look over box 60. We used the inventory as a guide to find the best possible artists. We looked for artists that were most likely living, doing work in a rural area of the NW and had been awarded by TAAP. We identified about 3-4 possible artists from this box. We took notes on their basic info with the plan of picking our top 6 artists after we’ve compiled a full list of possible artists. We could not find a time in which we could both come back and look through box 61 together, so we are going to research at separate times and inform each other of what we found. I plan to look over box 61 next Thursday afternoon. We also both agreed to look over the list of current TAAP recipients listed on the OFN website. I have just reviewed this list and found 2 strong possibilities for the map and 2 artists that have promise. Maya and I will be conferring notes about our findings sometime next week.
Some issues we’ve come across in our research is a lack of variety in TAAP applicants. For example, in box 60, probably around half of the artist did some kind of basket weaving. Maya and I both agreed that we should try to collect a variety of posts representing different places and traditions, but it seems most of the TAAP archives relate to Native American culture. This is great for representing Oregon’s native roots, but we thought we should find some other cultures that represent the Pacific NW as well. I’m wondering that if we can’t find much outside of the realm of Native American art, should we look outside of TAAP? Basically, I need to clarify how much representing a variety of artists and cultures matters to this project. Also, another problem we’ve come across is that most international (or non native) artists are based in metropolitan areas. I know that the Rural Arts & Culture website says that rural does not necessarily have to be based on geography, but I feel that we should try our best to post about places outside of big cities like Portland. However, I have found some artists who live in suburbs of Portland or cities like Corvallis or Eugene. While it might be a good idea to have a post representing Eugene, I am essentially unsure what locations are considered rural in the Pacific NW. Clarifying this geographical definition of rural might be very helpful to choosing artists that best represent the Rural Arts & Culture Map’s mission.