Reflection on Final Presentation
Image from Lumiere
After presenting my project in its final form, I learned that it’s aim of attention grabbing was successful. Many people were intrigued by its shape and subsequently approached me to ask questions about what it was or what is represented. After being initially drawn in by my creative display, many people identified with the idea that we as a society do not but much thought into what happens to materials after we have recycled them, and many were interested to learn a little bit more about nurse logs and the artist Buster Simpson.
One of the people that came up and asked about my project turned out to know much more about the subjects than I did. She was familiar with the work of Buster Simpson and had taken a class from one of the scientists who authored one of my sources on tree decay. Not only was it very exciting to take with her, given her knowledge, she also provided me with some sources to trace some more of the ideas I researched for my project:
Joseph Beuys – who saw sculptural art as a necessary aspect of social order
Cathy Fitzgerald – an eco-artist/social theorist currently turning a mono-cultured tree plantation into a thriving forest as a part of her doctoral studies
Mark Harmon – forest ecologist specializing in decomposition at Oregon State University
I am excited to start reading and researching more about these three people. Though the class may be over, my interest in the subjects of public art, nurse logs, ecological and social art has not waned.
My project did occupy its own sort of niche, and this causes it to perhaps not appeal to a broad audience. I had realized this and it was a concern of mine, but having a couple people from the university express interest in it was certainly validating.
Given the chance to study Buster Simpson further, I would enjoy the opportunity to see some of his works in person, to explore more of his projects (he has done a lot of work over the last few decades), particularly the social-oriented ones, and to discuss how Simpson’s use of humor differs from other eco-artists, who typically employ darker tactics to address topics such as climate change or a severance form the orders of the natural world.