The Role of Public Art

What does it mean when we say "public art?" Usually we know it as a sculpture or some other design approved by a committee that managed not to offend anyone. Of course, art that doesn't offend anyone may not do much of anything.

How we define public art as well as its role in the public space is a broad question that we are considering all semester in Creative Communities (a name I prefer to CRTW 550).

Two visiting writers presented their own perspectives on the topic at a Jan. 18 BathHouse Reading event at Eastern Michigan. Eric Lorberer, who is the editor of Rain Taxi Review of Books in Minneapolis, enlightened us through a virtual tour over "Ashbery Bridge" in Minneapolis. And Barrett Watten, a professor at Wayne State University and one of the founding theorists on the Language School of Poetry, discussed physical projects that incorporate poetic texts in their space.

I had the privilege of introducing both speakers. (link).

Ashbery Bridge is the moniker given to the pedestrian bridge best known for an untitled poem by the American poet, John Ashbery, adorning its trellis. The bridge was designed by Siah Armanjani, who commissioned Ashbery to write the poem. Intended for pedestrians, the poem is viewed walking across the bridge in a single fragmented line. As Mr. Lorberer explained, it requires the user of the bridge to activate the experience.

It is also an example of "Relational Aesthetics," whereby a work of art is only realized through participation of its audience.

The designer, Iranian-born Armajani, is best known for designing the Olympic Torch presiding at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and includes texts and poems in all of his projects.

Ashbery Bridge traverses 16 lanes of traffic and connects Loring Park to the Minneapolis Sculptor Garden. It was constructed by workers in the Transportation Authority.

"It presents poetry in a revolutionary way, and focuses us off the paradigm of the page," said Lorberer.

The poem is physically encountered at the top of the 38 steps of the bridge. The air is different, the traffic noise changes. The free verse text is fragmented in clusters of short clauses separated in spaces between support beams. It's lack of a title is crucial, says Lorberer.

Without a title, the poem also resists being announced or contained, he says. And it allowed Armajani to break it up as he saw fit.

Text appears on both ends of the bridge so that a walker will engage with it coming and going. Poetry in this physical context adds textuality to experience. It is experienced differently off the page and in real time.

The poem in its entirety:

"And now I cannot remember how I would have had it.
It is not a conduit (confluence?) but a place.
The place, of movement and an order: The place of old order.
But the tail end of the movement is new.
Driving us to say what we are thinking.
It is so much like a beach after all,
where you stand and think of going no further.
And it is good when you get to no further.
It is like a reason that picks you up and places you
where you always wanted to be.
This far.
It is fair to be crossing, to have crossed.
Then there is no promise in the other.
Here it is. Steel and air, a mottled presence, small panacea
and lucky for us.
And then it got very cool."

Sometimes languages and images complement a structure, such as Ashbery bridge, or they oppose or clash with a physical structure, which invites an "interrogation" of physical space, explained Dr. Watten.

Language itself takes on its own unique visual properties, such as unbroken blocks of text that disorient viewers or texts arranged in various shapes to mimic geometrical figures.

"A Heap of Language" by Robert Smithson

For instance, Dr. Watten's pieces entitled, "Non Event I", "Non Event II", Non Event III," and Non Event IV" show language that resists any kind of structure and seems to be in fact running away from structure. Pairing this with a building -- an image of stability -- offers a commentary on product design, he said.

Part of effort by language poets is to re-contextualize language from representational to a primary engagement.

The modernist poet Laura Riding Jackson attempted to formulate a new dictionary that organized words not by their definition but rather their "rational meaning." This is a project she dedicated her life towards, but never completed. Her simple home was moved to an ecological preserve where Dr. Watten held poetry workshops on rational meaning. Throughout the structure of the home, he pinned words from her dictionary, meant to re-imagine the essence of words through different contexts.

Think of these as a bridge to make poetry experiential, he said.

First Day at Clemente

Jan. 25, 3 hours 15 minutes spent at Roberto Clemente

Clemente Learning Development Center has about 100 students originally from schools all over the Ann Arbor - Ypsilanti area. Each class has 15 students, who are not divided by grades. I assisted in two periods of Terry Carpenter's history class with three other 826Michigan volunteers.

The students' long-term project is to write an imagined history textbook. Terry has two periods of students working on this project on Tuesday's with volunteers.

Some of the students at Clemente

Katie, the 826 volunteer coordinator, is funded through Americorps.

In each period, Terry started off with a short introduction and examples on propaganda posters that were designed to generate homeland support for World War I. He also had students read letters home from soldiers on the horrors -- and rats -- of life in the trenches.

Students had the option of creating their own propaganda posters (from images they cut from magazines) or writing imagined letters from the front. In the first period, I worked with students on their letters in the library, and in the second period, I worked with those on posters.

The two periods couldn't have been more different. As Terry explained, the second period students would be much more disruptive with about half of them in special education. Getting them to focus at all was particularly problematic. Yet he soldiered on, going over the material and resisting kicking anyone out of the class. A third of the students in that period simply went to sleep or refused to engage in the project.

Those in the first period were surprisingly engaged in their letters. Though chatty as teenagers will be, they participated in some fashion. Obviously, some wrote longer with more focus than others. The girls interestingly, decided to come at the project not as a soldier but the spouse at home. One wrote an epistolary exchange between husband and wife, who was a nurse in a hospital for wounded veterans. From returning soldiers, the wife was getting information that her husband censored form his letters, a very original idea I thought.

I felt like I offered some contribution, not through editing, but helping students work through their approach to the writing. Broad brush stuff.

Some notes:

Several of the students were football players from their respective high schools and are allowed to stay on their teams even while attending Clemente.

Clemente does not issue diplomas. Seniors who 'graduate' receive diplomas from their respective high schools.

The Handbook

Here is the handbook forwarded to me by 826Michigan's volunteer coordinator.

Working with Students:

Our number one priority when working with students is always to give them our full and undivided attention. In the average classroom, there is one teacher for thirty students, so it is very important to make sure any students you’re working with feel like they are in the spotlight. Let them know that all their ideas are good ideas by listening intently and encouraging them.

Things to Keep in Mind Generally

• Start with HOC—higher order concerns—such as organization, ideas, themes, arguments, overall structure, and move into LOC—lower order concerns—such as grammar and punctuation, if you have time.
• Ask lots of questions. Try to let the student work through problems on his or her own. You are the embodiment of extra support and guidance, not the manifestation of easy answers.
• Make sure the student feels ownership over his or her project. If you’re working on something that’s already written, always ask permission to look at it; never grab a paper out of a student’s hands–that’s rude.
• Look for patterns. If you notice a student doesn’t seem to understand how to properly use commas, gently point it out. Give examples—from the paper—of the correct way, and then let the student try.

Things to Keep in Mind When Teaching Writing

• When working on a writing project, the most important thing is to be positive. Point out places where you want more detail, or an idea they could expand upon. Point out specific parts that you love.
• Ask questions! What does the student like about the piece? What else would you like to know? Do they have any concerns? What could be favorably described as “neat?”
• If a student is stumped, recap the story thus far, and then ask an open ended question: “So they’re trapped in the dungeon, the sun is starting to set, and Cadwaladder’s hands are sweating profusely …what do you think happens next?”

The Unbelievable and Awe-Inspiring 826 Finger Trick!

Each teacher has his or her own way of quieting excited students: some use the quiet coyote, some use some weird rhyme that we can’t remember. Here at 826, we have the Unbelievable and Awe-Inspiring 826 Finger Trick! This takes years to master, but you can get pretty good at it with some concentrated practice.
Basically, you hold up eight fingers, then switch to two fingers, and then switch to six fingers. Do this over and over and fast as you can without having an aneurism. You can make those numbers happen with any combination of fingers. See? It takes a lot of concentration. Do you think you could do that and talk at the same time? Do you think a student would be able to?

First Mark on the Canvas

This is the first entry for my Community Outreach project for Eastern Michigan's Creative Writing program. I've established contact with Michigan826 -- a volunteer organization that runs a stable of service projects in schools in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. My assignment is at Roberto Clemente High School, which is a place for teens that have had trouble adapting for whatever reason to their zoned high school. I'm told I'll be helping students with articles for Clemente's in-school publication. My first day is next Tuesday, 1/25. I'll work on-site for a half-day each week.