An Introspection

Hello and welcome again to the next installment of my blog!

Admittedly, this week has been pretty quiet at the museum, especially after the madness that was last week. Once the spring break of the Mesa public schools finished, the museum went back to the usual throngs of younger children. However, school groups are still coming to tour the gallery in droves, and I have thereby become a pro at assisting with the tour activity, a variation of the printing activity that occurred with the Hokusai class that I mentioned in the previous post. And that means that I get paint on my hands. A lot. 

As we are in the second half of our project timeline already, I would like to take this time to broadly sketch out my plans for the remainder of the project. 

In terms of the museum, I will continue to do what I do now, which is primarily assisting with the tour, especially with the painting and printing at the end of each tour. At some point, I will begin to lead a tour stop or two, helping to educate the tour groups on the topics of recycling, the oceans of the world, categorization of marine animals, or echolocation. This will definitely be a different experience for me, as I'm not the best public speaker. However, the task seems less daunting when the audience is more interested in the art on display than what I'm saying. 

If I've learned anything from interning at the museum, it's that kids have a strange, unpredictable, wonderful insight. Even with my previous exposure as a TA to fifth graders, this is the first time in my life that I've had so much time close to such a younger generation. (I should mention that I also underestimated the collective destructive power of kids under the age of six. I will never make this mistake again.) As such, I am planning some sort survey as I mentioned in the post before. I have a prototype of one, but I'm contemplating having two: one for teenagers or adults, and the other for children. In any case, some form or either can hopefully begin to circulate next week at the museum. 

As for outside the museum, I find that I don't go to other sources of public art enough. However, I plan on visiting Roosevelt Row again--this time in the daylight, a piece known as Her Secret is Patience in Downtown Phoenix, and perhaps a couple of other works on the list that can be found here: http://dtphx.org/2015/10/01/9-public-art-projects-in-downtown-phoenix/.  

Her Secret is Patience

I really want to experience more of the city I've lived in for ten years, especially because there's a strong chance that I'll be leaving soon. Therefore, I'll spending the remaining weeks going out and not just photographing art, but also exploring the spirit of the city. Stay tuned for more photos of local public artwork! 

A Return to Normalcy

Long time no see! I hope you all had a great spring break--I sure did. But this week marks a return to the museum where I have been interning, and it felt great to be back.

To get this out of the way first, below are a few pictures that I promised from the previous blog post:

The description here is too small to make out, but if you'd like more information on the project you can visit http://streetpianos.com/mesa2016/. 

The first picture above is of the piano that sits directly in front of the i.d.e.a. Museum. As you can see, it's pretty fancifully decorated, as are all of the pianos in this art project. I'm not sure if the coordinator of the project took the location of each piano into account when deciding where to place which, but I often wonder if the piano we got was reinforced, as I mainly see younger kids banging on it. And I only say this because I doubt pianos in other locations get so much wear and tear. 

Below that image is a large chalkboard-esque mural that seems portable as I did see this when I visited the Mesa Performing Arts Center two weeks ago. I believe that it's covered in different people's feelings on the pianos, and based on the change in locations, I think it also accompanies different pianos at different times. I particularly like this piece because of the giant and seemingly random pug head, but to see a physical manifestation of Mesa's affection for the pianos is a powerful reminder of just how far-reaching the project is, even if you see the mural next to only one piano. I would say that this is a great companion piece to the pianos, especially if it is circulating among them. I'll let you know if it's still there next week!

In other news, while at the museum I've had the opportunity to work increasingly close with visitors. More specifically, I help with tour groups coming through, assisting with the educators in the ocean-themed gallery and especially helping out with the ocean activity, which is a variation of the printing that was done in the earlier Hokusai class. Besides that, I've helped out with the odd class or two as well as the spring break program that was occurring this week (for some reason, Mesa's spring break is a week later than the Scottsdale one).

A child's "bubble" project from the spring break program.

A coral prototype I made for a class. 

Aside from that, I've picked up a book from the museum library on Keith Haring, who just so happens to be a prolific public artist. For next week's post, I might do an exploration into process and legacy, as a lot of his work embodied an extremely straightforward principle of egalitarian public art. 

And finally, I'm deciding whether or not to survey people at the museum on public art. Since many of the frequenters are children, the responses would mainly consist of parents and teachers, which could prove interesting. Please let me know what you think in the comments! 

As always, thank you for reading, and see you next week. 

Spring Break

Greetings from Florida! I hope you have a great week and I'll see you in next week's post.

Music to My Ears (And Eyes)

Hello and welcome to my fourth week of my Senior Research Project!

Right as I walked into the museum as I do every Tuesday, I happened to notice a strange new acquaintance sitting at the entrance: an elaborately decorated piano. With hieroglyphics emblazoned on the back, knobs and meters on the front, and a rocket taking off from the top complete with a veritable cloud of exhaust, it was a hard sight to miss. Unfortunately, due to phone-shattering incidents, a picture of this beauty will have to wait until future posts.

After some digging (and the sign that said streetpianos.com, which I recommend you all visit), I found out that this piano is actually part of a larger public art series known as "Play Me, I'm Yours". Known more colloquially as "Street Pianos", the project is the brainchild of British artist Luke Jerram. From the website, the basic information is as follows:

"Mesa Arts Center is presenting Play Me, I’m Yours from March 1 until April 9 2016, as part of the celebrations of a major milestone: 10 years at their beautiful location in Downtown Mesa, AZ.  24 playable and artistically enhanced pianos will be featured, primarily in Downtown Mesa along Main Street, near Mesa museums and libraries, on Mesa Arts Center’s campus and at numerous other accessible and open-to-the-public locations, including several satellite locations throughout the city. The Twitter hashtag for the project is #streetpianosmesa."   

Physically, the pianos are placed at strategic locations throughout downtown Mesa: at the i.d.e.a. Museum, the Natural History Museum, the library, a whopping three at the Mesa Arts Center. In fact, if you just drive down Main Street, you're bound to see at least two stray pianos sitting near a mural or sculpture. But on the whole, the pianos are centered around places of education, which perhaps speaks to the importance of music education. This specific placement of the pianos calls to mind my previous post in which I looked into the importance of an environment of a public piece of art, which really serves to be the context for a piece of art. However, this week I would like to draw more attention to interactivity of the Street Pianos. 

Unlike the murals at Roosevelt, the Street Pianos in Mesa invite viewers to sit down and play--make music, brighten the atmosphere, draw other passersby. In fact, the pianos cross media--from the sculptural elements of the pianos themselves to the sounds they can emit. Whereas the mural conceptually required the viewers as a part of its existence as a public art piece, the pianos physically need people to sit and play--it's the whole purpose. This project is a prime example of art where there is no doubt of the art's relationship to the public. Accessibility is as easy spotting one of the pianos, sitting down, and deciding to hit some of the keys. And without players, the pianos seem somewhat diminished in their brightness, despite their cheerful facades. 

As mentioned before, a shattered phone screen has inhibited me from taking any photos. However, I promise them in a future post. In the mean time, if any of you are in Mesa some time soon, I highly recommend that you check the pianos out. Thanks for reading!