qianfei wang thesis proposal
DESCRIPTION
thesis proposal for my thesis exhibition that will happen in spring of 2014.TRANSCRIPT
Thesis Proposal
Maryland Institute College of Art
Curatorial Practice ‘14
Qianfei Wang
March 12th, 2013
Introduction:
Language+ will use art as a medium to interact between different academic classes and
daily experiences at the Park School of Baltimore, and it will encourage new and
broadening ways for students to think about art and exhibitions. Based on Park’s
academic classes, such as language, art, music, etc, Language+ will provide a series of
workshops that focus on different ages students. Professional artists will work closely
with students to make artwork together, and both of them will exhibit their work at the
Richman Gallery in January 2014.
Language+
Communication beyond Languages
Language+ is an exhibition at the Richman Gallery of the Park School of Baltimore
exploring multiple media, such as sculpture, painting, drawing, and installation, through
languages used in contemporary society. In comparing various spoken languages with
other ways of expressions, like sign language, body language, dance, song or fine art,
audiences will think beyond spoken languages to better understand their relationship
with other community and themselves.
Mission:
FOR PARK:
• This exhibition provides a broad vision for students at the Park School to explore
various methods of understanding and creating art.
• It will benefit the students’ parents and surrounding communities by welcoming
them into their child’s daily academic life and artistic interests.
FOR MYSELF:
• This exhibition will help me to join a community that I am interested in, learn their
needs, explore their interests, and communicate with them in various forms.
• In addition, this exhibition offers me an opportunity to continue my previous
studies about using different materials and languages to explain one idea.
Partner(s):
The Park School of Baltimore
Founded in 1912, Park School is a non-sectarian, independent, coeducational day school
with 850 students from age four through grade twelve. Park has a progressive curriculum
and a solid foundation that support their academic courses. For their Chinese language
class, they participate in an exchange program every two years with China, and offer a
history class to students to learn about the Middle Ages in China. For art classes, they
have design class, painting class, wood making studio, and the gallery space. As a
students and curator, partnering with the Park School is a wonderful opportunity and I
am privileged to work with their students and use their valuable resources to support my
thesis exhibition.
• Using Park’s courses as a foundation, artists will work with students and help
them to develop more ideas and methods for understanding art. This exhibition
will serve as a tool to let Park students to rethink the relationship between
academic artistic inquiry and art in their daily life.
• Park has diverse art and language classes. This exhibition will engage the two
departments to interact with each other, and find more ways to benefit their
studies and teaching methods.
Westside Elementary School:
Westside Elementary School is a public elementary school located in 2235 N. Fulton
Avenue. Westside Elementary School is a potential partner of Park School for 2013. Park
wants to develop this new relationship to help the students at Westside Elementary
School have more opportunities to communicate with other students and to join more
activities, so they could have a more colorful school life and learning experience.
Park School and Westside Elementary:
Most students who go to Park are from Upper-Middle class families, but the students
from Westside Elementary are typically from low-income families and the school is
subsidized by state and federal funds. It is very important to offer different opportunities
to students from Westside Elementary to experience various classes, activities, and to
make new friends.
Goals:
• Offer a chance for artists to show their work in a different community
• Explore non-traditional ways to exhibit
• Create interdisciplinary interactions between different departments at Park
Artists:
Artists are interested in using their own methods to create art as another form of language,
and will be selected as my thesis artists and programming participants.
• Lower School:
Full Circle Dance Company
Photo by Erica Feriozzi
Full Circle Dance Company will lead workshops for lower school students. The
curriculum for lower school is learning how to express them. Encourage them consider
dance as a language, which can help them communicate with each other.
• Middle School:
Julia Kim Smith
Anonymous Rage
Smith’s Anonymous Rage is full of claim and voice. It will be a great format for upper
school students to have a taste. Smith’s workshops will let students think about using art
to deliver information in their lives.
• Upper School:
Ruby Fulton
http://www.rubyfulton.com/portfolio/closer-to-mona-2008/ Closer to Mona
2008
Duration: 23:00
Instrumentation: 1 soprano, 1 percussionist, laptop
Fulton has a successful exploration of translating 2-D visual art to music and sings. Her
ideas will encourage middle school students to begin recognize interaction between
different format of arts.
Programming:
• Artwork Making Workshop
Time: September – December 2013 (before exhibition opens)
Three Artists will lead three one-month workshops with Park school students (lower
school, middle school and upper school) to introduce different working methods, and
meaning of their artwork. Students and artists will create new artworks that will show in
the hallway space and Richman Gallery when the exhibition opens.
• Art tour
Time: January 2014 (when exhibition opens)
Students will lead a gallery tour at the opening about their artworks and the making
process.
• Gallery Talk
Time: January/February 2014 (after exhibition opens)
Artists will give gallery talk about their artworks and how they interacted with both Park
and Westside students.
• Voiceless Conversation
Time: January/February 2014 (after exhibition opens)
This workshop invites participants to communicate without talking. Instead, participants
can use writing, eye contact, body language, singing, performing, or other ways to
express their ideas and thoughts. It is a significant way for people to develop a new
language without the use of speaking language.
Anticipated Audiences:
Students, faculties, parents, alumni,
Neighbors of the Park School,
Westside Elementary School
MICA community
Community Engagement:
Programming workshops are designed for students, faculties, parents, alumni, and
neighbors of the Park. Also the exhibition will use Facebook, website (both Park and
thesis), posters, postcard, PR to advertise and engage people.
Accessibility:
• This exhibition will have multi-language (depends on which language class
participates) for wall labels and one bilingual publication with the help of the
students from each language classes. It is a win-win method that invites a wider
audience to participate in the show, and it offers a chance for students to practice
their languages.
• Park School has the facilities and hallway for people who have specific needs
• There are bathrooms on the same floor as the gallery to use during the exhibition
and programming
Marketing:
• Park website
• MICA website
• Exhibition own website
• Flyers
• Poster
• Park newspaper/publication
• MICA Juxtapositions
• Baltimore local school publication
• Baltimore youth/children publication
Publication:
• Postcards: mail to invite parents, local community, and MICA faculties and
students
• Catalog
• Brochure
• Button
• Sticker
• Souvenir: for children to interactive and collect/play
Sustainability:
My thesis intends to create a new way to exhibit artwork in the Richman Gallery at Park
School, through linking closely to Park’s curriculum and students’ activities and interests.
With this new working method, more artists can show their multimedia work at Park. My
thesis will help Park build her new relationship with Westside Elementary School by
creating weekly workshop and monthly field trip.
Assessment /Evaluation:
Thesis committee:
• George Ciscle (MICA)
• Carolyn Sutton (Park)
• Carole Poppleton
• A person from Westside
Front-end evaluation:
• Open conversation with students and faculties
• Classes visit
• Collect demographic information
• Surveys about theme and exhibition title
• Artists visit
Formative:
• Test different workshops’ affection
• Conversation and feedback from artists, faculties, students, and parents
Summative:
• Survey about the results for the exhibition
• Discussion with faculties and students individually for future plan and
improvement
Timeline:
Jan. - Feb. 2013:
General research at Park School
Mar. - Apr. 2013:
Make a decision for potential students, and do more research with them
May 2013:
Make decision for artists, bring them to park, begin to understand the students and
space
June - Aug. 2013:
Proposal from artists, search for grant and marketing
Sep. - Oct. 2013:
Artist A begins to work with students, website build, branding create, list for all deadline
for marketing
Oct. - Nov. 2013:
Artist B begins to work with students, make sure the time and place for advertising and
marketing, postcards and brochure
Nov. - Dec. 2013:
Artist C begins to work with students, catalog design and print
Jan. - Feb.2014:
Exhibition opens, after exhibition program happens
March 2014:
After exhibition evaluation at Park, Westside, and MICA
Budget:
See attach
Research:
Past:
Research online about potential artists, field trip and meeting with faculties at Park
Current:
One day every week to research at Park, visit different classes and meet students
Future:
Bring artists to Park, talk with more people from Park: employees, students, alumni, and
the community surrounding
Curator Bio:
Qianfei Wang is a curator and graphic designer, who hold a BA from the China Central
Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) and a Post-Baccalaureate certificate in Graphic Design at
Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore, MD. Now Wang is a candidate of
MFA in Curatorial Practice at MICA. Wang’s academic career has focused on curating, art
and design, and she is interested in promoting the visual language of art to a wider
audience, especially to persons who have never studied art. Wang is also passionate
about community involvement and has used her skills in curating, art, and design to help
different communities understand art and each other.
Curator Resume:
See attach
Curatorial Practice MFA Summary
MICA's new MFA in Curatorial Practice will prepare students to take a responsible
approach to the expanding role curators play in creating a vibrant cultural life in the 21st
century's global society. Designed to forge connections among art, artists, and the
community, the program's collaborative and individual curatorial projects allow students
to explore new methods of exhibition presentation-thinking outside of traditional
models and training to create relevant, timely and accessible exhibitions for their
audiences. New models will include considering the surrounding community or history
of the venue as inspiration when organizing exhibitions. This innovative graduate
program is the first MFA in Curatorial Practice in the United States.
Combining intensive liberal arts seminars with ongoing discourse between mentors and
peers, the curriculum will complement the program's contemporary vision of exhibition
practice and audience engagement with active hands-on experience. Graduates of the
program will be creative thinkers committed to working in an interactive, collaborative
process, and will emerge with an understanding of the complex and evolving role
curators can play within cultural institutions, galleries, the marketplace, and their
communities.