Shari Hersh Lecture

on wednesday afternoon i attended the Shari Hersh lecture in the library. it was actually a very interesting experience for me. as Hersh's talk started, i found myself highly disliking her. the entire thing sounded like she was trying to sell this idea of mural painting to us. facts, numbers...nothing to do with the art itself, or her process in making it. she sounded completely self centered about the whole thing -- as though this was all a big "i do it because it makes me feel good" scheme.

however, as she started to talk more about her process, and less about the statistics, i started to enjoy the talk a lot more. it was clear that she cared immensely for the communities in which she was working, the kids that helped her on her projects. Hersh has a group of students from the college she teachers at, which help her do some of the mural work. along with them, she stresses including all of the people (normally mainly the kids) in the communities in which she is working to come out and help paint and design.

when the talk was completed, i asked her a question about communities dealing with mural projects. Fall of '06 was when the idea to paint the construction wall was initialized, and my drawing class had a huge debate on whether any student should be able to put art up there, or whether a committee should choose, or a mix. i asked Hersh how she would deal with it, and i was very satisfied with her answer. she talked about gathering the "stakeholders" -- anyone who had any interest at all: faculty, students, the construction firm -- and they all get even votes, and they can all vote on whichever idea they think is best. this way it is a true community forum in order to choose how we want to deal with the wall.

i was considering asking Hersh if she considered her art to be installation art, and then i realized what a silly question that was. of course it is. the mural painting fills every category that we require for installation pieces: it changes place into space, it is entirely dependent on where it is put. having a mural put in a run down community means something completely different than having it put in an affluent one. plus, the buildings arent exactly mobile by any means.

overall, i felt it was a valuable lecture to attend.

p.s. i believe this is my 5th cultural event post.
4: American University Gallery
3: Chris Coleman
2: Patrick Kelly
1: Lance Winn