Crafting Monuments

Workshop Starts Spring 2021 Series with Center for Craft

By UNC Asheville

April 2^nd, 2021

Cover Image: Junior fine arts major Matthew Rich from Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, proposed a monument called “RE-SOURCES.” His idea combined public transportation funding and a monument as a center for education and community gathering, as well as a place for joy and connection.

The study and practice of craft has long been an integral part of UNC Asheville’s curriculum, but this spring, students in three classes brought their interdisciplinary perspectives and problem-solving abilities to a new challenge – a big one. Each class and each student conceptualized new monuments for their college city.

The assignment was part of a Crafting Monuments workshop hosted by the Center for Craft in partnership with UNC Asheville, at the start of the Crafting Resilience series.

Some students described their monument in words, pulling from conversations with family and friends. Some drew inspiration from the archives and artists, combining elements from both. Some sketched their concepts as the first step as they work towards creating the monuments they've proposed for display on campus by the end of the spring 2021 semester. Together, they came together in an afternoon workshop on Feb. 26, 2021, to share their ideas. Leading the discussion was ACLS Leading Edge Fellow Juliana Barton with the Center for Craft along with mixed media artist Jenny Pickens, mixed media artist Ada Pinkston and social practice artist Aram Han Sifuentes.

“Crafting Monuments is designed to help students investigate historical monuments, ask questions about art and justice in public spaces, and propose their own ideas for a monument,” said Barton. “In a moment when global, national, and local forms of political turmoil, public health crisis, and human suffering have collided as never before, these discussions and presentations can help us consider how to craft resilience in challenging times.”

Senior Dylan Mintz created a piece based upon Cherokee baskets as a metaphor of weaving together diverse communities.

Barton adapted the activity from Monument Lab’s Field Trip, which was developed by Kanyinsola Anifowoshe, Paul Farber, Patricia Eunji Kim, Hilary M.V. Leathem, Sue Mobley, and Yannick Trapman-O'Brien, but the ideas in Asheville clearly had local roots.

Many of the students chose to focus on the Vance Monument, proposing to replace it, modify it, or build from it. From a historic approach that built from data from the 1910 census to a modern concept that combined technology and art to imagine a giant biofeedback system, the ideas explored many options. Students discussed removing the monument or breaking it and recycling it into something new. Some students selected other sites and focal points to honor the area’s indigenous heritage.

Junior fine arts major Matthew Rich from Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, proposed a monument called “RE-SOURCES.” His idea combined public transportation funding and a monument as a center for education and community gathering, as well as a place for joy and connection.

“I was thinking of a really broad definition of monument (something that engages with the past and present but also lays the foundation for a better future), and so it ties into city policy as well as the community,” said Rich.

Junior management major Aaron Sumnet is planning an interactive exhibit in dedication, and in response to, the actions taken by retail investors during this financial crisis and subsequent manipulation of the Stock Exchange during the hysteria of COVID-19

Sifuentes, who led one of the small group discussions, encouraged the students’ ideas.

“I recommend dreaming big. It’s easier to dream big and then bring it down,” she said. Part of the discussion was down to earth too as she also asked the question, “Who gets to create a monument and from what perspective do they get to tell it? You can use your privilege and power to uplift others.”

That sentiment sustained the conversation and as it concluded that afternoon, the students returned to their class assignments with additional perspectives and perhaps a new story to tell.

Junior sculpture major Esmé Kerr, originally from Raleigh, North Carolina, proposed a monument in dedication to the Free Britney Movement.

Students from each class will present their ideas as part of the spring 2021 Art for Our Times 2.0 on April 6 at noon. Learn more at https://artforourtimes.wp.unca.edu/.

“We can see how monuments can change and be so much more than they are,” said UNC Asheville Public Arts and Humanities Chair Brent Skidmore, who led one of the three classes with Art and Art History Professor Leisa Rundquist and Art and Art History Associate Professor Jackson Martin joining classes for the workshop.

The Crafting Resilience series continues in April as well, with the next public talk on April 8. Learn more at https://www.centerforcraft.org/crafting-resilience.

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