在丹佛东部旅行, 随着地形变平, 树木和房屋变得稀缺, George 佩雷斯 (BFA ’14) stared out the car window 和 wondered where in the world he was going.

佩雷斯, 谁毕业于美术专业, 去拜尔斯了, 科罗拉多州, 2017年艺术与乡村环境实地学校在哪里举行. The intensive three-week field course is designed for students interested in exploring the unique relationship between art 和 the Western American environment.

His reaction to the unfamiliar l和scape became a transformative experience for 佩雷斯, who had never seen the sparsely populated grassl和s of the High Plains of eastern 科罗拉多州.

“这里的风景就像一场文化冲击，”佩雷斯说. “这是一种完全不同的环境. 我甚至不知道科罗拉多州有这样的风景.”

佩雷斯 is an artist in Denver 和 an artist-in-residence at the Denver Children’s Museum that will wrap up next month. 最近, 他参加了一个名为, 作为缪斯的档案, 与非营利组织ArtHyve合作的八人秀. He conducted research with the help of the archivist/librarian in the Western history 和 genealogy collections in the Denver Public Archives as inspiration for art.

The pace of life in the rural areas was much slower than what 佩雷斯 was used to in Boulder 和 Denver. 找不到摄影项目的灵感, 他惯用的手段, 佩雷斯变得焦躁不安，急于开始一个项目. 但是?

“我觉得我应该做点什么, 比如挖几个小时的洞,佩雷斯说。, 谁的主要媒介是摄影. “My ‘aha’ moment happened that day when I realized artwork could be less 2-D-based 和 parallel more a performance or a conversation.”

Realizing that digging a hole could be a potential, 佩雷斯 started making art.

The revelation led to an art project that showed his field school experience from a different perspective. 要做到这一点, he attached a cell phone to his belt 和 made a video of his trips to the hardware store 和 the laundromat while pushing a wheelbarrow that held his items. The waist-high viewpoint shows his h和s on the wheelbarrow h和les 和 the scene in front of him as he walks along 和 talks with the friendly townsfolk who stopped to offer him rides.

“There were no restrictions on the art I chose to do at the field school,” he said. “I felt like I could make artwork in a different environment 和 learn from that. 你精力充沛. 你在辐射以提高效率.”

理查德·萨克斯顿, 雕塑和工作室后实践副教授, 是艺术和农村环境实地学校的创始人和主任.

“越来越多, 我看到的是没有在陌生领域生活经验的学生, of knowing how to encounter things that are different from what they know,萨克斯顿说. “The field school gives them a sense of how big the world is 和 how many different things there are to make artwork about. They internalize their rural experiences 和 make art that tries to represent those experiences.”

在农村环境中一起生活和工作, students create artwork specific to the l和scape using a variety of mediums, 从雕塑和版画到摄影和短暂的组合. The field school is designed to exp和 students’ definition of what a studio practice can be while exposing them to new vistas.

虽然重点是艺术, 实地学校对任何专业的学生开放, 以及非科罗拉多大学学生.

Two weeks of the three-week course are spent in 科罗拉多州 making art in any medium. 为期一周的实地学习是在路上进行的. 去年，该组织博彩平台推荐了堪萨斯州和俄克拉荷马州的部分地区. 在漫长的旅途中, 学生们进行阅读和讨论广泛的话题, 比如深邃的目光, 当地的历史, 社会学, 环境问题与诗歌.

Professional artists who work in the rural milieu were invited to give workshops 和 talks. 在野外学校结束的时候, 他们举行了一次公开招待会, 为拜尔斯地区的居民举办艺术展和烧烤.

“The students create a community with 12, 14 people they’ve never met before,萨克斯顿说. “You’re on a journey 和 there’s a lot of transformation that takes place during that time. Artists have moved beyond a time when they’re being defined by being in a studio.

他说:“实地学习是一门体验式课程. “I’ve had students who were terrified to travel to small towns turn around 和 focus on that the next semester. I’ve had students not know what they were going to do after they graduate 和 decide to go to graduate school 和 study this type of work.”

来自纽约市的山姆·阿卡拉(Sam Arcara)被广阔的空间所吸引. 吸引他来博彩平台推荐的是物理系. 在一个艺术家家庭长大, 他想在学习物理的同时继续上艺术课. Eventually, he realized art called to him in a way that physics did not. 这可能, Arcara will graduate with a bachelor’s of fine art in sculpture 和 post-studio practices, 辅修艺术史和哲学.

“Much of my artwork pertains to rural environments 和 the natural l和scape,阿卡拉说, 这一点往往被主流文化所忽视. The field school’s interdisciplinary 和 immersive experience allowed me to go so much deeper in my work.”

One of his projects was a piece that addressed the water shortage on the Great Plains. Lying beneath the l和 is the Ogallala Aquifer—one of the world’s largest. Water to irrigate crops is being pumped out faster than it can be replenished, which inspired Arcara to weld a small-scale version of a center-pivot irrigation sprinkler. He then froze his sprinkler in a block of ice 和 placed it on a bed of native grasses he had gathered 和 left it to melt.

“前提是, we have this delicate balance of life supported by water in a warming global climate,阿卡拉说. “这不是可以无限期支持的东西. 最后，你会发现这个遗迹躺在干燥的田野里. 这就是我项目的最终成果.”

野外学校是由 科罗拉多大学博尔德艺术和艺术史 以及科科伦艺术学院 & 华盛顿特区的设计.C. 学生可以获得6个学分来完成学位. The field school is also supported in part by the Office for 外展 和 Engagement’s 人文艺术倡议 和 继续教育. 

The 2018 Art 和 Rural 环境s Field School will be held in Conejos County, 科罗拉多州. 了解更多.