"Make Art, Not Waste:" Three Mac Students Open Discussions on Sustainability through Art
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| Maggie Wick (left) and Rachel Percy (right) pose by their installation. Photo by Zella Lobo |
Percy, Rafferty, and Wick decided that pulling art pieces together and displaying them in different locations around campus could foster discussions around sustainability and help the community work through their feelings about Mac’s goals moving forward. They applied for a Small Projects Fund through the Macalester Sustainability Office for what they would call the “Make Art, Not Waste” campaign. Their vision was to have different pieces of art done by Mac students displayed together on campus for community members to view and reflect on. Following their approval for a grant, they sent out their own applications for student artists interested in putting a small budget toward a project with the prompt: “What do you hope people walk away with after viewing or engaging with your work,” and “What do you see as the intersection of art and sustainability?”
“It was really interesting to see all the different responses and how people connected their values to sustainability differently,” Wick said. “I think there really was a connection to sustainability even beyond zero waste, even though that was what this was really centered around. So it was really interesting to see this all coming together.”
Ultimately, they accepted all seven of the applications they reviewed and began planning locations for the art to rotate through. Rather than keeping the exhibit in one spot for the duration of the campaign, the team decided the artwork would get more buzz if it moved.
“We didn't want the artwork to lose interest from the community, so we were like, ‘ok let's move it to different places,’” Percy said.
Over the past four weeks, beginning on the second floor of the Campus Center, and moving to the Smail Gallery in Olin Rice, the basement of the CC, and finally the lobby of Janet Wallace Fine Arts, the art produced by the individual artists and groups has travelled across campus for anyone passing by to see. “It's cool to get some responses and see what people have to say and what they thought about the art,” Wick said of the feedback their group has received via a link in the MacDaily. “I think it shows that we’re getting people thinking about it.”
“For me, I've realized that sustainability is so connected to other huge social issues and that's something that I've seen with my courses at Macalester and the work that I’ve been able to do, so I think it's those ties that sustainability has to really everything else is what keeps me engaged with it.”
“Sometimes we sit around our exhibit during lunchtime or other peak hours and when we see people stop and take a moment to reflect on the art it makes this entire project worthwhile,” Rafferty said. “A large goal of this campaign was to encourage individuals to take a moment to stop and think about sustainability and we truly believe that has happened.”
To conclude their campaign, “Make Art, Not Waste” will be having a gallery showing in the Janet Wallace lobby on Monday, March 2nd from 5-7 pm featuring the entire exhibit. The artists will be by their art to answer questions from the community about their work and their connections to zero waste and sustainability. It will also be “an opportunity for people in the community to talk about this with each other. We've all been viewing this art separately, we thought it would be great to provide a space for people to reflect together,” Percy said. All are welcome to join in the discussion or simply observe the art during the gallery showing.
Although the group did not begin this campaign with the idea of it becoming a recurring event, they agreed that if they received enough positive feedback and interest, it could be something they do annually. Either way, the group will continue to care about sustainability in the work they do moving forward. “I think about this quote like ‘you can't be neutral on a moving train,’” Percy said, “like not doing anything is actively having a negative impact on this overall impact on this goal of becoming a more sustainable campus and world.”
written by Sustainability Office student worker Zella Lobo
“It was really interesting to see all the different responses and how people connected their values to sustainability differently,” Wick said. “I think there really was a connection to sustainability even beyond zero waste, even though that was what this was really centered around. So it was really interesting to see this all coming together.”
Ultimately, they accepted all seven of the applications they reviewed and began planning locations for the art to rotate through. Rather than keeping the exhibit in one spot for the duration of the campaign, the team decided the artwork would get more buzz if it moved.
“We didn't want the artwork to lose interest from the community, so we were like, ‘ok let's move it to different places,’” Percy said.
Over the past four weeks, beginning on the second floor of the Campus Center, and moving to the Smail Gallery in Olin Rice, the basement of the CC, and finally the lobby of Janet Wallace Fine Arts, the art produced by the individual artists and groups has travelled across campus for anyone passing by to see. “It's cool to get some responses and see what people have to say and what they thought about the art,” Wick said of the feedback their group has received via a link in the MacDaily. “I think it shows that we’re getting people thinking about it.”
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| Rachel Percy sets up the final installation in JWall. Photo by Zella Lobo |
“Sometimes we sit around our exhibit during lunchtime or other peak hours and when we see people stop and take a moment to reflect on the art it makes this entire project worthwhile,” Rafferty said. “A large goal of this campaign was to encourage individuals to take a moment to stop and think about sustainability and we truly believe that has happened.”
To conclude their campaign, “Make Art, Not Waste” will be having a gallery showing in the Janet Wallace lobby on Monday, March 2nd from 5-7 pm featuring the entire exhibit. The artists will be by their art to answer questions from the community about their work and their connections to zero waste and sustainability. It will also be “an opportunity for people in the community to talk about this with each other. We've all been viewing this art separately, we thought it would be great to provide a space for people to reflect together,” Percy said. All are welcome to join in the discussion or simply observe the art during the gallery showing.
Although the group did not begin this campaign with the idea of it becoming a recurring event, they agreed that if they received enough positive feedback and interest, it could be something they do annually. Either way, the group will continue to care about sustainability in the work they do moving forward. “I think about this quote like ‘you can't be neutral on a moving train,’” Percy said, “like not doing anything is actively having a negative impact on this overall impact on this goal of becoming a more sustainable campus and world.”
written by Sustainability Office student worker Zella Lobo
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