In this moment of climate collapse, the relationship of art to the land has an urgent new meaning. LAND surveys artist’s engagement with land from a material, historical, spiritual and political perspective including transcendentalism, land art, earthworks, neighborhood-based projects, to eco arts and activism culminating in collaborative site-specific projects. Students will learn about local ecologies, and the plant and animal life that their projects will intersect with and serve. This class will participate in the physical cultivation and maintenance of a mini-forest which will require digging, planting, as well as other tending and doing connected to a web of sustainable artist-initiated land-based works. Students can expect to spend time outdoors at off-campus locations.

Outcome 1
Expand imaginative and aesthetic capacities to respond to field study, climate crisis, and indigenous practices in contemporary art making.

Outcome 2
Develop skills with multidisciplinary practices of installation, collaboration, field work, and social practice through hands-on projects.

Outcome 3
Gain the skills to cultivate native species and regenerate forests.

Outcome 4
Learn processes of harvesting and processing plants to create art making material.

Outcome 5
Acquire wide-ranging interdisciplinary knowledge about the local ecologies of the Ithaca area and its habitat through self-directed research.

Outcome 6
Gain familiarity with a wide range of international artists addressing land-based practices, including issues of biodiversity and climate crisis, learning about the strategies and critical concepts they employ.