Art, society and sustainability

Portland State’s art scene is becoming known for its Art and Social Practice Master of Fine Arts program, in which artists are encouraged to interact with their community.

Harrell Fletcher, assistant professor of art at PSU and fellow of the Institute for Sustainable Solutions, will present “Art, Society and Sustainability,” a seminar to be held Wednesday, Nov. 23, that will explore the intersection between these three subjects while showcasing Fletcher’s work.

“One way to think of art and social practice is as ‘participatory art,’ in which artists collaborate with the public to create projects that are often specific to the place they are being presented in,” Fletcher said. “Social practice deemphasizes the role of the object, so that if there is an object, it is serving a purpose in the project rather than being the sole art element, as is typical in studio practice.”

How does art relate to sustainability?

Students mounting the stairs of Ondine Hall may have noticed one possible way: Looping up the walls is a sculpture made of multicolored discs. On closer inspection, one sees that the sculpture is made almost entirely of plastic bottle caps.

Artists Steven Beatty and Laurel Kurtz have turned the part of a bottle meant for a landfill into an engaging visual piece. In doing so, they comment on the disposability of our culture and make use of the unusable.

Sustainability in art isn’t just about the raw materials, however.

Although many people might think of art and social practice as using recycled or natural materials, “social practice projects might be more about creating situations that model or realize ways of functioning that increase diversity, engagement and educational opportunities,” Fletcher said. “For example, one of my current grad students, Nolan Calisch, co-runs a small CSA [community-supported agriculture] farm as part of his artwork.”

If running a farm can be considered art, what can’t? When does a dinner party qualify as art, and when is it just a dinner party?

“Art is a construct. It’s not intrinsic. So the only thing that determines if something is or isn’t art is if someone claims that it is,” Fletcher said. “We are used to the claim that paintings and sculpture are art, so we don’t question them. If someone calls a dinner party art, however, it goes against convention, and some people have a hard time with that.”

Fletcher believes that a dinner party is every bit as valid a form of art as a painting.

“But if someone doesn’t want his or her dinner party or painting or anything else to be considered art, that’s fine with me also,” he said. “There is room for everything.”

Jenny DuVander, communications director for Portland State’s Institute for Sustainable Solutions, explained some of the steps our university is taking toward conservation.

“Our Sustainable Drinking Water Task Forceis looking for ways to reduce wasteful plasticbottled water on campus,” DuVander said. “November is Social Sustainability Month, and our students have done an excellent job highlighting that less-talked-about sphere that includes wellness, equality and community.”

Current projects include opening a new community garden/orchard at Southwest Montgomery and 12th Avenue. The university also supports green buildings and transportation.

“Upwards of 15 percent of students rely primarily on bikes to get to campus, and that number is growing,” DuVander said. “Each new building and renovation on campus now has to meet high green building standards.”

She added that the university’s Climate Action Plan, signed last year, outlines a path to carbon neutrality by the year 2040, which is “a huge endeavor.” DuVander admitted that it’s difficult to measure how local actions can have a significant impact but that “we have to start at some scale.”

“Increasingly, PSU is using the neighborhood to design solutions that can then be scaled up to other neighborhoods, a whole city or a region,” she said. “As far as sustainable economic growth goes, we need new measures of what it means to have a healthy, successful economy that measures not just dollars but well-being.”

Fletcher argues that individuals can affect change through their choices as well, though the larger sociopolitical realm may seem daunting.

“I’m not sure what the best way to tackle that situation is, and often I feel overwhelmed by what appears to be a desperate and horrible global eventuality,” Fletcher said. “But I have a four-year-old daughter, and I want her to have a sustainable future.”

Meantime, Fletcher is sure that a solution will occur somewhere down the road.

“I’m hoping that social practice may play at least a small role in that,” he said.