Portland State Magazine Winter 2012

Art student Jason Sturgill arranged for two tattoo artists to ink visitors with designs inspired by works in the Portland Art Museum. Photos by Tyler Brain. WRITTEN BY SU YIM No one will ever think of a museum as stuffy once they have square danced just yards from its collections, reason Portland State art students, who organized the event at the Portland Art Museum. LICENSE Social practice combines with art for an experience that pulls people in and gives them something unexpected. ARTIST CARMEN PAPALIA has lived with progressive vision loss all his life. As the 29-year-old Porclander became legally blind, he explored his disabiliry in poetry and essays. But Papalia knew he wanted to do more. "Disabiliry art is usually directed at people with disabiliry, but why not present it to contemporary art audiences and institutions?" he asks. That premise led to his art project of the past year: walking tours in three different cicie where participants lined up behind Papalia, closed their eyes, and followed him through ciry streets, parks, and nature areas. Papalia, a student in the Universiry's Art and Social Practice master's program, knows that his project covers unusual terri– tory for chose who chink about art in more traditional terms. But art as social practice, also known as socially engaged art, repre– sents a growing wave of highly interactive, collaborative public art that often combines unexpected di ciplines, such as economics and food or social work and education. For example, artist Eric Steen MFA '09 worked with 15 homebrewers to create a public class to explore beer culture and economics in Glasgow, Scotland. Their 30 craft beers were served for free at a bar Steen built in Glasgow, as a means of engaging people in the process and artistry behind beer. At last year's Conference on Art and Social Practice put on annually by PSU, Nashville artist Jonathan Paul Gillette hosted "What Are You Running From– Athon" at the Buckman Park running track. To register, runners filled out a question– naire that asked what drove them to run, and Gillette hired three counselors to help people confront what they were fleeing. THE DEFINITION of social practice is intentionally broad, with more focus on the artists' intentions and the creative process rather than the final produce. In social practice art, it's all about a new, creative flow, says PSU art professor Harrell Fletcher, who started the social practice program in 2006. Rather than all the anen– tion and energy focusing in one direction, from a "genius" artist to his "ma terpiece," as it does in traditional art, social practice art is more inclusive. An artist may choose 14 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE WINTER 2012