assignment for monday, march 31

street art

find some public art/street art and spend some time looking at it, and the surrounding neighborhood.  write a short essay about the art, as well as the neighborhood. what is the art communicating?  how does the art seem to fit into the surrounding neighborhood?  is it working with or against the identity of the neighborhood?   explain.  discuss the street art in the context of the banksy film and or the article about chicano murals.  

*****     *****

assignment for april 2

mapping your neighborhood and another

for this assignment, you will need to walk and map your own neighborhood, and another, unfamiliar neighborhood.  as you walk, you should be taking notes for both a map and an eventual longer piece which will explore your own relationship to place/space.

-begin by walking the perimeter of what you define as your neighborhood.  walk to the limits in every direction, and notice what, exactly, demarcates the edges of your neighborhood.  is it a physical change, an emotional one, both?

-walk at least 2 blocks (or their equivalent) past what you think of as the edge of your neighborhood.  notice your responses.  how/why do things feel different in this area?  

-identify any particular ideas you have about any aspect of your neighborhood as you walk along.  for instance, the house with the tall grass, that everyone from the neighborhood stays away from, or the house with the barking dogs, or the house that always leaves their trash cans out.  try to identify ways that you think about the people who represent a departure from the neighborhood norms, and from this thinking, develop an idea of what the norm is for your neighborhood.  once you have figured out your neighborhood norms, incorporate them into a key for your map, and make sure your map addresses the specifics if which houses/streets are seen as fitting the norm.

-- try to infer things about the history of the neighborhood from your walk through it.  

-as you walk both neighborhoods, make note of things like race, gender, age, social class, religion.  how do these demographics affect the way you see both neighborhoods, and their  boundaries?

--notice the art in both neighborhoods.  if there is none, mark its absence somehow on your map.  if there is art, make sure you include it on your map.

--notice the presence of absence of things like trees, fences, grocery stores, bodegas, liquor stores, and any other features of the neighborhood that distinguish it as a neighborhood.