ArtSake

Joseph Krupczynski aims to bring fresh fruits and vegetables to low-income communities in Western Massachusetts using a “green” service vehicle through the public art project called the Moveable Feast.

What inspired you to create the Movable Feast Project?
Loretta Yarlow, the director of the University Gallery at UMass asked me if I was interested in putting together a public art project (with community engagement) as part of their contribution to Museums10 Fall 2010 exhibition theme of “Food.” Since I have been working in the last few years with Nuestras Raices in Holyoke (on the design for an educational/restaurant structure for their farm), I thought that they would be an excellent collaborative partner for such a project since their work is “food” and “community” focused. So I started a conversation with the director of Nuestras Raices and asked what projects they were developing that I might contribute to in a public art context. In those conversations I learned that, through their work with the Holyoke Food and Fitness Policy Council, they had identified the development of mobile markets/kitchens as one of the outreach priorities (whose primary objective is to reach low-income neighborhoods in the region with poor access to fresh fruits and vegetables) and they were planning on purchasing a food trailer for that use. Once we knew that the food trailer would be the subject/object of this project, “Moveable Feast” was born.

Where do the fruits and vegetables come from?
All the primary ingredients of all the food served from the trailer are sourced from local farms, including farmers from Nuestras Raices, La Finca.

What do you say to people who might say “how can this be art”?
My definition of art is that it should catalyze a renewed perception of our world –and it is my hope that “Movable Feast” is a visual (as well as a culinary) catalyst to re-vision how we see our local food system. I also believe that a public art project such as this can creatively transform local conditions and build uncharacteristic forms of associations among a diverse group of community residents—establishing and elaborating a unique alternate form of sociality. This process allows for the production of “things” (conversations, meals, performances, effects) that are transformed into “artworks” within this broadened framework. The project is an artistic production that also works as a collective learning project—promoting internal reflection, horizontal exchange, and vertical collaborations and partnerships. For me, the project is inspired by the idea that art can expand conventional notions of people, place and the art-making process. It is part of a broader effort to create works through participatory processes where the work’s visual and physical characteristics grow out of a reflective engagement with the community. So the work seeks not to simply “beautify” a site, but to use art and the art-making process as a means to bridge the gaps between the aesthetic, social and everyday perceptions of art and life.

What do you hope to achieve by undertaking the Movable Feast Project?
See above… but, also: One of the social issues/conditions that this project seeks to address is the disparities in access to healthy food –which remain an important challenge today, contributing to obesity and other related health problems. Yet, there are strategies being implemented across the country to address this issue. By providing a context for discussing, highlighting and disseminating information about healthy community-based food practices in Western Massachusetts’ diverse communities, this project seeks to become part of this growing movement (in a small, humble way) that provide realizable solutions.

Is there any fruit or vegetable you are not fond of? (Disclaimer, this ArtSake writer is a vegetarian).
Kiwi! …for some reason it makes me break out.

All dates and locations for the Moveable Feast are subject to change so be sure to check for updates.

Sunday 10/3 1:30 – 3:00 PM & 4:00 – 5:30 PM
Holyoke / Toepfert Apartments, North Summer Street &
Beaudoin Village, Leary Drive

Tuesday 10/5 4:30 – 7:00 PM
Amherst / Food for Thought Books / Panel Discussion
106 North Pleasant Street

Saturday 10/9 10:00 – 2:00PM
Springfield / Mason Square Farmers Market
11 Wilbraham Road

Tuesday 10/12 3:00 – 5:00 PM
Holyoke / El Arco Iris
561 South Canal Street

Image credit: All images courtesy of Joseph Krupczynski.

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Nine Boston-area artists are currently exhibiting in the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston’s 2010 James and Audrey Foster Prize Exhibition. The artists (six of which are past MCC fellows!) are finalists for the prestigious $25,000 prize, which will be announced January 2011.

We thought it would be interesting to peek inside the workspace of these exciting, innovative artists. Here, Evelyn Rydz (Drawing Fellow ’10) explores the making of her intricate, entrancing drawings.

Over the last few years I have been making regular visits to coastlines to document objects that have washed ashore. I am interested in the stories these found objects tell of relocation, transformation, and the suggestions of past events that have made them castaways in foreign landscapes. A selection of drawings from two related bodies of work inspired by my coastal visits are included in the Foster Prize Exhibition.The first group of drawings, Castaways, maps out items the sea has rejected, as I have found them; while the second group, Drifting Islands, creates places where they exist together.

My work always begins with photographs. I photograph objects and places that have undergone significant change or that are in a process of transformation. I categorize, reorganize, and often times collage these images into new landscapes. A main component of my work is in exploring the details. I learn about the objects as I draw them, investigating each part completely. I think of the details in the objects like scars and wrinkles that contain endless information about the past.

The Castaways drawings, chart washed ashore objects that have been lost, abandoned, or possibly defeated at sea. I am intrigued by how these objects come together and become camouflaged in their new environments. Some examples of this can be seen in the piece of bright blue insulation foam with barnacles growing along its side or in the rusted beer can covered with algae and shells. This catalog of flotsam is drawn from an intimate eyelevel perspective with the found object; the sea is a faint line in the distance. These drawings focus on each detail of the found object, including its texture, altered surface, color, and size, giving them unique identities, while the settings are minimal black and white summaries of the space. Each object becomes like an actor spot lit on stage.

The second group of drawings, Drifting Islands, which stems from this flotsam catalog, merges these found objects with fragments of disparate places into unexpected islands. From early sea explorers, to Homer’s seascapes, to Darwin in the Galapagos, and TV shows like Lost, there are endless stories of our lure to the sea. Working from both observation and imagination, these drawings are based on adaptation, possibilities of new environments, and questions of how future landscapes will evolve.

Evelyn Rydz‘s drawings, along with work by the other eight 2010 Foster Prize finalists, will be exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston through January 17, 2011.

All images by Evelyn Rydz: DRIFTING ISLAND #3 (2009), Pencil, Color Pencil, and Acrylic on Two Sheets of Duralar, 21×32 in; studio materials; Evelyn Rydz, at work in her studio (photo by Meredith Pierce); RED GLOVE (2010), Pencil and Color Pencil on Duralar, 11×14 in; PINK BALLOON (2010), Pencil and Color Pencil on Duralar, 11×14 in; DRIFTING ISLAND #5 (2009), Pencil, Color Pencil, and Acrylic on Two Sheets of Duralar, 22×52 in; detail of DRIFTING ISLAND #5 (2009).

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