same situation: I invited a former
student to collaborate with me.
Teachers and students were separated at the beginning of the session. The teachers began their day
discussing installations and collaborations by artists such as Jeanne-Claude and Christo. Students
reviewed basic color theory and
discussed the strengths of choosing
a limited color palette. Both groups
reviewed the definition of installation art and discussed how collaboration works.
incorporates any media to create a
visceral or conceptual experience in
a particular space. Materials used in
contemporary installation art range
from everyday and natural materials
to video, sound, performance, com-
puters, and the
Internet.
Art in Motion
To motivate the participants to
think as a group, I instructed them
to flip through old magazines col-
lecting color palettes, images, tex-
tures, and words that described who
they were. Clear
packing tape was
stretched across a
table and partici-
pants patched their
pieces together,
forming one large
It was a beautiful sight
to see teachers and
students work together
in such harmony.
Installation Art
Installation art uses media to
modify the way we experience a
space. It is not always confined to
gallery spaces as it is often designed
for public spaces. Installation art
Collaboration
Collaboration
occurs when
two or more peo-
ple interact in pursuit of a shared,
collective goal. Having a shared goal
does not imply that all individual
goals are the same. Individuals can
still have their own unique goals.
Those goals must be somewhat
complementary in order for effective
collaboration to happen.
visual timeline. Participants soaked
and rubbed the tape, creating photographic transfers for later use in the
installation. This allowed everyone
to make their individual marks
while creating unity.
Everyone was provided with a
large piece of heavyweight paper
and asked to individually:
• select two colors and cover the
surface,
• dissect the space with five lines,
and
• begin to establish a focal point.
Working Together
We brought teams together as a
group. For the first time, student
and teacher could see the direction
of their partner’s work. To encourage problem solving, we occasionally created diversions by splashing
their paper with India ink, making
a spill on their paper, or randomly
sticking a colored piece of paper on
the surface.
To begin the second day, I asked
each teacher and student partner to
sit down and write a letter to the
other about the experience they
were sharing. They were later asked
to incorporate this letter into their
finished piece.
Panic and then Magic
The next step led to stares and a
moment of panic. I asked each person to take his or her piece and cut
off one-third of the composition.
Then I asked them to merge the
work of teacher and student into
one composition. Each team was
Left: In this work the artists chose a different path. Here you can see that they
cut a circular piece in the center and then
suspended it back in to create dynamic
repetition of circles.
