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Plenary Lecture
Engaging the Community through a Strategy for Public Art
Professor Annaliese Bischoff
Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts,
Amherst, USA
Email: abischof@larp.umass.edu
Abstract:
"Creativity takes courage" - Henry
Matisse
To help
our communities with spirit and sustainability, we need to foster
creativity. Helping the community of Turners Falls, Massachusetts, in the
United States, this research began with “RiverCulture,” a nonprofit
organization committed to developing creative and cultural industries in the
region. The two main objectives of this research were to illustrate how
public art can be employed to help grow the economy creatively as part of
the regeneration efforts underway and to propose a specific strategy for
meaningful public art projects in the area . Projects that engage a sense of
place, reflect upon a sense of time, contribute to the sense of community,
address cultural memory, and consider sustainability enrich the community by
adding to its vitality. Public art can engage the community actively in the
process while addressing sustainability issues. In a process to identify
useful case studies, define the needs of the community, and develop an
action plan, RiverCulture has innovatively begun to implement a model
strategy supporting new public art proposals. By illustrating the success
and outcomes of this research partnership, it can serve as a model for other
communities.
Brief Biography of the Speaker:
Annaliese Bischoff is an Associate Professor in the Department of Landscape
Architecture & Regional Planning at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
She has authored several articles and book chapters about cultural
influences which shape the landscape with a particular interest in the
relationship between art and nature. She has received merit awards in
research and design from the American Society of Landscape Architects,
served as President of the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture
and the President of the Design Communication Association, and was awarded a
Fulbright senior research grant to Berlin. She is currently authoring a book
about the life and work of Frank A. Waugh with the Center for American
Places and the University of Chicago Press. Professor Bischoff received her
B.A. degree from Brown University and her M.L.A. from the State University
of New York, the College of Environmental Science and Forestry.
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