ARTH3101/5101 Critical Issues (Fall 2023)

  Paired Issue Study Imani Burke and Savannah Zupan  Deep Mapping  Deep mapping has never truly been defined but has been subcategorized in many ways. It follows a sense of place, narrative, history, and memory. Deep mapping can take many forms, far past what we think of as a regular map, it is a complex form of storytelling, “There is no strict definition of a deep map. But it has been called the “essential next step” following the spatial turn that reshaped the humanities by the turn of the century (Bodenhamer et al. 2015, 1). The aim behind this concept is ultimately to comprehend the many layers of memory, experience, and perceptions of a particular place over time through the wide variety of narratives that are anchored there.”  Many artists navigate deep mapping as a form of art-making or have experienced this in their process. Performance-based art is a powerful tool for artists to convey memory physically and visually. Unlike static visual forms of art, perfo...

Willie Cole Instagram Post The Art Newspaper posted “Artist Willie Cole claims the Met Gala’s chandeliers were a ‘blatant rip off’ of his sculptures” on May 3, 2023. Cole has utilized recycled water bottles in his life-size sculptures “for over a decade” (Voon) and called out the Met Gala for showcasing all too familiar “chandeliers made of recycled plastic water bottles” (Voon) through an Instagram post. Cole notes in the post that he was not alone in these thoughts of the alleged “blatant rip off” and asks “is this flattery or thievery?” Interestingly, the Met “owns several works by Cole” (Voon) and notes that they are “a great admirer of Willie Cole, and has reached out to the artist directly on the matter” (Voon). In terms of the Met Gala decor, they cited their inspiration source as Tadao Ando, the architect “who designed the Met’s new Costume Institute exhibition, Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” (Voon).  Willie Cole, Lumen-less Lantern, 2022 Personally speaking, I would fin...

     On Saturday, November 18, 2023, I attended the annual convention for the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), held here in Columbus. This convention was a great insight into the current publishing market for school-aged readers, making it valuable to attend as a writer and illustrator. While I was there, I took part in an Expert Class session hosted by Publishers Spotlight, an organization that works to promote the publication of international and independent published work. In this roundtable setting, I had the opportunity to learn about Red Comet Press from their publisher, Angus Yuen-Killick. Angus shared a number of international books that he published for English speaking audiences, such as the yet-to-be-released Japanese picture book Doshaburi, and the novelty French guide, 101 Ways to Read a Book. But the one he was most interested in sharing, and the one I want to share with you, was the Ukrainian picture book Yellow Butterfly , created by artist ...