ARTS 290 Art Outside the Bounds: Wanlass Artists in Residence

This studio art-making course will be taught by the 2017/2018 Wanlass Artist-in-Residence, visual artist, writer, and performer Kenyatta A. C. Hinkle. The course will focus on the theme of the "historical present" – the residue of history and how it affects our contemporary world perspective. Art-making will include collaboration with the artist on her long-running and multi-layered educational and research project: Kentifrica. Both a physical and theoretical space, Kentifrica is a geography/continent of collective creation, and is constantly shifting and open to various forms of interpretation. Students will re-create artifacts, share narratives and customs, and conduct research activities. The class will work collaboratively with the artist to build upon and reconstruct a Kentifrican identity that invites a critical engagement with the intersections of collective vs. personal histories, Diaspora, migration, immigration, cross-culturalism, and issues of geography. Through their art-making, students will shape and express their own consciousness in lieu of interpretations that have already been shaped and defined for them. This is a rare opportunity to collaborate with a renowned artist and perform art-making outside of the box.

Previous Wanlass Artists-in-Residence include: Lucky Dragons, CamLab, and Rafa Esparza.