Hi All.  A year ago I started this blog because of my experience with Colorado Art Ranch(CAR)  and the residency in Salida, CO centered around water.  I became aware of CAR by an invitation to be a guest speaker at an Artposium in the Fall of 2009 in called Dinner Stories.  Grant Pound, the Executive Director found my work on the internet and felt that it melded well with the theme of food, agriculture, and community.  Several conversations later, a lovely Amtrak ride West, and a shuttle with Peggy Lawless, co-founder of CAR and Grant’s wife, and we were in the magical region of agriculture in Colorado.  A whirlwind of conversations, presentations, poetry reading and writing at an organic pear orchard on the banks of the Gunnison River, and so much more, and this artist was hooked on the organization, its members and mission.

Who can argue about the Science and Art melding as a catalyst for change in our world?

You can read more about my water related residency from my initial posts in 2010.  More importantly, I hope you read the interview with Grant Pound that I have included below.  I am thrilled to be a current board member of the Colorado Art Ranch and believe that the arts, along with sciences, can transform people and communities for a better world.  Come along with me and us to Salida, to Delta County, to Carpenter Ranch, Lake City and to other points throughout Colorado.  You may find yourself thinking in a new way too.

An interview with Grant Pound, Executive Director

Habitat, Symbol & Art
May 27-29, 2011, Salida, CO

ARTS +  PEOPLE + PLACE

• What is the story behind the Artposium? What inspired you to create an event like it?

The Artposium, a word we made up to describe an arts based symposium, is designed to explore and issue or topic from as many different points of view as possible. Through presentations, performance, art, workshops, discussions and food we learn knew ways of looking at the issue. It is the synergy between art and scientific disciplines that provides this new way of thinking. Artposia vary in length from one to three days and are held in different locations throughout Colorado.

At Colorado Art Ranch we feel there is a need for this type of forum that showcases the arts as a catalyst for change and allows for a whole new approach to a subject. We wanted to create an atmosphere similar to TED or the Idea Festival, but with a focus.

• What is this year’s Artposium about?

Dwellings, Habitat, Symbol & Art is an inquiry into how we live and why we live that way. We are looking at that very human drive to make and own a space for security, comfort, and more. Humans in the most rudimentary spaces such as prison cells, abandoned buildings, storage lockers, will do something to make that space their own. The word “decoration” does not adequately describe this phenomenon. The impulse is not only about aesthetics, but seems to have a deeper connection to who we are.

• Is there anyone or anything in particular about this year’s event that has you most excited?

We have some wonderful speakers including architect Danny Wicke from the Rural Studio in Alabama. The Rural Studio is part of the Auburn Architecture Program. They take students into surrounding communities and design/build houses for those who could not otherwise afford a home. The architectural ideas and use of local and re-cycle materials make this program particularly unique. The dwellings end up directly reflecting the inhabitants.

The other presenters are equally insightful. Leigh Davis has photographed the environments that people create out of generic spaces. Christina Kreps is an anthropologist and will provide a more global look at how we live. Craig Nielson is a green builder and inventor of the Shelter Cart, a human pulled conveyance that converts to a shelter.

We have also commissioned a poetry performance piece about dwellings from the River City Nomads.

It will be a great weekend.

• What do you hope the Artposium does for the greater arts scene in Colorado?

Colorado Art Ranch’s middle name is art. However, this may understate what we do. The arts are certainly involved, but we are promoting the arts as a catalyst for change.  We don’t want to scare anyone away by having them think our programs are only about, and for, artists. On a large scale we hope to raise the level of creative capital throughout Colorado. We want to see creative thinking brought into discussions and decisions about human and land issues. We are creating a model for how communities, artists, and scientists can envision solutions in our transdisciplinary collaboration in Lake City, Colorado, this summer. Hardrock Revision is a month long residency in Lake City to create a vision for a closed hard rock mine.

Contact

Grant Pound

Executive Director

Colorado Art Ranch

303.503.1132

grant@coloradoartranch.org

To join the mailing list:

<http://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin/ea?v=001fCFdTiS7mDQ6H9iPBpovmg%3D%3D>