1. Objectives
Students will learn that art occurs
outside of galleries and museums.
Students will understand that the
placement or location is significant
to arts impact.
Students will gain insight into
the value of connecting with an
unsuspecting audience.
3. Birth Name: Caledonia Dance Curry
Born in 1977 in Daytona Beach,
Florida she now resides in
Brooklyn, New York.
She is a Street Artist who’s known
for her life size wheatpasteing
prints and her flotillas.
4. A word about Banksy
street art…
It is important that street art be Shepard Fairy (Obey Giant)
placed very quickly due to its illegality.
Street artists accomplish this through
various means including spray painting,
stencilling and wheatpasting. Even
with these techniques most street art
is created in remote locations under
cover of night. These locations are
usually neglected urban areas where
one wouldn’t usually expect to find
provocative art. Because the art isn’t
being sold or paid for by a commercial
interest the content of the art is
completely up to the artists discretion.
Miss Van
5. Social
Sculpture
Swoon painstakingly
creates life size woodblock
prints, wherein the
“reverse” of the image is
carved into wood and then
stamped onto huge sheets
of paper, then cut out
and placed on almost any
surface using a homemade
glue called wheatpaste.
This allows her to create an
image with a lot of detail
that can still be placed
relatively quickly.
6. Sylvia Elena
She was killed in 1995 in Juarez, Mexico at the age of 17.
This image was created to raise awareness of the rampant
number of women that are murdered (600 since the 90s)
or go missing (3000 since the 90s) in Juarez.
7. Influence
Her art draws from the influence of previous artists while
appealing to modern audiences.
Henri de Talouse-Lautrec
Rembrandt van Rijn
Max Ernst
8. However
Swoon has taken these influences to the street where
everyone can experience them, not only gallery and
museum goers.
9. Braddock,
Pennsylvania
A suburb of Pennsylvania,
Braddock’s population
has decreases 90% since
the 1950s. It’s primary
industry, steel, collapsed
while a crack cocaine
Gustav Klimt
epidemic took place in
creative life back into the The Kiss
the 80s leaving the city
decrepid city. Countless Österreichische Galerie Belvedere,
dilapidated and rife with
artists have responded, Vienna, Austria
crime. In 2005 is mayor
including Swoon and her Admission Approx. $20
extended an open invitation
community. Now residents
to street artists to have
and visitors get to enjoy
free run of the community
incredible street art
in hopes of breathing a
throughout Braddock every
day for absolutely free.
10. New Orleans,
Louisiana
Portland, What do you know about
Oregon these cities and why
do you think swoon chose
these locations?
11. New Orleans,
Louisiana
Placed outside the location for her up
coming installation Dithyrambalina—a
Portland, musical house.
Oregon
Placed under the 205
bridge in the recently
gentrified Pearl District.
12. Lower Clarion
East Side, Alley, San
Manhattan, Francisco,
New York California
13. Lower Clarion
East Side, Alley, San
Manhattan, Francisco,
New York California
An immigrant neighbourhood, Formerly a Latin American
it has undergone recent neighbourhood it’s now a notable art
gentrification. community.
14. Floating Exhibitions
Beginning in 2006 Swoon and her community of artists
began collaborating to construct a series of amphibious
exhibitions to navigate various waterways around
the world.
15. The Miss Rockaway
Armada
In 2006 Swoon and a collective of 30 artists navigated the
Mississippi from Minneapolis to St. Louis in craft made
from recycled and found materials.
16. Swimming Cities
of Switchback Sea
In 2008 Swoon and her collaborators took seven vessels
down the Hudson River from Troy, NY to Long Island.
Along their route the company would stop at night to
perform live music along the riverbank.
17. Swimming Cities of
Serenissima
In 2009 Swoon and her “crew” transported two vessels
to Slovenia and constructed a third from materials
scavenged from the coast. They proceeded to travel to
Vienna, Italy stopping by the shore to preform and collect
artefacts for their “Cabinet Of Curiosities”.
18. Konbit Shelter
A sustainable building project with the objective of
sharing knowledge and resources through the creation of
homes and community spaces in post-earthquake Haiti
19. Refrences
Swoon. New York: Abrams, 2010. Print.
“Deitch.” Deitch. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Nov. 2011. <http://deitch.com/artists/sub.
php?artistId=31>.
“The Miss Rockaway Armada.” The Miss Rockaway Armada. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Nov.
2011. <http://missrockaway.org/>.
Bloom, Julie. “Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea - A Floating City With Junkyard
Roots - NYTimes.com.” The New York Times - Breaking News, World News &
Multimedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Nov. 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/18/arts/
design/18flot.html?pagewanted=all>.
“Swimming Cities Of Serenissima.” Swimming Cities Of Serenissima. N.p., n.d. Web. 5
Nov. 2011. <http://www.swimmingcities.org/>.
“The Konbit Shelter Project | konbitshelter.org.” The Konbit Shelter Project |
konbitshelter.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Nov. 2011. <http://konbitshelter.org/>.
20. What do you think?
Can a piece of art raise more awareness about a specific
issue if it is placed in a controversial location?
Can art on a street impact people differently than art
in a museum or gallery? Does this only apply to visual
arts? What about street
musicians, performers,
bridges or architecture?
Why are some people
allowed to make public art
and some are not? Who has
the right to determine what
we see, smell hear or feel?
Are you prepared to decide
what’s suitable for public
viewing and what’s not?
21. Activity
Before the lesson begins print and distribute an image and a piece of tape to every
participant. (See attached image file or find your own.)
Without explaining why or giving limitations invite the participants to hang their
selected image anywhere and in any fashion.
After the lesson invite the participants to discuss and critique how they and their fellow
participants hung their individual images. Invite them to re-hang theirs or to hang
another.
Points to consider:
• Are museums and galleries good or bad for art in general? Where else can one
view so much different art in one place?
• Should street art be illegal? What about violent, racist or sexist images? Where is
street art OK? What about the front of your home?
• What authority does a street artist have over their work after they create it? Could a
building owner cut a piece of art off their wall and sell it? Does the art belong to the
owner of the wall it is on?
• What responsibilities do property owners have to their community? Should they be
required to make their property look “good”?
