BUMPKIN ISLAND ART ENCAMPMENT 2011

The Bumpkin Island Land Office invites the public to participate in the 5th annual Bumpkin Island Art Encampment, a five-day public art experience in the Boston Harbor Islands national park area.

2011 Bumpkin Island collectives and projects include:

AXIOM GROUP, Meghann Hickson, Heidi Kayser, Georgina Lewis, Nick Marmor, Evan Smith, Liz Washburn, Alexander Reben, Sarah Rushford

Axiom Group's mission is to support and encourage experimentation in the arts through exhibitions, events, educational programs and collaboration with like-minded groups in an effort to foster the development of new practices in contemporary artmaking. Axiom's multiple individual projects on Bumpkin will enact this mission as they explore the theme of restraint. From establishing a Bumpkin Island Border Control to transporting heavy-laden sculptural backpacks, each project will reflect the limitations of living in a closed system.

MEMORY VESSEL, Teaching Artist Kate Jellinghaus and youth artists Sasha Stone, Haley Smith, Autumn Yu, Allison Black, Isabelle Higgins, & Rafaela Lowe

Using the sculptural weaving techniques of random weave, coiling and twining, the collective will make a series of monumental vessels, built primarily with island resources. The artists will tap into the "memories" of the island to create powerful sculptures that contain stories (direct or indirect) about Bumpkin Island's creatures, rocks, past visitors, and flora and fauna. Though these vessels will be unfilled, the materials used will themselves carry a narrative of place and time: they will "hold" memories.  

PACKRAT, Dirk Adams, Jesse Kaminsky & Helen White

Packrat will "draw" a giant funnel-style web from unpolished cotton string. The "nest" will act as a base of operations as collective members collect and catalog one of every type of thing on the island. Each item will connect back to the nest via a simple string guide.  

POP-UP COLLECTIVE, Sarah Baumert, Meg Rotzel, Jennifer Schmidt with Ben Jordan and Peter Schmitt

Working to create a modular city in two days, Pop-Up will construct an abstracted vibrant town square. When the "tourists" arrive on Saturday and Sunday, the city starts to hum: movement choreographed by Sarah Baumert is paired with sound created by Jennifer Schmidt, as Meg Rotzel recombines buildings to express the culture of Pop. By playing as city-planners, workers and civilians, the Pop-Up collaborative creates a temporary city of production, experimentation and joy. Pop-Up is funded in part by a Director's Grant from the Council for the Arts at MIT.

TRAUBENSAFT, Zannah Marsh & Uta Hinrichs

Traubensaft will employ strategies and practices from experimental cartography and psychogeography to create a Bumpkin Island "Map Archive." Visitors will browse the collection-including maps such as a Map of the Locations of Smooth Stones, a Map of Prickly Things, a Map of Island Smells-and borrow maps to use on their island explorations. The map station will also offer visitors a "map-making kit", with materials and instructions to create their own maps. These visitor-created maps will be donated/contributed to the Bumpkin Island Map Archive for other visitors to use as they explore the Island. As part of the map making process, physical flags/pins may be placed in the environment (and carry a message or label) by the artists and participant cartographers, which refer to landmarks or symbols recorded on particular maps. The markers will alert users to the project and draw their attention to features of the island that might otherwise be overlooked.