Carefree Truth

Issue #369, January 20, 2015

 

 

 

Ed Lewis, President of Butte Companies, introduced Gordon Knox, Director of the Arizona State University (ASU) Museum. Mayor David Schwan welcomed Dr. Knox back to Carefree.  Dr. Knox expressed pleasure to see such an outpouring of interest, evidenced by the large audience in attendance, and thanked them for their presence.  He felt that enthusiasm boded very well, and said he was here to share what ASU does at the Herberger, of which the Museum is a part, as well as how the Museum works and the types of projects it has done across the Valley and nationally.

 

 

 

ASU is a great university, the largest in the nation.  President Crow's vision is of "A New American University" that would refigure and reposition education in a changing world, engaging communities.  As "an incredibly powerful organization", ASU wants to leverage their place, transform society, value entrepreneurship, conduct use-inspired research, enable student success, fuse intellectual disciplines, be socially embedded, and engage globally, exploring the very edges of what we know, both in terms of technology and science, but also in terms of the arts.  

 

 

 

ASU offers 300+ undergraduate programs and majors, 440+ graduate and research programs, 90+ online programs, and 1000+ academic clubs and organizations, with over 73,400 enrolled students.  Distillation of this type of cultural power, concentrated at this university in a learning manner, is found in cities like San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles.  The concept of a university is about the movement, exploration,  development, and transfer of ideas from generation to generation.  ASU is focused on how it works with the community, and is proud of the impact it's had on the Valley.  "Being here is completely consistent with that larger view."

 

 

 

The Herberger Institute is a School of Arts and Design. It includes: 

 

The School of Art

 

Arts, Media, and Design, focusing on the digital world

 

Film, Dance, and Theater, with film connections in L.A., producing over 400 performances a year

 

Design, which brings problem solvers together to create designs, and is considered the 4th best in the nation

 

Music, which is multi national and of conservatory quality

 

The mission of the Herberger is to engage with public life, address issues, and solve problems using the human creativity of the arts to help address problems and move forward.

 

 

 

The Museum is not a teaching institution, but is a gateway and articulation between all of the creative work that takes place at the Schools.  People can see what's going on; it's an incubator and a vehicle to present those ideas.  They want to partner and collaborate with all those departments.  It's more than just presenting paintings on a wall and sculptures.  The Museum has a wide variety of partnerships and collaborations that bring in great thinkers in a wide variety of disciplines, addressing site specific issues and bringing world class thinkers to the Valley.

 

 

 

The Museum now has 3 locations.  The first is on the main campus in Tempe at Mill Avenue and 10th Street.  The second is in the heart of the Tempe Mill Avenue retail district, in the old Border's bookstore building at Mill and 7th Street.  This location houses a gallery, a store, and is home base for their world renowned ceramics collection, including the best collection of American post war ceramics which is recognized in Europe.  The third location, in downtown Phoenix, is at 3rd Street and Garfield, and includes an artists' residency program in this transforming neighborhood.

 

 

 

The ASU Museum hosts almost 100,000 visitors annually, and has 12,000 works in its permanent collection.  They are always looking for ways to get those objects out there, and to move society forward.  Art is a life science.  Herberger works closely with the School of Earth and Space Exploration which was involved with developing the Mars Rover.  An artist from Portugal worked with the team that did the robotics for a truck that roamed the desert by day taking images that were projected onto the walls of buildings in downtown Phoenix at night to remind everyone that this was all once desert.  It promotes the flow of ideas between the departments and out into the communities, receiving input back from the communities.  

 

 

 

Slides on the video starting at 12 minutes and 30 seconds show images of projects over the past 1-2 years, including Andy Warhol prints, ceramics that are on a traveling tour now but will return in 6 months, the Latin-American Humex collection which has only been shared with the Tate Museum in London, MoMA in New York City, and the ASU Museum.  At 14:42 is a slide showing community engagement projects such as the 1/2 mile long table in downtown Phoenix.  Activist Angela Davis and Sheriff Joe Arpaio have spoken at events, highlighting different perspectives.  Because the Museum is not tied to funders or trustees, it is freer to explore ideas.  ASU likes to have a lot going on, and has a great interest in establishing a cultural center in the northeast Valley.  They go where they are needed and wanted, with partners that can make it possible.  The next step is to explore the feasibility.

 

 

 

Dr. Knox introduced Rich Stanley from the President's Office, who said the University is very interested in this idea.  There is a lot of potential in this site and they would like to explore it further.  Given all the work that has already been done, he thinks they can move quite quickly and be able to report on the results.  There are two important factors, from his point of view.  The first involves fleshing out the details of arrangements like space, floor plans, lease, and coordination of fundraising efforts to ensure a successful launching of the project.  The second is that the University knows exactly what the Town of Carefree and its citizens want, and to be sure  they can deliver it over a long period of time.  The University wants long term success.   

 

http://vimeo.com/user18676056/review/117082009/a0ee88bc46

 

 

 

Part 3 will be Council and audience discussion and questions.

 

 

 

Lyn Hitchon

 

 

 

Prepared by Carefree Truth

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