Community Based Learning and Activism

My ideal space for creating public activist art in Athens would be in Dudley Park, specifically near the Oconee River’s edge. Before I moved to Athens to pursue a master’s degree in art education, I lived in Atlanta, GA where public parks are of great value as a central place of activity. I spent many spring and summer days at Piedmont Park in Midtown Atlanta which bubbled with all different races and ethnicities of people enjoying festivals, family barbeques, leisurely walks, games of kickball, and the atmosphere of the city hugging to its grassy sides. I believe Dudley Park has a similar energy that calls to people to commune among its fields and riverside trails.

I believe the deep sense of community found within public parks is worth celebrating, especially in a community that is as diverse as Athens. Athens is a city built on the success of The University of Georgia, but also with very little industry to support its community that is not part of the university. 34.4% of Athens-Clarke County lives in poverty. This is the highest rate of poverty in all of Georgia, which is alarming when put in comparison of UGA being a large, successful research university. I would like to address this gap within our community. I would want to community to participate in voicing what they would like to see in the art because it is a decision I do not believe I have the right to make alone. I believe it would be interesting if the art were a mural. Murals can combine many themes into a single scene and that would be ideal for the community of Athens.

#Blog5 #ARED2110 #UGA #ArtEducation

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Sources:

U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Athens-Clarke County (balance), Georgia. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/athensclarkecountybalancegeorgia/PST045218#