Sowing art in the bitter soil of Boston since 2001
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Bumpkin Island Art Encampment
Submitted by megan on Mon, 04/06/2009 - 18:16
BUMPKIN ISLAND ART ENCAMPMENT 2010 The 2010 Bumpkin Island Art Encampment will open to the public July 31 - August 1. For five days, eight artist groups will take temporary ownership of eight plots of land on Bumpkin Island. As "homesteaders," they will build some kind of home on the land, live on the land for five days, and "improve" the land via a site-specific, temporary performance or installation. 2010 PROPOSED PROJECTS & ARTISTS Octopus' Garden, Marisa DiPaola Inspired by the Hawaiian creation myth and an Eyak story, "The Woman and the Octopus," DiPaola will act as an octopus homesteader and knit found materials into a floating shoreline shelter and aquatic garden, complete with a kelp bed, urchin cushions, and other domestic amenities. The Great Bumpkin Hunt, Ali Reid Building on island folklore that "Bumpkins" are "little guys with glowing eyes," Reid and a cast of intergenerational family members will lead daily interpretive tours exploring the mysterious species' rise and decline. Tidal, Ellen Godena and Nathan Andary Tidal is a series of body-land sculptures that mimic tidal movement over Bumpkin's "gut"-a land bridge to Hull that emerges at low tide. As Godena and Andary's movements shift pebbles and stones, piles of rock will accumulate and dissipate, appearing as rolling ‘waves' in the direction of their movements. No Place to Go or Won't You Please Walk With Me, Cara Brostrom Brostrom invites visitors to walk with her as she loops Bumpkin's 20 acres, walking the island clockwise some 12 miles per day. Travelling a great distance without going anywhere, she will mark her progress by adding one rock to a cairn each time she passes her starting point. Bumpkin Sky-Land, Mark Davis Davis will delve into the mystical realm of "sky-land"-alluded to in a WWI-era ballad about Bumpkin-as he summons the island's aerial genii loci to manifest themselves in the form of floating lattice structures and shoreline fire-glyphs. 4-D Map: Portraits of Stones & Plants Found Along the Water's Edge, Sharon Dunn Stones and monumental portraits, positioned in a circle as "offerings," will map elements of Bumpkin's coastal ecosystem, tidal life zones, foliage and geology. Visitors will access digital photos and an online journal by mobile device. Encampment within the Encampment, Camilo Alvarez, Shalini Patel, Mike Szegedi, Zsuzsanna Szegedi, & Maria Molteni Five artists will feed and support each other through a micro-encampment of nine distinct projects:
PROJECT FELLOWS: Kalmia Strong, Bumpkin historian, will lead tours of Bumpkin's diverse history and operate the Bumpkin Historical Society, offering artists and visitors a library of on-site background information. David Tamés, documentarian, will film the Encampment and then make the footage accessible to the public, working with interested collaborators to develop a participatory documentary on the project.
VISIT INFORMATION Getting There The Bumpkin Island Art Encampment is free to all visitors. However, you have to get to the island first! Ferry tickets are $14 for adults, $10 for seniors, and $8 for kids. The inter-island shuttle to Bumpkin costs an additional $3. For a full schedule of ferry arrivals and departures and other tips on planning your visit, go to the Boston Harbor Islands website: http://www.bostonharborislands.org/mainland-piers In addition to the public ferry, a special Art Encampment boat shuttle will deliver visitors directly to the island. The boat leaves Christopher Columbus park at 1pm on Saturday, July 31 and Sunday, August 1, and returns to Boston both days at 7pm. Tickets are only $15 per person and WILL sell out. Purchase advance tickets now at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/117637 For more information about the Encampment, press inquiries, and more, email megan (at) berwickinstitute (dot) org. BECOME A FRIEND OF THE BERWICK RESEARCH INSTITUTE & BOSTON HARBOR ISLANDS! Berwick Research Institute on Facebook Boston Harbor Islands National Park on Facebook Curators and Partner Organizations The Bumpkin Island Art Encampment is curated by Megan Dickerson, Carolyn Lewenberg and Jed Speare. The 2008 Art Encampment was one of two projects supported by the Berwick Research Institute's Special Projects Incubator program. This event is co-presented by Studio Soto, an artist performance/screening/exhibit space in Fort Point; Mobius; the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation; and the Boston Harbor Island Alliance, a non-profit in support of the Boston Harbor Islands. ********************************************************* 2009 Projects, Artists, & Documentation All documentaries directed and produced by Patrick Johnson. Ebb and Flow, Kate Dodd Bumpkin 06 - Ebb and Flow from Patrick Johnson on Vimeo. Empty - Full, Hannah Burr Bumpkin 03 - Empty Full from Patrick Johnson on Vimeo. Everything Arrives, Everything Departs, Heather Kapplow
Bumpkin 08 - Everything Arrives, Everything Departs from Patrick Johnson on Vimeo. The Midden Map, Mark Davis and Kalmia Strong Bumpkin 07 - Midden Map from Patrick Johnson on Vimeo. 42° 16' 52.00" N 70° 53' 15.4" W, Stephanie Cardon, Courtney Lockemer, Marc McNulty Bumpkin 05 - A.R.R.G.H from Patrick Johnson on Vimeo. Dragonflies and Angelwings, Sharon Dunn, David Tamés, Alice Apley Bumpkin 04 - Dragonflies and Angelwings from Patrick Johnson on Vimeo. Bumpkin Island Gamelan, Brendon Wood, Raymond Garrett, William Conley Bumpkin 02 - Gamelan from Patrick Johnson on Vimeo. Orchitecture, N51/N52 (Gabriel Cira, William McKenna and James Sannino) Bumpkin 01 - Orchitecture from Patrick Johnson on Vimeo. Project Fellows Documentary filmmaker Patrick Johnson (www.journeymanstudios.com) joined the artists for the duration of the project, documenting their art and experiences for the five days on Bumpkin Island. Multimedia artist Ali Reid became Bumpkin's official "postmistress," facilitating communication among artists, curators and visitors by delivering messages written on official Bumpkin Island correspondence stock. Through her role as official go-between, Ali became privy to island news and gossip, and generated a temporary informational exhibit that highlighted the "bumpkineering" experience as it happened. Bumpkin 09 - Postmaster from Patrick Johnson on Vimeo. Artist and chef Sarah King McKeon designed a welcome dinner for the eight artist groups, interpreting ideas of homemaking and welcome on the first night of homesteading. For more information or press inquiries, contact megan@berwickinstitute.org.
A Brief History of Bumpkin Bumpkin is 35-acres with slate and shell beaches. Historically, Native Americans used Bumpkin Island as a fish camp prior to European contact. During the colonial period, tenant farmers leased the island for subsistence farming. Bumpkin hosted a fish-drying operation in the early 19th century and a fish smelting operation in the early 20th century. In 1900, a Boston philanthropist named Clarence Burrage founded a hospital for physically disabled children. During World War I United States Navy took over the island as a training camp, which was dismantled after the war. The hospital reopened briefly in about 1940 for polio patients but closed during World War II and burned in 1945. Today, plants have reclaimed the physical landscape of the island - about half are non-native species, including various fruits and berries, shrubs, vines, field plants and trees. Wildflowers grow along the trails that lead visitors to the ruins of the children's hospital and a stone farmhouse. Please note: Bumpkin Island is an archaeological site. Because of this, no digging is allowed above the high tide line. About Homesteading as a Context In 1862, the United States recruited civilians to aid in its movement west. The Homestead Act offered any U.S. citizen or head of household, including people of color and women, free or low-cost 160-acre plots of land. In return, "homesteaders" promised to build a 12' x 14' house, cultivate and "improve" the land and live on the plot for five years. The project resulted in the creation of over 372,000 farms west of the Mississippi, continuing as late as 1976-- when the Homestead Act was officially dissolved.
Bumpkin Island Art Encampments 2007 and 2008
View the 2008 Bumpkin Island Art Encampment booklet (pdf) For documentation of the 2007 Bumpkin Island Art Encampment, please visit www.wooloo.org/BumpkinIslandLandOffice. Press:
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