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Bumpkin Island Art Encampment
Submitted by megan on Mon, 04/06/2009 - 18:16
WHAT HAPPEN(ED) WHEN ARTISTS ANNEX(ED) AN ISLAND? From Thursday, July 30, 2009 to Monday, August 3, 2009, eight artist groups each took ownership of one plot of land on Bumpkin Island. As "homesteaders," they:
2009 Project Proposals, 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. A Brief History of Bumpkin Native Americans used Bumpkin Island as a fish camp prior to European contact. During the colonial period, tenant farmers leased the island. In the early 19th century, the island hosted a fish-drying operation, and in the early 20th century, a fish smelting operation. In 1900, a Boston philanthropist named Clarence Burrage founded a hospital for children with physical disabilities on the island. During World War I, the island was taken over for use as a United States Naval training camp, which hosted thousands of soldiers before they were shipped to Europe to fight. The Burrage hospital briefly reopened in 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. The island is 35-acres, with slate and shell beaches and open fields. About Homesteading as a Context In 1862, the United States recruited civilians to aid its movement west. The Homestead Act offered any U.S. citizen, 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. 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 and the Island Alliance, a non-profit in support of the Boston Harbor Islands. 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. Bumpkin "Traces" Exhibit October 16 - 31 The 2009 Bumpkin Island artists, curators and project fellows created a public exhibition of the 2009 findings. The exhibit, which ran from October 16 - 31 at Studio Soto's Channel Center location at Thompson Design Group, was a highlight of the 2009 Fort Point Open Studios.
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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