Clay Today: Public Tile Project
Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art
in association with Peekskill Central School District and the Peekskill Arts Council
The Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art is seeking to involve students from the greater Hudson Valley. Classes would be assigned short readings dealing with the history of the Hudson Valley and be asked to do designs on tiles that will then be bordered in delft and implanted along the street and roads of the Hudson River towns and walks.
If you are interested please contact Dr. Livia Straus at
Project Description:
Since their origin over 8,000 years ago in Ancient Egypt, tiles have served not only a practical function in private and public spaces throughout the world, but they have also been one of the most enduring markers of cultural history. Tiles are both democratic and accessible. They are the essence of what public art has the potential to be—an art form that can be found anywhere in the world by anyone, no matter one's class, race, age or gender; with a purpose and beauty transcending all differences between all people.
The Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art’s Public Tile Project will incorporate individual tiles/artworks created by Peekskill Central School District students in collaboration with regional artists into the city’s streets and sidewalks. These art works will act as enduring symbols of cooperation, innovation and civic respect. The project will foster viable and non-threatening means to unite all segments of the city as a result of the project's engagement of a broad and varied ethnic, cultural, social and political mix of artists, students and audiences. Each student will be encouraged to design a tile reflecting his/her own artistic, cultural, geographic, social and political heritage and connect that heritage to the history of Peekskill.
Peekskill has been home to many immigrant groups, from the early settlements of the Dutch along the Hudson Valley, to the Jewish migration at the turn of the last century, as a haven for African-Americans escaping slavery in the South, to the current Hispanic population. Its history encompasses the battles of the revolutionary war, its service as a port during WWI, the growth of heavy industry and its ongoing demise with the movement to environmental consciousness, the innovation of nuclear power plants, and more. Politically it has been witness to the effects of the Civil War, the social upheavals of the 60’s and socialist movements. Architecturally Peekskill boasts exquisite castles, painted ladies, monasteries, convents and fortresses.
In more recent history, Peekskill has officially been designated an artist district. In an attempt to bring the city out of an economic depression, and following the lead of Soho in Manhattan as well as other cities that have revived through the arts, Peekskill encouraged artists to move to the area. That move has helped to beautify the story. Artists have restored many of the Victorian homes that dotted the community and became active in the BID, citing flower beds through the city and opening over 200 studios, galleries and boutiques. In 2004, The Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art opened its doors to the public and has been host to global exhibitions that have brought international attention to Peekskill.
The Public Tile Project will have an academic component, with students assigned various aspects of the history of their City. Based on their readings they will be asked to creatively portray the know ledge that they have gained. Their art works will be transferred onto tiles that will be implanted on the streets of Peekskill along an art trail originating at the River Front and train station, moving up South Street then onto Main Street and ending at the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art. To create uniformity, the tiles will be bordered in a delft pattern to be designed by the coordinating artist. This pattern will be reflective of the rich Dutch history of the area and will be a harbinger for the Quadricentennial celebration of 2009, marking the 400th anniversary of the settlement of the Dutch along the Hudson River. The art will thus be brought directly into the public sphere through these installations as well as virtually through HVCCA’s web site—where it can impact the public and their concerns at no cost to them and, thus enable all people, of all income levels, to benefit from the project.
Education Program
Educational programming will be integrated into the entirety of the project around a curriculum that will:
1. Involve artists and students in creating the art works, striving for the aspirations inherent in them, and through discussions, a lively exchange of the ideas surrounding them. Issues to be addressed in the classrooms include the examination of how images reflect their social, political, cultural and geographic context; how that context is part of a wider matrix of social, cultural and geographic globalization; and how both contexts - regional and global—can support a socially just and diverse population.
2. Provide related global educational programs, talks and panel discussions that promote multi-cultural understanding. Additionally both the tiles and the artists' can support cross-curriculum studies, including those relating cultural, historical, political, geographic, social and ethnic heritages; and, thus encourage a new generation of multicultural citizens.
3. Teach visual literacy by using the tiles and the tile installations as examples of how images convey ideas. As our world becomes increasingly flooded with images, visual literacy can be as important as the ability to read. Both are necessary tools in today's globalized society.
4. Train students in the basics of visual expression, teach them how those expressions form the basic principles of design and the design process, and introduce them to the terminology and concepts that underlie all the visual arts, which in many ways form the basis for the design of all physical objects. Along with learning various skills, the ability to think both critically and visually and how to work with different media, the students will also consider how the arts grow out of and respond to particular cultural contexts and ideas. They also will learn how those thinking patterns can be used in virtually all types of design, in all types of disciplines.