Artist Post #8
October 25, 2010
David Harding
Background:
Finding information about David Harding is very difficult, but he is really necessary for me to feature here. David Harding worked mostly between the 60s and the 70s and believes in the importance of public art. He is a Scottish artist and his work stays primarily around Scotland, England, and Wales. He is concerned with the history and development of public art as it's social context. He is a professor at the infamous Glasglow School of Art and then became the director of sculpture there. He prides himself on being able to discover how this practice can be spread through education.
Relation:
David Harding's work uses text in public areas, as my current work does. He uses text in stone, sidewalks, and walls, and even has children install text-altered bricks into brick walls. He even did some collaborations with poets in Scotland to create walkways with text embedded inside. He considers himself a "town-artist" and has written several books about his adventures through Scotland spreading his art and his messages. This is exactly what I want to do. I want to use text in both public and private spaces to spread an idea. Work like this that is so similar and so successful gives me confidence that a system of "spreading the word" like this can work.
Quotes:
"For me, the base of art was broadened and democratized with the recognition that there should be cultural democracy, which means lots of cultures existing side by side."
"Mainly what has happened in Britain is that the social development and recreation sections of city councils have employed artists. There must be, I think, some 20 or so towns in the U.K. that employ artists in ways other than for, say, graphics and exhibitions. These artists are employed mainly to contribute to social and cultural development."
Source:
David Harding. Community Arts Network. The Reading Room. Interview by Moira Roth. Spring 1986. Web. Oct 2010.
Links:
Artist Website
Interview
Representation
Note: These pieces were made in the 60s and 70s and documentation of the work is very difficult to track down. The artist's website has tons of information about the work and the artist, but not one image.
David Harding
Background:
Finding information about David Harding is very difficult, but he is really necessary for me to feature here. David Harding worked mostly between the 60s and the 70s and believes in the importance of public art. He is a Scottish artist and his work stays primarily around Scotland, England, and Wales. He is concerned with the history and development of public art as it's social context. He is a professor at the infamous Glasglow School of Art and then became the director of sculpture there. He prides himself on being able to discover how this practice can be spread through education.
Relation:
David Harding's work uses text in public areas, as my current work does. He uses text in stone, sidewalks, and walls, and even has children install text-altered bricks into brick walls. He even did some collaborations with poets in Scotland to create walkways with text embedded inside. He considers himself a "town-artist" and has written several books about his adventures through Scotland spreading his art and his messages. This is exactly what I want to do. I want to use text in both public and private spaces to spread an idea. Work like this that is so similar and so successful gives me confidence that a system of "spreading the word" like this can work.
Quotes:
"For me, the base of art was broadened and democratized with the recognition that there should be cultural democracy, which means lots of cultures existing side by side."
"Mainly what has happened in Britain is that the social development and recreation sections of city councils have employed artists. There must be, I think, some 20 or so towns in the U.K. that employ artists in ways other than for, say, graphics and exhibitions. These artists are employed mainly to contribute to social and cultural development."
Source:
David Harding. Community Arts Network. The Reading Room. Interview by Moira Roth. Spring 1986. Web. Oct 2010.
Links:
Artist Website
Interview
Representation
Note: These pieces were made in the 60s and 70s and documentation of the work is very difficult to track down. The artist's website has tons of information about the work and the artist, but not one image.
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