Graduate Public Practice

The program, under the leadership of Suzanne Lacy, the renowned artist, educator, theorist of socially engaged public art and author of the influential Mapping the Terrain: New Genre Public Art, enriches an arts environment marked by a remarkable mix of art schools and a distinguished history of artistic innovation.

This past year, students were involved in a project in California's San Joaquin Valley, centered in Laton. Supported by a planning grant from the Ford Foundation, the project focused on the environment (some of the worst air quality nationally), poverty (some of the highest poverty and school drop-out rates nationally), economics of food production (especially vis-a-vis ever-increasing energy prices), and the loss of farmland (which also impacts housing). Watch the video or visit the Wiki. Students are currently engaged in the garden mural project. Exhibitions in Los Angeles include "Love in a Cemetery" at the 18th St. Arts Center and "Actions and Conversations" at L.A. Municipal Art Gallery at Barnsdall Park.

Participating graduate students explore new artistic strategies and practices based on observation, research, social commentary and activism, and visual and performance arts productions in the public realm. They work in individual studios on a single significant project in collaboration with each other, community members, interdisciplinary scholars, and an internationally known faculty. The program is housed at the 18th Street Art Center in Santa Monica, a nonprofit residential arts institution for artists and organizations dedicated to issues of community and diversity in contemporary society. The College offers outstanding facilities in sculpture, painting, graphic arts, illustration, video, photography, computer-generated model-making and digital technology. An intimate class size supports mentorship, case-study learning, and production skills in installation, performance, process art, guerilla art and interdisciplinary projects. All students create a thesis integrating theory and practice in art, urbanism, civic life, or other subjects supporting a critical discourse on their work. Participants study with internationally known artists and theorists, do field internships with professional artists, and teach as assistants in Otis's groundbreaking undergraduate Integrated Learning curriculum. In spring 2010, students will work with Resident Artist Rick Lowe, founder of Houston's Project Row Houses, The residency is sponsored by the Nimoy Foundation.

Applications are being accepted. Please contact admissions@otis.edu or 310 665 6800.