EDUCATOR GUIDE: Robert Smithson s New Jersey

EDUCATOR GUIDE: Robert Smithson s New Jersey

WELCOME Dear Educator, Thank you for your interest in Robert Smithson s New Jersey. Whether you have booked a guided tour, a gallery/studio program, or a self-guided visit, this resource guide is designed to make your experience more enriching and meaningful. Please use it with your students in the classroom before and after your museum visit. It provides questions to guide close looking, topics for discussions, and activities which will help engage the key themes and concepts of the exhibition. Art and writing projects have been suggested so that students can explore ideas from the exhibition in ways that relate directly to their lives and experiences. Please feel free to adapt and build on these materials and to use this packet in any way that you wish. School programs at MAM are aligned with the Common Core Standards as well as the goals laid out by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills and promote literacy and evidential reasoning, content knowledge and critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. MAM invites students and teachers to: look closely, find clues, and solve puzzles become engaged with an artwork, in a debate discover connections between facts and feelings, art and life be inspired to create their own stories and artworks feel empowered to find their own place at mam We look forward to welcoming you and your students to the Montclair Art Museum! Sincerely, Petra Pankow, Director of Education 9737 259 5157 or ppankow@montclairartmuseum.org 2

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TAKE A LOOK Take a close look at the photographs on the previous page. In general terms, how would you summarize what they depict? What do they have in common? What are some individual features that pop out at you? Describe your sensory response to these images, i.e. what sounds do they evoke, what might one feel, hear, or smell when moving through some of the places in the photographs. Can you come up with a title for this group of images? EXPLORE At the age of 29, New York City-based artist Robert Smithson took a day trip to his native New Jersey. Taking the bus to Passaic, not far from where he grew up in Rutherford and Clifton, NJ, he documented what he saw through a series of snapshots, minute verbal descriptions, observations, and philosophical musings, all of which he published in the form of a photo-essay in December, 1967 issue of the magazine Artforum, under the title The Monuments of Passaic. How would you define a monument? In what way might the landmarks captured in Smithson s photos signify as monuments or not? Why do you think the artists used this term in relation to his photoessay? DISCUSS In many ways, The Monuments of Passaic is a meditation on seeing in general and mediated perception more specifically. Smithson described that walking on the bridge was like walking on an enormous photograph. Noon-day sunshine cinema-ized the site, turning the bridge and river into an overexposed picture. Photographing it with my Instamatic 400 was like photographing a photograph. Robert Smithson, The Monuments of Passaic, 1967 In our own time of digital cameras and smartphones, documenting experiences and encounters of all kinds has become commonplace - as have sharing, tagging, commenting on, and liking them. 4

What do you think Smithson meant by photographing [the bridge] was [ ] like photographing a photograph? How do you think our own engagement with documenting our firsthand experiences does or does not change our perception of what we see and experience? Imagine retracing Smithson s steps today. In what ways might your experience be similar to his? How would it be different? YOUR TURN Take a walk around your neighborhood and identify landmarks or monuments that strike you as characteristic of your surroundings. Using a digital camera, document your walk by taking pictures of these sites or places. Think about how you want to frame each monument, taking advantage of the view finder s capacity to help you compose and image to its most expressive potential. Once you have 5-8 images, in place, walk your classmates through your experience and how you chose to record it. If you want to add a written part to your documentation, you can use that as the basis of this virtual walk. FURTHER CONVERSATION On the Bus to Passaic, Smithson read the New York Times, where he saw a reproduction of Samuel Morse s Allegorical Landscape (pictured on the right). How does this image relate to Smithson s other visual experiences that day? 5

TAKE A LOOK Take a close at the image above. Describe what you see in terms of color, shape, composition, and materials, What different components does the work consist of? How are they arranged? What sorts of associations does the artwork evoke? 6

The image is a photograph of a three dimensional work. How might you interact with it? How might it change if you walked around it? EXPLORE The first of a series of non-sites, Smithson created this work after a Spring 1967 trip to the New Jersey Pine Barrens with a few fellow artists to look for places where they could construct Earthworks. In a reversal of his initial intention, he collected sand from different sections of Coyle Field, an airstrip used during fire emergencies, and created boxes in which to display it in the museum space. As curator Phyllis Tuchman writes, The shaped aluminum containers of this sculpture reference the multiple runways at Coyle and resemble the hexagon identifying the field on a quadrant map of the area (see below). The maps which were often exhibited alongside and as a part of the nonsites were simultaneously meant to document and symbolically root the work in the site from which the materials were originally taken, inviting viewers to seek out these real locations. What do you think Smithson wanted to achieve with this work? Imagine seeing the nonsite in the museum. Would you be interested in going to the site it is based on? Why? Why not? How does Smithson establish a relationship between map and experience? Do you think this relationship has changed in the era of GPS and Google maps? Please explain. 7

DISCUSS Earthworks were supposed to be alternatives to what was by many artists regarded as the constricting world of galleries and museums. By creating indoor earthworks as Smithson called his early nonsites, does he turn his back on this intention? Please discuss. YOUR TURN We hope to get away from the formalism of studio art, to give the viewer more of a confrontation with the physicality of things outside. It s diametrically opposed to the idea of art as decoration and design Robert Smithson Smithson was fascinated with maps from an early age, using them to navigate his home state and to plan family trips in far-flung areas of the U.S. Using a map of New Jersey (you can get one here: http://www.mappery.com/map-of/new-jersey-road-map), chart your own hometown within the context of the State as well as other landmarks (places you ve travelled to, where your relatives live, that you have heard about in the news or read about in history class. Illustrate these various places by drawing or collaging onto the map. As an extension, you can also research artists who have lived and/or worked in New Jersey in their work (George Inness, William Eaton, or Martin Johnson Heade) and mark the places they depicted or were inspired by. 8

TAKE A LOOK Take a close at this image and describe, with as much detail as possible, what you see? What colors to you notice? What shapes do you see? What different components can you divide the work into? What materials is it made of? Where might the artists have sourced these materials? How do you think it was put together? 9

The image shows a photograph of an installation work. How would the experience of the work in a gallery space be different from just looking at the picture? EXPLORE Like Smithson s non-sites, this work, entitled Red Sandstone Corner Piece, transplants materials from a specific place (Sandy Hook quarry in New Jersey) into the space of a gallery or museum. However, as opposed to the non-sites, Smithson uses mirrors in addition to the partially disintegrating sandstone pieces. Compare and contrast the installation view with the drawing of the piece (pictured above), which Smithson completed three years after he created the sculpture it depicts. What does the use of mirrors add to this work? Why do you think Smithson decided to use mirrors? Why did he install them in a corner? Describe and think about how viewers interact with the installation. How does the work frame the relationship between artist and viewer? DISCUSS As a work which borrows from an actual place and engages with ideas of space, Red Sandstone Corner Piece is reminiscent of landscape traditions in art and therefore arguably related to many works in MAM s painting collection, which depict the Meadowlands, the area around Montclair, and other places in the Garden State. Discuss the sculpture s relationship to traditional landscape art (as seen at MAM in the George Inness Gallery and the exhibition 100 Works for 100 Years). In what ways does it continue/fit into this tradition? In what ways does it depart from it? 10

YOUR TURN Smithson's fascination with entropy, the tending of things towards a state of chaos, is at once underlined and countered by many of his sculptures. Materials are randomly transplanted but also organized and displayed in contained form, in the controlled environment of the museum. Using manufactured containers like mint tins or technology packaging on the one hand and outdoor specimen like rocks, shells, or plant parts, create an artwork which thematizes an encounter between natural and manmade, primordial and contemporary, chaos and order. FURTHER CONVERSATION Smithson created other works involving mirrors, too. In many of these cases, instead of bringing the landscape into the museum, he brought mirrors into the landscape. Compare and contrast Red Sandstone Corner Piece with Mirrow Span, Great Notch Quarry, 1969 (pictured below). 11

GLOSSARY Earthwork Artistic manipulation of the natural landscape, usually enacted on a large scale. Smithson was a pioneer of the Earthworks movement, and his Spiral Jetty is an example of an Earthwork. Entropy Entropy is a law of nature in which everything slowly goes into disorder, chaos and ruin. Smithson wanted to experiment with entropy by filling half a sandbox with white sand and the other half with black sand. If a child ran in a circle, he declared, the sand would blend together. Afterwards, if the child ran in the opposite direction, the black and white would not return to their original condition. Industry The process of making products by using machinery and factories, it sometimes generates traffic, odors, noise, dust and other types of pollution. Instamatic An early point and shoot camera that Smithson used to take photographs. Meadowlands A New Jersey estuary, the Meadowlands are a half-developed, half-untamed tract of swampland. They have been home to rare flora and fauna, tranquil marshes, a major sports arena, burning garbage dumps and corporations. Smithson grew up near the Meadowlands and explored the area in his art. Minimalist An artistic movement of the 1960s in which artists produced pared-down three-dimensional objects devoid of representational content. Their new vocabulary of simplified, geometric forms made from industrial materials challenged traditional notions of craftsmanship, the illusion of spatial depth in painting, and the idea that a work of art must be one of a kind. Mirrors: Smithson uses mirrors in his work to talk about reflections and abstraction. He said, I'm using a mirror because the mirror in a sense is both the physical mirror and the reflection: the mirror as a concept and abstraction; then the mirror as a fact within the mirror of the concept Quadrant Map The United States Geological Survey generally breaks up their topographical maps into four sections. Smithson used maps like these in his Non-sites. 12

Quarry A large deep pit or mountain where stone or other materials are taken out of the ground. Smithson visited quarries in New Jersey. Non-site This is Smithson s term for his metal bins of rocklike materials paired with maps and photographs. He collected the rocks and sand from specific sites in New Jersey and brought them into the gallery or museum. He explained, Instead of putting a work of art on some land, some land is put into the work of art Sculpture A three-dimensional work of art as in Smithson s Non-sites. Suburbia A mixed use and residential area within commuting distance of a major city. Smithson grew up in a suburb of New York City and explored the characteristics of suburbia in his art. Glossary compiled by Luned Palmer, Education Intern 13

IMAGE CREDITS: Cover: Robert Smithson (1938-1973) New Jersey, New York, 1967 Mixed media on paper 32.95 x 30.55 x 1.18 in. Courtesy Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Page 3 Robert Smithson (1938-1973) Monuments of Passaic, 1967, Printed 2013 Twenty-four inkjet prints on archival rag paper, printed from original 126 format black and white negatives 12 x 12 in. each Estate of Robert Smithson, courtesy of James Cohan Gallery, New York/Shanghai Page 6, 7 Robert Smithson (1938-1973) A Nonsite, Pine Barrens, New Jersey 1967 (map); 1968 (Nonsite) Nonsite: painted aluminum, sand, and painted wood; aerial photograph/map: Photostat Overall (Nonsite): 12 x 65 ½ x 65 ½ in. Overall (aerial photograph/map): 12 ½ x 10 ½ in. National Gallery of Art, Washington Gift of Virginia Dwan 2013.19.2.1, 2 Page 9 Robert Smithson (1938-1973) Red Sandstone Corner Piece, 1968 Mirrors and sandstone 48 x 48 x 48 in. Philadelphia Museum of Art: Purchased with funds (by exchange) from the Samuel S. White 3rd and Vera White Collection and with funds contributed by Henry S. McNeil, Jr., Mrs. Adolf Schaap, Marion Boulton Stroud, and Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Gushner, 1988 Page 10 Robert Smithson (1938-1973) #7 Red Sandstone Mirror, 1971 Graphite and ink on paper 24 x 19 in. Private Collection, New York Page 11 Robert Smithson (1938-1973) Mirror Span, Great Notch Quarry, Montclair, New Jersey, 1968, Printed 2012 Cibachrome print reproduced from original 126 format transparency 24 x 24 in. each Estate of Robert Smithson, courtesy of James Cohan Gallery, New York/Shanghai 14