Just Add Water.

Our 2017 exhibition shifted its thematic focus from deserts to water, examining issues that included sustainability, environmental justice, visual culture and food systems. Our multi-disciplinary project brought together students from the Department of Art and Design and the Sustainability, Energy and the Environment minor in the spirit of creative and scholarly exploration. While our courses focused on the histories and geographies of New Orleans, China’s Grand Canal and our home of Dayton, Just Add Water used this vital resource as a broad-ranging symbol that students interpreted through diverse scholarly and creative works. We also pondered definitions of place, space, landscape, nature and wilderness through artwork that ranged from digital collage to social documentary. Guests had the chance to learn the stories behind popular meals at a collection of Brown Street restaurants, where students traced their meals back to the lands and waters that made them possible.  

This was our first DDK in collaboration with the University of Dayton’s Hanley Sustainability Institute and our first art auction with all proceeds benefiting Gem City Market. The event was organized by Dr. Hsuan Tsen (Art History), Associate Professor Glenna Jennings (Photography) and Lecturer Julie Renee Jones (Photography). We also collaborated with Facing Dayton: Neighborhood Narratives, an ongoing project organized by University of Dayton’s Fitz Center for Leadership in Community.

Participating Students from SEE 303 Constructions of Place:

Grace Berton, Ryan Cunningham, Julianne Evans, Patrick Fitzgerald, Mitchell Grimone, Peter Hansen, Kyle Hrabak, Muhanad Khafaji, Dan Lenz, Elizabeth Miles, Sarah Richard, Naomi Schalle, Emily Shanahan, Taylor Sparnabie, Dakota Waller

Participating Students from VAP 340 Digital Processes II:

Jesse Chapman, Annie Denten, Claudia Ferguson, Sara Frederick, Maura Parker, Brooke Tinsman, Lilia Sciarretti, Nora Sullivan

Click through images from Just Add Water below: