Artpace, Fox Tech to Dedicate New Public Art Project: Metaphor

09.23.08

Media Contact: Celina Emery
t 210 212 4900 x323
f 210 212 4990
cemery@artpace.org
www.artpace.org

San Antonio, TX-Artpace San Antonio announces the unveiling of its eighth Semester Program public art project, Metaphor, on the campus of Louis W. Fox Academic and Technical High School. The artwork is the result of collaboration between San Antonio artist Jason Jay Stevens and ten computer science students. Together the artist, students, and their teacher, Joe Kethan, created an interactive website that translates personal experiences into animated metaphors: www.foxtechartpace.org.

For this project, students composed sentence-long metaphors ranging from the absurd to the profound, which are visually translated into animated shorts on the website. One student contemplates her relationship with her mother, "my mom is like planet earth. When she shows me love, the skies are clear, and when she is mad, the ground quakes." Another poetically remembers her family, "my family is a song you can't stop listening to."

Stevens guided the students toward the theme of "metaphor," as it is a continuous theme throughout art history. He explains, "We discussed many ideas about what our project could be, but I finally settled on 'metaphor' because it's something that all art shares. An understanding of metaphor is important to understanding contemporary art. As Aristotle said in Poetics, 'The greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor.' The kids surprised me with their insightful and oftentimes witty, personal metaphors."

While past Semester Program projects have found permanent homes on the walls of the Fox Tech, this semester's project challenges the physical nature of public art and expands the definition of campus, introducing the students' work to a larger global audience. Stevens explains, "When we go to an art gallery, we expect to see fine art, but we don't expect to find it on a computer or video screen. The students are super savvy when it comes to using a computer as a tool to communicate with friends, watch videos, or listen to music, but the idea of using it as a tool for art making was somewhat alien."

Metaphor is a part of a growing collection of collaborative works by students and local artists Justin Boyd, Daniel Guerrero, David Jurist, Juan Ramos, Ethel Shipton, and Gary Sweeney which are permanently installed on the Fox Tech campus as a result of Artpace's Semester Program. Each semester, Artpace selects an artist to be "in residence" in a Fox Tech classroom. The program gives teens access to unique mentoring opportunities with professional artists-offering practical experience in their field of study, while encouraging creativity resulting in long-term aesthetic enhancements for the communal spaces on their campus.

The students' public art project will be dedicated on Friday, October 3, 2008 from 11:15am-12:00pm with a presentation and unveiling on the 3rd Level Mezzanine of the Louis W. Fox Academic and Technical High School, 637 N. Main Avenue, San Antonio, TX 78205.

The public and media are welcome to attend. Please contact Celina Emery at 210.212.4900 or cemery@artpace.org to RSVP.

About the Program
The spring 2008 Semester Program was underwritten by Dan Parman and the Goldsbury Foundation with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes a great nation deserves great art.

About Artpace
Artpace San Antonio serves as an advocate for contemporary art and as a catalyst for the creation of significant art projects. We seek to nurture emerging and established artists and to provide opportunities for inspiration, experimentation, and education. Our programs support the evolution of new ideas in contemporary art and cultivate diverse audiences while providing a forum for ongoing dialogue.

Artpace is located downtown at 445 North Main Avenue, between Savings and Martin streets, San Antonio, Texas. Free parking is available at 513 North Flores Street. Artpace is open to the public Wednesday through Sunday, 12-5 PM, Thursday, 12-8 PM, and by appointment. Admission is free.

Support for Artpace San Antonio is generously provided by the Linda Pace Foundation;
The Brown Foundation, Inc.; and the Kronkosky Charitable Foundation.

© 2008 Artpace San Antonio

445 North Main Avenue San Antonio TX 78205 t 210 212 4900 f 210 212 4990 www.artpace.org