10.6.13 Day 2 with Cassandra Emswiler

The students started their day with a lecture by Cassandra on the history of enclosed garden spaces. They looked at medieval garden plans and discussed the significance of hortus conclusus, learning that the gardens functioned on a poetic level experienced by walking through them as well as looking at them. The enclosed gardens were a way of taming chaotic nature into something beautiful. Cassandra spoke about nature as motif and how society started to bring nature into interior spaces with mosaics, tapestries, and paintings. A recurring theme throughout the day was how myth and poetry enter our daily lives without us necessarily being aware of it.

After the lecture, the students toured the exhibition México Inside Out: Themes in Art Since 1990 and discussed the work of Gabriel Orozco and Francis Alÿs.

The students returned to the studio to continue work on their designs. There was a good variety of materials and methods being used—some of the students worked by hand, either drawing or collaging, while others chose to create their designs digitally.