IN-PERSON: Prague – Section B
Abstract
Witness trees are long-standing trees that have “witnessed” key events in history. The Witness Tree Project arranges for fallen witness trees to be shipped to Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where, in a joint history seminar and design studio, students interpret the history the tree “witnessed” and make relevant objects from the tree’s wood. In addition to classroom study, the Project variously involves site visits, guest lectures, and local exhibitions of students’ objects, all of which interanimates practices of design and public heritage. Since 2009, Project students from across disciplines of art and design have worked with the U.S. National Park Service, at sites ranging from presidential homes (e.g. Theodore Roosevelt, Martin Van Buren, John Adams) to historical sites (Edison’s factories, Olmsted’s firm office, Maryland’s Hampton plantation). The Project has also collaborated with Prospect Park, to investigate Brooklyn’s immigrant cultures, and with the University of South Australia, to explore cultural ecology. Working with historic trees is a powerful means for exploring the intersections of place, memory, and design. The students’ objects, made from historic wood, are shaped by analyses of the past, and their historical interpretations are honed by questions that arise in the processes of design and critique. In this presentation, three instructors will explore the insights of the past thirteen years of the Witness Tree Project and examine how a tree—as a geographical axis for human activity, a deep chronological marker, and an evocative design material—can provoke new kinds of historical understanding.
Daniel Cavicchi is an American studies scholar whose research explores U.S. history through music, place, and the senses. In addition to numerous essays on history, education, and music, he is the author of Listening and Longing: Music Lovers in the Age of Barnum; Tramps Like Us: Music and Meaning Among Springsteen Fans; and My Music: Explorations of Music in Daily Life, with Charles Keil and Susan D. Crafts. Cavicchi’s public humanities work includes curricula for Experience Music Project and the Public Broadcasting System, as well as multiple historical exhibits for the Grammy Museum.
Dale Broholm is interested in the integration of historical research as a tool to inform and shape furniture design. He has been designing/making custom furniture out of his Boston-area studio for the past 38 years and has served as Senior Critic in the Department of Furniture Design at the Rhode Island School of Design for 25 years. He also travels and lectures and has led, for example, a furniture design workshop in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; presented at a trade conference in Shen Yang, China; and taught at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine.
Meg Callahan earned her BFA from RISD in Furniture Design. She founded M.Callahan Studio in 2011, a design studio centered on creating objects that focus on the beauty and complexity of traditional construction. Her work has been featured in publications such as The New York Times, Metropolis, The Wall Street Journal, Dwell and Elle Decor and has been exhibited at Matter, Colony, Sight Unseen, ICFF and Wanted Design Fair. Callahan was named one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30’ in 2015, and her work is part of private collections throughout the US and abroad.
8:30 am - 10:00 am
Thursday 29th June, 2023