Visiting Artist Blends Social Activism, Art to Rejuvenate Communities
Visiting Artist Blends Social Activism, Art to Rejuvenate Communities. Conceptual artist Mel Chin brought his blend of environmental commitment and transformational art and alchemy to the University of Arkansas in the spring, when from Jan. 12 through Feb. 9 he taught an intensive one-month course in the art department under the sponsorship of the McIlroy Family Visiting Professorship in the Performing and Visual Arts.
Chin believes that creativity and environmental awareness can transform politics, people and the places where they live. He conceived the FUNDRED DOLLAR BILL project as a way for millions of students and professional artists across the country to create their own works of art: hundred dollar bills. By the end of 2009, he wants to collect 7,000 pounds of these bills and then ask that they be used to support an environmentally friendly rebuilding of New Orleans.
When he first visited New Orleans after the flooding, Chin said he felt “flooded” by the tragedy before him. But he eventually became detached enough, and angry enough, to return again, determined to help.
The disaster was in the soil before the disaster,” he says.