JENI HANSEN GARD
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      • ARE 6049: History of Art Education
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      • MA in Art Education, Thesis, University of Florida
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The Common Table
Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia

The Common Table brought together a group of twenty-two women that share the physical space on the Wesleyan College campus. The building walls, division of majors, age, and many other factors can create a barrier that prevent students, faculty, and staff who enter the campus each day from ever encountering each other. This project aimed to encourage a diverse group of students, faculty, and staff to build community through a series of events and a shared meal that took place within the gallery that have resulted in this exhibition. An effort was made to select participants who did not already know each other well from different majors, organizations, and offices across campus.
On November 10, 2017, the group shared a meal together in the gallery. The dishes were handmade for the event and belong to the participants who first ate from them. They were designed to be reflective of campus and are covered with a pattern of the driving and walking paths on campus as well as shapes that reference the architectural archways. The ingredients used to create the meal were determined by an algorithm that used the food preferences and aversions of the participants. Each participant contributed twenty-two preferred foods and after eliminating any allergies or disliked foods the remaining list was used in the algorithm. Audio was recorded during the meal and played in the gallery throughout the course of the exhibition, which allowed visitors to imagine the meal taking place.
The Common Table was designed to help those participating and those who view it to reconsider the space that is shared, our relationship to that space, and with each other. Thank you to the many wonderful people at Wesleyan College and beyond that made this project possible.
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  • Portfolio
    • Home: Part 2
    • Home: Part 1
    • Macon Flowers
    • Commemorate Series
    • Creative Museum Navigation
    • The Common Table
    • Social Plates
    • Cups of Conversation >
      • Cups of Conversation: 50 States NCECA
      • Cups of Conversation: Speed Friending
      • Cups of Conversation: 50 States
      • Cups of Conversation: Seward, Nebraska
      • Cups of Conversation: Helena, Montana
    • Growing Community Table
    • Weaving Dialogues
    • The Community Table
    • Partake Columbus
    • Project Share
    • The Relational Table
    • MILK/MILK
    • Dear Grandma
    • Project Sauerkraut
    • [In]Visible: Ties that Bind
    • Making a Meal
    • Project NOLA
    • Dish Set Challenge III
    • Dish Set Challenge II
    • Dish Set Challenge I
    • Salad Party
    • Plants and Herbs
    • 2013
    • 2012
    • 2011 - Past Work
    • Current Portfolio
  • About
    • Biography
    • Artist Statement
    • CV
    • Teaching Philosophy
    • MA Graduate School Work >
      • ARE 6049: History of Art Education
      • ARE 6148: Curriculum in Teaching Art
      • ARE 6641: Contemporary Issues in Art Education
      • ARE 6746: Methods of Research
      • MA in Art Education, Thesis, University of Florida
  • In Print
  • Teaching Clay in the Classroom
  • Links
  • Contact