Caroline Woolard

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Caroline Woolard (born 1984) is an American artist [1] and organizer, whose work explores intersections between art and the solidarity economy. [2] She primarily works collaboratively and collectively and was a founding member of Trade School, OurGoods, BFAMFAPhD and the New York City Real Estate Investment Cooperative. [3] [4] [5] Woolard previously worked as an Assistant Professor of Sculpture at the University of Hartford and a mentor at the School of Visual Arts. She is now working for Open Collective and Open Collective Foundation.

Contents

Early Life and Education

Woolard was born in Providence, Rhode Island. [1] She earned a BFA degree in 2006 from Cooper Union, which at the time was a tuition-free art school in New York City. [6]

Career and work

Woolard's work explores solidarity economics, collaboration, barter, labor, and other forms of monetary and non-monetary exchange. [7] She makes sculptural objects that facilitate communication [8] and also co-creates systems of sharing and exchange. Woolard says that she became involved with social practice art not because she was against commercial or institutional art, but instead because she believes the art world is too isolated. [9] Woolard hopes to promote interdependence between artists. [4]

Our Goods (founded in 2008) is an online platform for resource sharing within the creative community. OurGoods received numerous awards, including support from the Rockefeller Cultural innovation Fund (2012-2014), the Economic Revitalization for Performing Arts grant from The Field (2009-2012), and a prominent space in Creative Time’s exhibition, Living as Form (2011). In 2016 the independent platform shut down and moved on to Facebook.

Trade School (founded in 2009) is an online platform that allows people to propose and sign up for classes which are paid for using barter. [4] Trade School chapters popped up in over 50 cities internationally. [8] Woolard feels that broadening art classes to those who would not traditionally be able to afford them will expand the world of art for the better. [9] As of 2018 there are 26 schools still linked on the website.

What is a Work of Art in the Age of $120,000 Art Degrees? from Statements by Caroline Woolard (2014) BFAMFAPhDStatementsCaroline.png
What is a Work of Art in the Age of $120,000 Art Degrees? from Statements by Caroline Woolard (2014)

BFAMFAPhD (a mashed together acronym of BFA, MFA and PhD, founded 2014) is a research and advocacy project that uses US Census data to illuminate the ever-rising cost of getting a college art degree and its dubious relevance to the ability to make a living as an artist. [10] In addition to these economic concerns, Woolard and the other collaborators highlight problems of ethnic, racial and gender diversity in the art world. [11]

The New York City Real Estate Investment Cooperative (founded 2015 with lawyer/organizer Paula Segal and others) aims to collectively buy and maintain permanently affordable space in New York for civic, cultural, and cooperative use. [12]

Other works of art that Woolard has created are public seating, urban campsites and swings for subways. [13] In 2009, Woolard curated a "newspaper exhibition" which highlighted the many economic issues facing workers in the arts. [14] Woolard's Exchange Café was presented at the Museum of Modern Art as part of the Department of Education’s Artists Experiment initiative (2013). [15]

Awards

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barter</span> Immediate & direct reciprocal exchange of goods or services without use of money

In trade, barter is a system of exchange in which participants in a transaction directly exchange goods or services for other goods or services without using a medium of exchange, such as money. Economists distinguish barter from gift economies in many ways; barter, for example, features immediate reciprocal exchange, not one delayed in time. Barter usually takes place on a bilateral basis, but may be multilateral. In most developed countries, barter usually exists parallel to monetary systems only to a very limited extent. Market actors use barter as a replacement for money as the method of exchange in times of monetary crisis, such as when currency becomes unstable or simply unavailable for conducting commerce.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Handicraft</span> Item production made completely by hand or with simple tools

A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated related tools like scissors, carving implements, or hooks. It is a traditional main sector of craft making and applies to a wide range of creative and design activities that are related to making things with one's hands and skill, including work with textiles, moldable and rigid materials, paper, plant fibers, clay, etc. One of the oldest handicraft is Dhokra; this is a sort of metal casting that has been used in India for over 4,000 years and is still used. In Iranian Baluchistan, women still make red ware hand-made pottery with dotted ornaments, much similar to the 5000-year-old pottery tradition of Kalpurgan, an archaeological site near the village. Usually, the term is applied to traditional techniques of creating items that are both practical and aesthetic. Handicraft industries are those that produce things with hands to meet the needs of the people in their locality without using machines.

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References

  1. 1 2 "Caroline Woolard Flips the Real Estate Script | ART21 New York Close Up". ART21 New York Close Up. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  2. Adam, Ludwig (9 June 2014). "Can a Sharing Platform for Artists Point to a More Equitable Society?". Forbes. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  3. Bergin, Brigid (7 March 2010). "Will Teach for Goods: An Experiment in Bartering". WNYC. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 Rueb, Emily S. (23 February 2010). "A Trade School Where Ideas Are Currency". New York Times. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  5. Moore, Christopher (26 April 2010). "Trade Balance". New York Post. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  6. "Woolard, Caroline". The New School. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  7. Steinhauer, Jillian (10 November 2013). "Could local currency be the future of money?". Salon. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  8. 1 2 "Caroline Woolard defines what it means to be a solidarity economy artist - Creative Exchange". Creative Exchange. 2018-07-25. Retrieved 2018-11-10.
  9. 1 2 Kennedy, Randy (20 March 2013). "Outside the Citadel, Social Practice Art Is Intended to Nurture". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  10. Usmani, Josh (4 November 2014). "Cleveland Institute of Art Hosts Conference and Exhibition on Socially Engaged Art and Design". Cleveland Scene. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  11. Steinhauer, Jillian (30 June 2014). "Report Finds NYC's Art World 200% Whiter Than Its Population [UPDATED]". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  12. "Caroline Woolard Flips the Real Estate Script". Art21. Retrieved November 10, 2018.
  13. "Caroline Woolard". Mediamatic. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  14. "Brooklyn Pavilion 2 Showing a Newspaper on Art Labor and Economics". Mediamatic. 2009. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  15. "MoMA Studio: Exchange Café". MoMA. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  16. "Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Awards 2017 Grants and Residencies". artforum.com. Retrieved 2017-07-08.

Further reading