At next week’s APA Convention, all attendees are invited to participate in a Community Art Project built on the theme “Uniting Psychology: Express Yourself.” The collaborative project is a presidential initiative and is co-chaired by Alan Entin, PhD, Pamela McCrory, PhD, and world-renowned artist and Professor of Practice at Boston College Mark F. Cooper.
Mr. Cooper will lecture on “Making Art Together: Psychologists Creating Art for the Community” on Friday, August 8, 1:00–1:50 p.m. in Room 145A of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. The lecture will give attendees an in-depth look of the merits of collaborative art based on Mr. Cooper’s book “Making Art Together,” published by Beacon Press.
To participate in the Community Art Project, please visit the project booth in the Exhibit Hall during normal convention hours (9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.) Thursday, August 7 through Saturday, August 9.
The Community Art Project will culminate in the creation of a sculpture built on the theme. We hope to have as many conference attendees as possible contribute to the sculpture. The final sculpture will be determined through a creative process shepherded by Mr. Cooper. Participants are invited to create an image or message on pieces of wood that will ultimately comprise the final sculpture. Materials will be provided at the Exhibit Hall for this purpose.
Alternatively, attendees are invited to bring photographs, small objects, drawings, etc., for Mr. Cooper to include in the final sculpture. For example, Stewart Cooper, PhD, plans to bring a symbol that represents “personkind’s capacity for development”; Lauren Siefert, PhD, will provide a small papier-mâché mask that “joins the concepts of psychology and humans’ physiognomies”; and Alan D. Entin, PhD, will provide a photograph that represents “psychologist as artist, artist as psychologist.”
Please stop by and contribute to the sculpture!
To maximize conference attendees’ participation in the project, we invite those who are unable to participate directly in this project to get their voices heard by responding to any/all of the following questions. Written responses should be dropped off at the art installation at the times indicated above. Responses will be collected and organized into a single document by Mark Cooper as a further collaboration of the sculpture and dialogue about the project.
- How do you see the Community Art Project benefiting the field of psychology as a whole?
- How does the Community Art Project fit with your particular role as a psychologist?
- How does your individual artistic practice or your collaborative contribution impact your professional practice?
- Is there anything else about the Community Art Project you would like to share?
The Community Art Project will be installed on the roof garden of a building owned by APA located at 10 G Street, NE, Washington, DC, and images will be available to download for free. Access details will be provided at a later date. For additional information on Mark Cooper’s work, please visit his website, www.markfcooper.com.
Nadine J. Kaslow, PhD, ABP
2014 APA President