By Hand: Gary Stevens

Abstract:: SPARK follows sculptor Gary Stevens through his creative process, from harvesting unusual pieces of wood from ancient redwood forests through the painstaking work that produces his uniquely beautiful wood vessels. This Educator Guide is about the history and tradition of wood carving.

Elevating the Everyday: Garry Knox Bennett

Abstract:: Spark visits vanguard furniture maker Garry Knox Bennett at work as he produces the last in a series of fifty chairs for an upcoming exhibition at the Oakland Museum of California. This Educator Guide addresses the history of art furniture.

Abstract:: In this lesson students will become experimental archaeologists and make cordage from native plant fibers or craft items. This unit is based on Lesson 2.7 in "Intrigue of the Past: North Carolina's First Peoples"

Abstract:: This course explores how social theories of urban life can be related to the city's architecture and spaces. It is grounded in classic or foundational writings about the city addressing such topics as the public realm and public space, impersonality, crowds and density, surveillance and civility, imprinting time on space, spatial justice, and the segregation of difference. The aim of the course is to generate new ideas about the city by connecting the social and the physical, using Boston as a visual laboratory. Students are required to present a term paper mediating what is read with what has been observed.