Fall 2003 Participant - Pitzer College

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Campus Notes
Students in Kathryn Miller’s
class test the watercraft they
built with recycled materials.
Students in “Mixing It Up/Ceramics
and Mixed Media,” a class taught by
professors David Furman and
Kathryn Miller, put their talents to use
beautifying the courtyard area outside the art
classrooms in the basement of the
McConnell building this past academic year.
Under the supervision of Furman and
Miller, students collaborated on the design of
seating areas and tables for the two spaces.
Bricks from a defunct kiln were recycled
along with cement slabs. Students glazed and
fired ceramic tiles and then smashed them to
make mosaics for the surfaces of the tables
and benches. The project required long
hours. The students worked diligently,
cheerfully learning to mix cement and lay
bricks.
“As a result of this whole process, they
got a taste of what public art entails, and the
rewards of seeing their project being used by
students, faculty and staff,” Miller said.
The students involved in the project
included: Nataly Buenrostro, Christina Cass,
Ryan Costley, Noah Crowe, Fiona Dunbar,
Tai Johnson, Michael Korte, Debbie Miles,
John Odbert and Daniela Suarez. Special
thanks to Dean of Faculty Alan Jones for
funding the project.
Art can have many functions, as students
discovered in Kathryn Miller’s class
“Sculptural Objects/Functional Art.” Little
did they know that one of those functions
would be to support their weight in the Gold
Student Center pool.
Students spent the semester building
functional objects such as tables, seats, lighting
objects and containers that also were pieces of
art. Throughout the semester Miller and the
class often talked about reusing materials
before they were recycled or sent to the
landfill with Miller stressing the importance of
finding novel uses for such items.
“My own recent experience working with
the National Park Service in the Puente Hills
Wilderness Park adjacent to the Puente Hills
landfill has made me especially aware of our
need to create less waste for landfills and I
try to incorporate this concept into my
classes,” Miller said.
“The Puente Hills landfill near Whittier
accepts waste from the Los Angeles Basin
Students relax in
the renovated
courtyard outside
classrooms at the
McConnell Center.
and is the largest in the country. Last year, the
landfill received 33 ½ million tons of trash.
Five out of eight canyons have been filled
and have significantly altered the watershed
of the region. The last three canyons are
under negotiation to be used as part of the
landfill. If that does not go through, the trash
will be transported out to the desert by train
to a new remote landfill site. We are all part
of this problem, hence the importance of
addressing these issues,” Miller said.
For a final project that they had just two
days to complete, students were told to enter
the waste stream and collect objects to use for
a flotation device that would hold their weight
and not sink. Finding materials proved to be
extremely easy and cost-free. None of the
students had tested their creations so there
were a few surprises such as capsizing,
sinking and the loss of loose parts.
Pitzer College Participant Fall 2003 5