Kyle Miller Artistic Representation of Iconic Landscapes

1. How is landscape art a way to interpret the cultural layering that has happened over time? And how do certain cultures and ideals shape the imagery of the landscape?

2. Why does a specific landscape become an iconic site? Who are the actors in this creation process and how are their interpretations reflected in the meanings that emerge?
3. How does landscape art commingle the built environment with the ecological environment, and does it acknowledge human presence in the iconic landscape?
4. What does artistic representation mean for the longterm durability of iconic landscapes?

• Matt Johnston Assistant Professor of Art History at Lewis & Clark College.

Matt Johnston is an assistant professor of art history at Lewis & Clark College, specializing in American print culture and popular culture in the nineteenth century. Most recently he published “Hamlin Garland’s Detour into Art Criticism: Forecasting the Triumph of Popular Culture over Populism at the End of the Frontier,” The Journal of American Culture 34:4 (December 2011).

• Kyle Miller Student at Lewis & Clark College.

Kyle Miller is an Environmental Studies major and Studio Art minor at Lewis & Clark College. Her concentration is an investigation of the representation of iconic landscapes. She will be doing research related to her concentration in Japan, Italy, and New Mexico. She is also very interested in ceramics, photography, and painting. 

• Mark Rupert Professor at Oregon College of Art and Craft.

Mark Rupert holds a BFA from Ohio University and an MFA from the University of Oregon. Mark was awarded an OCAC faculty artist residency for the summer of 2005 to continue his examination of contemporary human interaction with the landscape through the use of historic photographic equipment and processes.  Recent projects include the “Art Contemplates Industry” project and exhibition series which, in partnership with Portland General Electric and the Willamette Falls Heritage Foundation, provided unprecedented access for artists to explore historic hydro-electric power generating stations and their role in the industrial history of the Pacific Northwest.  In 2014, Rupert delivered an artist lecture at the Portland Art Museum, exhibited at Newspace Center for Photography, and participated in the summer residency program at Caldera. 

• Andrews, Malcolm. 1999. Landscape and Western Art. Oxford University Press.

This book tries to answer the question “what is a landscape?” Subsequently, Andrews questions what ‘nature’ is. This book investigates when and why humans began to cherish images of nature by looking deeply at Western Art since the Renaissance. 

• Cosgrove, Denis. 1985. “Prospect, Perspective and the Evolution of the Landscape Idea.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 10 (1): 45–62. doi:10.2307/622249.

In this article Cosgrove investigates the social implications of constructing a landscape. He tries to understand how the “landscape idea” has come into existence and why humans represent it. He argues that landscape art is a way of humans exerting power over land and that a landscape “cannot be free of overlays of its history as a visual concept.”

• Cosgrove, Denis. 2006. “Modernity, Community and the Landscape Idea.” Journal of Material Culture 11 (1-2): 49–66. doi:10.1177/1359183506062992.

Cosgrove in this article investigates how landscape is becoming widely accepted as a theoretical concept across the arts, humanities, and social sciences. His emphasis is on how the aesthetic quality of a landscape can transcend through history and can accumulate meaning over time.

• Kaye, Nick. 2013. Site-Specific Art: Performance, Place and Documentation. Routledge.

This book looks extensively at the development and nature of site-specific art. This is helpful in understanding why certain places become iconic such as Mt. Fuji. This book documents art that is being created in certain parts of the world and tried to understand the implications and significance of the different places art. 

• Kwon, Miwon. 2004. One Place After Another: Site-specific Art and Locational Identity. MIT Press.

This book analyzes the site-specific art movement from the late 1960’s to modern day. The author is also concerned with how site-specific art effects the public sphere and how locations can accumulate identity. This is extremely relevant because humans must create identity and influence how places become iconic.

• Schneekloth, Lynda H., and Robert G. Shibley. 2000. “Implacing Architecture into the Practice of Placemaking.” Journal of Architectural Education 53 (3): 130–40. doi:10.1162/104648800564527.

This article acknowledges the importance of place in the practice of architecture. It discusses how the implementation of cultural identity  into architecture will make the discipline more relevant and complex. The authors play with idea that a place’s image should mirror its identity.

• Wilson, Chris. 1997. The Myth of Santa Fe: Creating a Modern Regional Tradition. UNM Press.

In this book Wilson discusses some of the paradoxes of modern cultural identity using Santa Fe, New Mexico as his example. He explores how mass culture such as cinema. writing, and photography can promote stereotypes onto distinctive local cultures. These stereotypes then can become intermingled into the landscape of the place because it becomes the new expectation that tourists go to see. He explores how cultural identity influences the image of a place from its architecture to how it is represented in books, pamphlets, and art.