Social Studies, Science, and Art Education

What other purposes can these items serve (other than

their original intended purpose)?

Mesh Produce Bags

Soap Slivers

Old Light Bulbs

Old items…new Purposes!

Mesh Produce Bagsbecome…kitchen scrubbies

Old Light Bulbs become…vases and candleholders

Soap Sliversbecome…

Mark Dion

creates drawings, prints, cabinets of curiosity, and installations

often uses “found objects” in his works

deals with important social and environmental issues

Mark Dion

About the artist

Mark Dion was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1961. He received a BFA (1986) and an honorary doctorate (2003) from the University of Hartford, School of Art, Connecticut.

Dion’s work examines the ways our understanding of history, knowledge, and the natural world are shaped. “The job of the artist,” he says, “is to go against the grain of dominant culture, to challenge perception and convention.”

He has received numerous awards, including the ninth annual Larry Aldrich Foundation Award (2001). He has had major exhibitions at Miami Art Museum (2006); the Museum of Modern Art, New York (2004); and the Tate Gallery, London (1999). "Neukom Vivarium” (2006), a permanent outdoor installation and learning lab for the Olympic Sculpture Park, was commissioned by the Seattle Art Museum.

Dion lives and works in Pennsylvania.

Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting: to solve problems, usually serious problems

ecologically-themed artwork

special focus on Florida

South Florida Wildlife Rescue Unit: Mobile

Laboratory, 2006

comprehensive installation piece

an emergency truck for threatened species

Dion’s truck would enable activists to rescue endangered flora

includes safari-like clothing and bait for invasive animal species

also displays historical images by American botanist John Kunkel Small (1869-1938) of pillaged orchids, bromeliads, and cacti

The South Florida Wildlife Rescue Unit: Mobile Laboratory, 2006

Mixed media installation (wood, steel, paint on expanded PVC, Plexiglas, masonite, assorted truck parts and wheels, diamond plated rubber floor mat, vinyl decals, stainless steel poles, and assorted objects)

18 feet, 11 inches x 7 feet, 7 inches x 8 feet, 11 inchesCollection Miami Art Museum, gift of Lin Lougheed

John Kunkel Small

Automobile Loaded with Plant Specimens, 1927

Image Courtesy of State Archives of Florida

Detail from: The South Florida Wildlife Rescue Unit: Mobile Laboratory, 2006

John Kunkel SmallThe “Weed Wagon” with a Load of Orchids, Ferns and Bromeliads (Ross Hammock, Florida), 1915

Image Courtesy of State Archives of Florida

Detail from: The South Florida Wildlife Rescue Unit: Mobile Laboratory, 2006

The South Florida Wildlife Rescue Unit: The Uniforms, 2006

Two mannequins, clothing, custom patches, assorted gear, dimensions variable

Collection Miami Art Museum, gift of Lin Lougheed

“Artists have tools that scientists don’t have… humor, irony, metaphor… these are the bread and

butter of the artist.”

What do the words “humor,” “irony,” and “metaphor” mean?

Consider the work Travels of William Bartram Reconsidered (alligator cabinet) with this quotation in mind.

Travels of William Bartram Reconsidered(alligator cabinet), 2008

Found alligators in various media, paintedwood and glass cabinet, 73 x 13 x 39 ½ inches

Courtesy of the Artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, NY

Questions forTravels of William Bartram Reconsidered

(alligator cabinet)

What does the work say about alligators and the ways in which these native Florida creatures are depicted in popular imagery?

What does this say about the way we think about and treat our natural environment and the animals that live in it?

How does Dion use humor, irony and metaphor in this work to get his point across?

Mark Dion quote

“I’m an artist who holds up a mirror to the present.”

What do you think Dion means by this?