E n v is io n in g H o m e ,

M, and C o m m u n ity
Through Vernacular A rt Environm ents
LI Z REX a n d C H R I S T I N E W O Y W O D

ducators hope that the impact teaching and curriculum have on students extends far
beyond the classroom, making practical connections to daily life. Powerful myths
about where art happens, who participates in the art world, and the commu- nities
that judge art, however, can cause feelings of exclusion, where even formally trained
artists can feel like outsiders struggling to gain access. To help students envision
relationships to art that extend beyond the classroom into everyday life, it is
im portant for students to understand themselves as creators, consumers, and critics of material
culture (Bolin & Blandy, 2011); consider the many instances when artists blur boundaries w ith other
kinds o f practice (Marshall, 2010; W hite & Congdon, 1998); and recognize that art can enlarge and
embellish ordinary events, people, and places and transform ordinary experiences (Dissanayake,
1988,1992; Wachowiak & Clements, 2001).
The idea that art exists in everyday experi- embracing the more holistic forms and prac- identity (Congdon, 2004; Lippard, 1997), we
ences has the potential to profoundly affect tices associated with material culture studies. also transform places in a variety of common
the frameworks that inform students’ defini- A basic concern of material culture studies is yet meaningful ways that reflect personal
tions of art and democratize art knowledge that there are objects so integral to our lives and community interests and values. This
and production. In this article we argue that we sometimes forget to consider their includes intimate places like the home
that study of Vernacular Art Environments meanings. All human-made and human- environments we create, alter, and inhabit, as
(VAEs) and the experiences of their creators modified forms, objects, and expressions well as more public places, such as neighbor-
are paths for investigating self, home, and manifested consciously or unconsciously hoods. Both provide meaningful entry points
community as we prepare students to be through culturally acquired behaviors are for students to examine ways they create
lifelong learners who engage with visual art material culture (Berger, 1992; Bolin & artistic interventions within their immediate
in meaningful ways. Blandy, 2003). Items of material culture have surroundings through daily experiences.
histories, contexts, and significant meanings Material culture approaches to art educa-
M a te r ia l C u ltu re as a F ra m e w o rk that art students can learn from when these tion broaden the scope of relevant objects
Contemporary shifts in art education items are thoughtfully considered and and practices considered, making VAEs a
emphasize the necessity to consider not only interrogated. timely and relevant site of study. Within this
the artifacts that have been distinguished For example, built environments offer context, VAEs provide a unique and under-
as fine art, but also the variety of ways that many opportunities for the analysis of art in utilized focus for witnessing how home, self,
artistic forms are a part of our everyday everyday life. Despite the long-time acknowl- and community identities can be shaped,
lives (Congdon, 2004; Duncum, 1999, 2002; edgment of the potential of the built environ- challenged, and transformed through artistic
Freedman, 2003; Krug, 2002). This echoes ment (McFee & Degge, 1977), it has been interventions. Through analysis of VAEs
previous art educators’ calls for the study somewhat marginalized in art education and the artists who build them, students
of objects related to common experience curriculum (Powell, 2008). Material culture can think more deeply about how everyday
(Lanier, 1982; McFee & Degge, 1977). More approaches to art education offer renewed environments, including their own, are made
recently, Bolin and Blandy (2003, 2011, possibilities for the examination of built meaningful through artistic behaviors and
2012) have refocused this concern, arguing environment sites (Kraft, 2011; LaChapelle, create a foundation for lifelong learning and
that art education would be well served by 2011). As place often becomes a part of our engagement with visual art. In the following

F ig u re 1 ( r ig h t ) . N ic k E n g e lb e rt, G ra n d v ie w (s ite v ie w ,
H o lla n d a le , W l ) , c . 1 9 3 0 -1 9 6 0 . P h o to ; 2 0 0 6 , C ourtesy o f th e
J ohn M ic h a e l K o h le r A rts C enter A r t is t A rch ives.

40 ART EDUCATION ■ November 2014

November 2014 ■ ART EDUCATION 41
 sections we provide an overview of what
VAEs are, descriptions of selected works, and
ways in which these might be considered in
the context of art curriculum.
In addition, Blandy and Bolin (2012)
offer art educators overviews of nine specific
strategies that could be employed in the
study of material culture. We believe that
the strategies of engagement and cogni-
tion, which they identify within the field of
environmental aesthetics, are best suited for
analyzing VAEs. Blandy and Bolin explain
engagement as an approach where “students
are encouraged to respond to art through
personal experiences, personal feelings,
performance, and creating metaphors and
analogies” (p. 44). Cognition includes activi-
ties such as mapping, the development of
personal ethnographies, and art world field-
work as means by which students can study
material culture within environments. We
draw upon both approaches in the essential
questions that we offer following each case,
as examples for developing units of study
based on Vernacular Art Environments.
Vernacular Art Environments
While the three artists we describe in the
following sections did not self-identify as
vernacular artists, they are self-taught. As the
unique art environments these artists create
are not easily categorized, we have chosen
to align with scholars who use the term
Vernacular Art Environments. Artists who
create vernacular environments transform
a specific place by creating art that dramati-
cally alters the way that place is experienced
by an individual or community. Each artistic
object created for a VAE exists as part of a
specific place and in turn makes it possible
to (re)envision home—as in the following
case of Nick Engelbert; self—in the case of
Loy Bowlin; and community—in the case
of Nek Chand. The reasons and intentions
that motivate these artistic interventions
vary widely. However, what is similar is that
“each [environment builder] developed a
symbiotic relationship with her or his home
ground in response to a unique and heartfelt
vision” (Umberger, 2007, p. 49).
community contexts versus more narrow
constructions of what counts as art (Lai &
Ball, 2002; Neperud & Krug, 1995). The
home of vernacular environment artist Nick
Engelbert offers an engaging starting point
for such a discussion.
In 1915, Austrian immigrants Nick (1881-
1962) and Kathryn Engelbert established
their 8.5-acre home and farm in Hollandale,
Wisconsin. Overlooking rolling Wisconsin
pastures, Nick dubbed their new home
Grandview. While the Engelberts and their
four children raised cattle, ran a dairy
business, and maintained large gardens, they
also made time for evening sessions of music
and storytelling.
According to local lore, Nick Engelbert
was inspired by a family trip to the nearby
Dickeyville Grotto.1While recovering from
a sprained ankle, Engelbert began his own
artistic adventure transforming his family’s
home into a “three dimensional storybook”
(Umburger, 2007). Over 2 decades, Engelbert
produced approximately 40 large sculptures
and tableaus that dotted the yard, embel-
lished the house with concrete and stones,
as well as fabricated smaller yard creations,
such as planters and decorative fencing
(Figure 1).
In transforming his family’s home over
time, Engelbert created sculptures and
tableaus that portray an eclectic juxtaposi-
tion of interests, which echo the family’s
experience as immigrants in the early 1900s.
While there are playfully colored animals
(Figure 2) that seem as though they were
frozen in time, other sculptures interpret
locally popular tales, such as representa-
tions of Paul Bunyan, Snow White and the
Seven Dwarfs, and a “Family Tree” featuring
playful monkeys. Further playing with the
physical and more ethereal (re)establishment
of home, there are also sculptural tributes
to area immigrants and patriotic pieces that
resonate with the family’s new home in the
United States.
When studying the Vernacular Art
Environment of Nick Engelbert’s Grandview,
art students can consider how the material
culture of homes is an entry point for
unpacking identity as a juxtaposition of
values and personal experiences:
• In what ways do people create (or
recreate) a sense of home?
• In what ways do people represent their
values and personal experience in a home?
• How does the opportunity to physically
change a place affect one’s ability to feel
“at home”?

Envisioning Home
Intimate places, like the home, are preva-
lent sites where humans create meaningful
everyday artistic interactions. Educators
can create conditions that help students
examine these familiar places so they may
recognize and interrogate the relationship
between art in their home as it relates to Figure 2. Nick Engelbert, Grandview (site view, Peacock, Hollandale, W l), c. 1930 -1 960 .
Photo: 1997 , Courtesy o f th e John Michael Kohler Arts Center Artist Archives.

42 ART EDUCATION ■ N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 4
Envisioning Self
While study of self is often introspec-
tive, it can also be considered as purposeful
(re)envisioning. Vernacular environment
artists, such as Loy Bowlin, offer an entry
point for studying the construction of “self”
as creative endeavor.
Divorced, retired, and very lonely, Loy
Bowlin (1909-1995) had an epiphany
inspired by the Glen Campbell song,
“Rhinestone Cowboy.” The song was a
personal challenge and a moral directive to
(re)envision his identity (Umburger, 2007).
He realized that the development of the
eccentric cowboy persona could ensure that
he would get plenty of attention; the “lights”
would shine on him, just like the stars on
Campbells show. Bowlin spent hundreds
of hours embellishing flashy, Western-style
attire to wear each day of the week and drove
a 1967 Cadillac (with glittering longhorns on
the hood) to the local mall, the town square,
and festivals so he could dance, tell jokes,
and sign photographs of himself with the car.
Audiences were entertained by his eccentric
personality.
Thriving on recognition in the mid
1980s, Bowlin decided that he should create
the ultimate backdrop for his persona
by revamping his home in McComb,
Mississippi, which he called Beautiful Holy
Jewel Home. Over 5 years he covered almost
every inch of the inside and most of the outside
of his small home (Figure 3). Bolin covered
the walls by creating individual patterned
panels made with construction paper, foil,
rhinestones, and glitter (Figure 4).
He attributed the design-encrusted walls
to an interest in stained-glass windows in Figure 3 (above). Loy B ow lin ,
churches. Ultimately, Bolins project to create B e au tifu l Holy Jewel Home
a new identity and reshape his surroundings (in s ta lla tio n d e ta il, liv in g room ),
also reshaped his sense of self and amused
the audience he so deeply desired. c. 1985 -1990 ; John M ichael
When considering Bowlin’s reinvention as Kohler A rts Center C ollection.
the Rhinestone Cowboy and the Beautiful Photo: 2006 , Courtesy o f th e
Holy Jewel Home, art students can explore John M ichael Kohler A rts Center
their relationship to our environments and
consider how we “perform” in relation to an A r tis t Archives.
environment:
• How do we project who we are through Figure 4 ( le ft). Loy B ow lin ,
the environments we create or design? u n title d (co lla ge), c. 1985 -1990 ;
• How do environments give us cues about paper, g litte r , m ixed m edia;
the role and expectations that people have
for us? 3 4 . 3 7 5 x 2 9 .6 2 5 x 1 .2 5 in .;
Photo: Courtesy o f th e John
M ichael Kohler A rts Center
Collection.
 Envisioning Community
While self and home may be immedi-
ately accessible topics of study in K-12 art
education, it is also imperative to consider
community while preparing students for
life in a democracy (Freedman, 2003).
Vernacular environment artists, such as Nek
Chand, other potent possibilities for critically
questioning how communities are developed,
how they are destroyed, and how power and
differing visions have a role in the creation of
the communities in which we live.
Nek Chand (born 1924) worked to
(re)envision and heal his community by
constructing environments in the city of
Chandigarh, India (Figures 5 & 6). After the
separation of colonial India into India and
Pakistan in 1947, Chandigarh was the site
of a huge urban-planning experiment that Figure 5 (above). Nek Chand, Rock Garden of Chandigarh (site view , Chandigarh, India),
began with the destruction of 26 villages to 1958-present. Photo: 2008 , Bronwen Meyers, Courtesy o f the John Michael Kohler Arts
make way for a more “European” environ- Center Collection.
ment, designed by the architect Le Corbusier.
Part of the allure of Nek Chand’s Rock Figure 6 (rig h t). Nek Chand, Rock Garden o f Chandigarh (site view, Chandigarh, India),
Garden is that it represents what the planned 1958-present. Photo: 2008 , Bronwen Meyers, Courtesy o f th e John Michael Kohler Arts
city is not.
Center Collection.
Nek Chand believed that everything in
nature recycles itself and that the remains of
the destroyed villages should rematerialize As a child, he was fascinated by his When considering the Vernacular Art
in a similar fashion. So, when employed mothers stories of kings and queens. Environment of Nek Chand’s Rock Garden,
as a government road inspector in the Inspired by this in the context of physical art students can understand how an investi-
capitol project during the 1950s, he illegally upheaval; territorial disputes; and a history of gation of material culture can help us unpack
collected, organized, and stored materials colonial violence, anger, and repression,2Nek layers of history, shifts in power, values, and
from the destroyed villages that were hidden Chand built a kingdom for “a peaceful king desires that people have for their home, self,
in a location outside of Chandigarh. Despite who has an eternal command, living without and community:
great personal risk, he secretly transported fear, jealousy, or war” (Umburger, 2000, p. • How can environments represent
materials night after night in a basket on 10). Many of the holy men and guards in the contested histories?
his bicycle, using a burning chunk of tire to kingdom are depicted in Western clothing, • Why might people try to erase narratives
light his way (Umburger, 2000). By 1965 he referencing the enduring British military
had enough materials to begin creating his presence. from an environment?

garden of figures. • Why might people use objects to alter

Nek Chand installed on government or construct new narratives in an
property, so he was in constant fear of being
environment?
caught (Bandyopadhyay & Jackson, 2007).
In 1972, government antimalaria inspectors
S tudents can discovered the garden, then containing 2,000 Further Applications
In the previous sections, we described
figures. While this put the site in danger
fin d th a t a r t does of demolition, the citizens of Chandigarh
essential questions investigating notions
managed to sway the government, who related to home, self, and community,

extend beyond the promoted Nek Chand to superintendent

of the garden, overseeing a small staff and
emerging respectively from the Vernacular
Art Environments created by Nick Engelbert,
Loy Bowlin, and Nek Chand. These essential
classroom walls equipment (Beardsley, 1995). After this,
Nek Chand organized a strategy for waste questions can be used as a starting point
for curriculum development. In our efforts
as an in tegral and collection that led to one of the largest
recycling programs in Asia today (Umburger,
2000). Over 42 years, the Rock Garden of
to incorporate VAEs into our own teaching
experiences, we have found success with
rich com ponent o f Chandigarh has grown to over 40 acres and
project-based learning that builds from
these questions as students (1) document
10,000 sculptures, and it is one of the most
daily life. widely visited sites in India today, second and analyze significant places and (2)
imagine how existing sites might be altered
only to the Taj Mahal.

44 ART EDUCATION ■ N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 4
to create new meaning. While it may not
be possible to physically alter an environ-
ment, students can effectively learn through
(re)examining how they personalize school
lockers, or take part in larger explora-
tions of personal spaces such as bedrooms,
homes, classrooms, or local communities.
By conducting or collecting documenta-
tions, students can compare and contrast
the ways that they shape, or are shaped by,
everyday environments and how those places
reflect personal and communal meaning and
narratives. Students can also alter images
of everyday environments and effectively
create new narratives by layering (through
drawing, collage, or digital means) objects
within existing images of everyday places.
By looking closely and altering images of
everyday places, students engage in the
previously mentioned cognitive activities
that may include mapping, or development
of personal ethnographies and fieldwork
(Blandy & Bolin, 2012), as means for
critically examining material culture within
students’ everyday environments.
C o n c lu s io n
The previous examples provide a glimpse
of the powerful ways in which art is utilized
to envision and transform life through
everyday environments. While artists who
create vernacular environments may appear
extreme or obsessive in their motivations to
alter their environments, they provide a way
for students to begin to examine, understand,
and interact with personal and community
places. Blandy and Bolins (2012) suggestion
for examining material culture using cogni-
tive and engagement strategies is important.
It provides a framework and expectation
that students make personal connections to
environments and objects of study while at
the same time developing ways to examine
the contextual forces that are interwoven
with our understandings of material culture
and our constructions of home, self, and
community.
At the beginning of this article we
suggested that a material culture approach
to art education and the exploration of
Vernacular Art Environments might broaden
student definitions of art, creating the possi-
bility for an understanding of art as integral
to everyday life and creating more potential
for lifelong engagement with art. In our own
teaching with adults this has often proven
true. By engaging students in conversa-
tions about VAEs, including connections to
personal, everyday places that are shaped
and understood within specific places over
time, their personal relationships to art are
often reexamined. As one adult student
explained, “I had never thought of what I
do in my home or with my family or in my
environment as having very much to do with
art. Without knowing it, I have tried to make
things special!” (personal communication,
2012). By constructing art curricula that
create connections with everyday environ-
ments, students can find that art does extend
beyond the classroom walls as an integral
and rich component of daily life.
Liz Rex is Associate Lecturer ofArt
Education at the University of Wisconsin,
Milwaukee. E-mail: rex@uwm.edu
Christine Woywod is Assistant Professor
ofArt Education at the University of
Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
E-mail: woywod@uwm.edu
N ovem ber 2 014 ■ ar t ed u c at io n 45

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Beardsley, J. (1995). Gardens of
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Berger, A. (1992). Reading matter.
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Blandy, D., & Bolin, P. (2012).
Looking at, engaging more:
Approaches for investigating
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Bolin, P., & Blandy, D. (2003). Beyond
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in art education. Studies in Art
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Congdon, K. (2004). Community art
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artfor? Seattle: University of
Washington Press.
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culture, and environment: A catalyst
1 The Dickeyville (WI) Grotto is
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Hunt. that Father Mathias Wernerus
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Aesthetics from the ground up.
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In R. W. Neperud (Ed.), Context,
the gravity of this statement. The
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John Michael Kohler Art Center.

Penn State Inaugurates the Judy Chicago Dialogue Portal

rtist, a u tho r, e d ucator, an d a c tiv is t Judy p ro g ra m at C alifornia S tate U niversity, Fresno in

A C hicago has on e m ore m ile s to n e to add

Judy Chicago (seated) and Jackie
Esposito w ith the Judy Chicago Art
Education Collection at Penn. State.
Photo © Donald Woodman.
to h er c e le b ra to ry year as she tu rn e d 75
is year. Penn State's U n ive rsity Libraries, w h ic h
a cq u ire d her a rt e d u c a tio n archives in 2011, are
pleased to a n n o u n c e th e c re a tio n o f th e Judy
C hicago D ia lo g u e Portal (h ttp ://ju d y c h ic a g o .a r te d .
p s u .e d u /d ia lo g u e /) as a n e w fa c e t o f th e artist's
o n lin e a r t e d u c a tio n a rchive (h ttp :// ju d y c h ic a g o .
a rte d .p s u .e d u /) in The E berly Fam ily Special
C o lle ctio n s Library.
The Ju d y C h ica g o D ia lo g u e Portal w as b o rn fro m
Penn State's 2014 c a m p u s-w id e , se m e ste r-lo n g
ce le b ra tio n o f Chicago's a rchive th a t c o n c lu d e d
w ith a w e e k e n d - lo n g sym p o s iu m a t w h ic h C hicago
e liv e re d a tim e ly , c a ll- to - a c tio n le c tu re ( h t tp : / /
ju d y c h ic a g o .a r te d .p s u .e d u /in v ita tio n - fro m - ju d y -
c h ic a g o /) based on her n e w b o o k " In s titu tio n a l
T im e: A C ritiq u e o f S tu d io A r t Education."
" M y go a l w as to spark a lo n g -o v e rd u e d ia lo g u e
a b o u t th e state o f s tu d io a rt e d u catio n ," says
C hicago w h o d e v e lo p e d th e f irs t fe m in is t a rt
th e 1970s. " W ith th e cre a tio n o f th e p o rta l, w e can
n o w in itia te an in te rn a tio n a l o n lin e co n ve rsa tio n th
a b o u t th e c u rre n t state o f s tu d io a rt e d u c a tio n ,
p a rtic u la r ly in re la tio n to issues o f c o n te n t, gender,
an d dive rs ity . I be lie ve th a t a rt e d u c a tio n has to be
rad ica lly im p ro v e d in o rd e r to m e e t th e needs o f
all s tu d e n ts and th a t Penn S tate can be a leader in
e ffe c tu a tin g th is change.”
The Ju d y C hicago D ia lo g u e Portal w ill launch on
S e p te m b e r 15, b e g in n in g w ith th e firs t o f fo u r
sections, "An In v ita tio n fro m Ju d y C h ica g o ,"w h ich
w ill fe a tu re th e v id e o o f Chicago's Penn State
le ctu re a m o n g o th e r m aterials. An o n lin e d ia lo g u e
"Live w ith Ju d y C hicago" a b o u t th e state o f s tu d io d
a rt e d u c a tio n and its fu tu re w ill be h o sted on th e
p o rta l on O c to b e r 25 a t 11 :00 a.m . EST, and reg istra -
tio n w ill o p e n on th e p o rta l o n S e p te m b e r 15.
M ore in fo rm a tio n is ava ila b le a t h t tp : / /
ju d y c h ic a g o .a rte d .p s u .e d u /d ia lo g u e /
o r c o n ta c t Leslie S o to m a yo r a t Icz 5008 @ psu.edu.

46 ar t EDUCATION ■ November 2014

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