CLOSED FOR INSTALLATION
April 14 - May 9, 2025
Presents
What's in a Landscape?
What’s in a Landscape? is a project undertaken by Art in Residence, in partnership with the Museum of Art and History, to uncover the diverse and multivalent relationships Antelope Valley residents have to the landscape they call home. The goals of the project focused on documenting the people of the Antelope Valley and their relation to its landscape and history. Using the work of Rackstraw Downes as a jumping off point, Art In Residence organized four workshops at Quartz Hill High School, each building on the next, giving students the opportunity to explore plant-centered narratives, documentary filmmaking, landscape painting and mural design, and oral histories.
What’s in a Landscape? is generously supported by the California Arts Council’s Artists in Communities grant program and the Lancaster Museum and Public Art Foundation.
Made possible by
A Workshop on Plant-centered Narratives
In this workshop, Jenny Yurshansky took Richard Rosenblatt’s 11th grade English class through a guided writing exercise. Students collected a clipping from a plant, and then wrote a narrative embodying that plant’s point of view. Some students went personal, some went speculative. Writing took various forms, from prose, to poetry, to diary entries. In writing this way, students gained empathy for the landscape as a living companion to its human inhabitants.
As an extension of this workshop and as a warm up exercise to the Documentary Filmmaking workshop, Richard Rosenblatt shared the writings with the students in Chris Hall’s class. Each of the four groups took one of the written works, recorded a voice over, and gathered footage to accompany the text.
A Workshop on Landscape Painting & Mural Design
Muralist Nuri Amanatullah led students in Deepak Dhillon’s art class through lecture and discussion on the landscape as a subject in drawing and painting, with an emphasis on symbolism and expressing identity through natural elements. Students created landscape sketches, and used those sketches as the basis for proposed mural design. Amanatullah then combined the work done by the students into a single mural to be executed on the campus of Quartz Hill High School.
Hover over the s on the mural below to learn more about this collaboration.
In this sketch by Makalya Ojeda we see the inspiration for the sky – your classic AV sunset – as well as the more profile pose of the pronghorn.
This initial sketch by Diego Vargas incorporates abstract wavy lines, as well as a suggestion of architectural elements which inspired the map seen inside the pronghorn's form.
From Erin Segovia's digital rendering we receive the overall palette and look of the mural. Her detailed renderings of the flora were important to capture in the final image.
A Workshop on Documentary Filmmaking
Robin Rosenthal and Dave Martin partnered with Chris Hall’s Intermediate Production class to create short documentary videos. Students were tasked with creating a piece about a particular landscape they have a personal connection with, or interviewing a person or group with a particular relationship to the landscape in some way.
An Oral History Interview with Margaret Rhyne
In her interview for What’s in a Landscape? Margaret Rhyne focuses on the role of conservation and stewardship in preserving land. She offers unique insights into how the Antelope Valley landscape has been changed by the hands of people who, like herself, have dedicated their lives to maintaining and preserving the local land and its wildlife.
Art Talk Series
In this art talk series Art in Residence invited 4 artists to discuss their work in relation to the theme of landscapes. They explored how this theme plays a role in each of their art practices.
Art Talk Series: Whats In a Landscape?
Art Talk Series: Whats In a Landscape? | Mood & Meaning
Art Talk Series: Whats In a Landscape? | Monuments Now: Joel Garcia
