REMEMBERING LIKE JUDY: STUDYING THE WORK OF JUDY ONOFRIO

USING OUR OWN MEMORYWARE

1. At what point does an outsider artist cease to be an outsider?

2. More and more often there seems to be an entity which seeks to institutionalize art (i.e. museums, schools, critics, etc.) but art is not easily institutionalized and usually seeks not to be. Where does your work fit into this and what are your feelings about this institutionalization?

3. What are your long term hopes for the future of Judy World?

Judy Onofrio leads teachers in the project on a tour of her garden.

The Trip to Judy's Studio

13 July 01

The trip to Judy's Studio was incredible. My thoughts are spinning with ideas and enthusiasm. I can't wait to set to work writing this lesson.

My idea is to build a monumental public sculpture on our school grounds. Perhaps a school sculpture garden could be started. This could become a great place for hands on learning not only for my students but also for the industrial arts students and biology classes. If I can't start such an ambitious project perhaps we can make a sculpture to mark the entrance to the
school forest or perhaps a school board or city official might have another idea.

17 July 01

I am finally able to sit down to work seriously on this project. I have received the information Barbara sent to us via e-mail and don't think this can be used for high school students without some modification. I also think it would be beneficial to make the main discussion point whether or not Judy is an "Outsider Artist". To do this, a separate lesson on Outsider Art is necessary. I think I will put it into another unit.

I am also concerned about the term "memoryware". I am skeptical about teaching a vocabulary term that we coined. I am not sure this holds much educational value. It would be better to approach this subject as assemblage....

31 July 01

Today I met with the superintendent of our school to talk about possible places for our sculpture. he loved the idea and suggested placing it out in front of the school back far enough from the highway so that it is not damaged by the snow plows. He said I have to write a proposal to submit to the board.

5 Aug 01

I decided it would be best to make "outsider" art an entirely different lesson as a prepatory unit before the Onofrio Project. Judy began art as a ceramic artist, so I will use ceramics as my medium of exploration for this lesson. This will also be of great value since we will be using ceramics in our public sculpture.

Click here for the lesson: Ceramic Place Seting/ Outsider Art