Melissa McGurgan, an ASU printmaking masters student, started showing her artistic talent when she was 3 years old by spilling milk on the table and shoving it around. When her mother questioned her, she said, "It's a masterpiece."
The same can be said about her interactive artwork "More or Less Campaign, Phx 2006," which will be displayed at the "New American City: Artists Look Forward" exhibit at the ASU Art Museum Friday.
"It is a game for museum viewers," McGurgan said of her art.
She set up suggestion boxes where museum visitors can say what they would like to see more of or less of in the Valley. These suggestions will be displayed on the museum's walls and uploaded to a Web site she created for the project.
"The Web site will be a great resource for people moving to the Valley," McGurgan said.
The "Please Touch" sign invites visitors to participate in her constantly changing, light-hearted piece. Anyone can participate, from 5-year-olds to scholars, she said.
"I want it to be a catalyst for people to start thinking about these things and also to think about the consequences of adding more or having less of something," McGurgan said.
She said an example would be heavier traffic resulting from the addition of more restaurants in the Valley.
McGurgan will also provide visitors with free bumper stickers and buttons printed with the words "more" and "less."
'Light' on the past
Another artist exhibiting at "New American City" is Randy Slack, a Phoenix native who fell into a career in art.
His piece for the show, "Light Without Giving Off Light," pays homage to spending time at his grandparents' house as a child.
In 1969, his grandparents bought a showroom living room set from Levitz on 27th Avenue and set it up in their home exactly as it had been at the furniture store.
Two years ago, after Slack's grandmother died, he transplanted the living room, carpet and all, to his 7th Avenue studio.
The exhibit piece is a spin-off of this living room, complete with empty candy dishes and Dean Martin's voice coming out of a record player.
"It began as a personal piece, but I wanted to open it up for others," Slack said.
"My grandparents are part of my life even though they are dead," he added.
Slack said he wants visitors to feel the emotion and even the creepiness of the piece.
"I want them to think, 'Wow, that's a creepy couch' or 'My grandparents had a couch just like that,'" he said.
'The urban Indian'
Another exhibiting artist, Kade Twist, said: "I asked myself, 'What do I want?' and I decided I couldn't worry about being the only Native American in the exhibit."
Based on his experience as an urban American Indian, Twist writes poetry, uses metaphors and creates art. His piece in the exhibit - his first installation piece - evolved from a narrative poem he wrote.
He said he wanted to tell a story about experiencing Phoenix as an urban American Indian. The final piece hanging in the museum is a prosthetic leg painted with white automobile paint and layered with projected text and sound.
"It represents what home means to the urban Indian," Twist said. "Generally even second generation urban Indians call their tribal lands home rather than the city."
The piece is also about the struggle for homeownership and the intergenerational debt that it can cause, he added.
"The problem is contextualized in Phoenix, but the issue is much larger and is applicable to other large cities as well," he said.
Ignored history
Meanwhile, Sherrie Medina, coordinator of Strategic Initiatives at ASU's College of Design, enjoys working on projects that involve ignored history.
When she heard about Olivia Bejarano's Guadalupe home being demolished and then rebuilt using energy efficient materials, she signed up right away.
The piece, "Olivia," was created in collaboration with architect Ernesto Fonseca; Liza Hita, an ASU psychology doctoral student; and Sherry Ahrentzen of Guadalupe Youth Build and the ASU Stardust Center for Affordable Homes.
"'Olivia' is about the growth of the city connected to an individual," Medina said.
The original outline of Bejarano's home is reproduced to scale in tape on the floor and walls of the museum's Americas Gallery. Also taped on the floor is a sample of the wallpaper that used to hang in the house, Medina said.
Below, in the Turk Gallery, a clothesline from the original house hangs from the ceiling. Medina said visitors will be able to walk between the sheets hanging on the line and watch a progression of the house being demolished and rebuilt on a small DVD player.
It also shows interviews with Bejarano, Fonseca and Guadalupe residents.
She learned about the project through Fonseca.
"The work is informed, deep and rich," she said.
The "New American City" exhibit is ASU Art Museum's largest exhibition of the year. It debuts Friday along with a Welcome Back Students Party, being held from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the museum.
Reach the reporter at: Jennifer.Oconnor.1@asu.edu.
