MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology Visiting Artists B. Stephen Carpenter II
B. Stephen Carpenter II
"Carpenter's work has the potential to impact millions..."
— Penn State News
B. Stephen Carpenter II leads a workshop on ceramic water filters. Photo: HErickson/MIT.
B. Stephen Carpenter II working on a water filtration project. Photo: Courtesy of the artist.
B. Stephen Carpenter II, Water Filtration Project portrait. Photo: Courtesy of the artist.
B. Stephen Carpenter II, Double Water Fountains, 2015. Photo: Courtesy of the artist.
Intentional Public Disruptions: Art, Responsibility and Pedagogy
B. Stephen Carpenter II, Intentional Public Disruptions: Art, Responsibility and Pedagogy.
B. Stephen Carpenter II, Ida Ely Rubin Artist in Residence at the MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST), and Lawrence Susskind, Ford Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning, combined art, science and social practice to demonstrate how to enhance practices and possibilities for sustainability through socially engaged art and education.
During his fall 2017 residency, Carpenter provided new perspectives on issues of access, privilege and the global water crisis (particularly in Africa and Central America) through a series of seminars, performances and workshops. The series, entitled Intentional Public Disruptions: Art, Responsibility and Pedagogy, provided an opportunity for students, faculty and the MIT community to work with Carpenter and learn about his approach to socially engaged art and education. He also modeled how social practice (as action researchers, artists, educators and activists) offers possibilities to disrupt systems of oppression and ways to increase access to potable water in politically marginalized communities in the United States and abroad.
Working with the Environmental Policy and Planning Group in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Susskind created a new module with OpenCourseWare, which serves as the permanent site for the digital materials developed and presented in conjunction with Carpenter's visits.
Presented by the MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST) and the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning.
This artist residency was supported by the Ida Ely Rubin Artists in Residence Fund.
Fall 2017 Residency
Residency Visit, November 16-18, 2017
When Curriculum Becomes Art Practice: Educational Experience as Intentionally Disruptive Pedagogy
Thursday, November 16, 2017 / 4:00-6:00pm
Registration required, location confirmed with registration.
Lecture & Performance
Friday, November 17, 2017 / 2:00–4:00pm
MIT Building 9-255
Free and open to the public; registration encouraged.
Community Forum & Lunch
Saturday, November 18, 2017 / 12:00–2:00pm
Free and open to the public; registration required.
Residency Visit, October 5-7, 2017
Double Taking and Troublemaking: Socially Engaged Practice as Intentionally Disruptive Art
Thursday, October 5, 2017 / 4:00-6:00pm
Friday, October 6, 2017 / 2:00–4:00pm
Saturday, October 7, 2017 / 12:00–2:00pm
Residency Visit, September 28–30, 2017
Making Something from Nothing: Appropriate Technology as Intentionally Disruptive Responsibility
Thursday, September 28, 2017 / 4:00-6:00pm
Friday, September 29, 2017 / 10:00am–4:00pm
Saturday, September 30, 2017 / 12:00–2:00pm
Lawrence Susskind, Ford Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning, Department of Urban Studies & Planning and Co-Head, Environmental Policy and Planning Group, MIT
B. Stephen Carpenter II is Professor of Art Education and African American Studies, co-director of the Summer Institute on Contemporary Art (SICA), and chief executive artist for Reservoir Studio at Penn State. He is also a founding faculty member of the summer residency MAT/MA in Art & Design Education at Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Carpenter is interested in curriculum theory, professional development through art for preK–12 educators, public pedagogy and participatory art practices, critical art education studies and the global water crisis as curriculum. His mixed-media assemblages, installations and performance artworks confront and disrupt social, historical, cultural and political constructs. He has authored and co-authored book chapters and journal articles on art education, visual culture and curriculum theory. He is coauthor of  Interdisciplinary Approaches to Teaching Art in High School (2006), co-editor of  Curriculum for a Progressive, Provocative, Poetic, and Public Pedagogy (2006) and co-editor of two forthcoming books. Carpenter is senior editor of  Studies in Art Education (2017-2019). He serves on the editorial review board of  Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society  and the international editorial board of  Curriculum Inquiry. Carpenter is a former co-editor of the  Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy (2010–2013) and the former editor of  Art Education (2004–2006). He is a National Art Education Association (NAEA) Distinguished Fellow and a recipient of the Eugene Grigsby Jr. Award (NAEA). Carpenter holds a BFA degree in Visual Art from Slippery Rock University (1987) and MEd (1989) and PhD (1996) degrees in Art Education from Pennsylvania State University.
More on the artist's website: B Stephen Carpenter II.
"Carpenter's work has the potential to impact millions, from the people worldwide who benefit from the water filters to his fellow educators who join the fight against the global water crisis."
"Carpenter's work enlists bystanders as collaborators and asks them to reflect upon the experience, purpose, and message in order to move the artwork beyond passive commentary and into the realm of producing action."
— MIT News
Big Ten Network: Penn State professor probes the impact of artists
Big Ten Network: Penn State's 'da Vinci' merges art and science to address global water crisis
Centre Daily Times: Focus on Research: Art education faculty member uses ceramics to combat global water crisis
Photos: The Residency of B. Stephen Carpenter II
B. Stephen Carpenter II, Workshop, 2017.
Video: "Double Taking and "Troublemaking: Socially Engaged Practice as Intentionally Disruptive Art""
Double Taking and "Troublemaking: Socially Engaged Practice as Intentionally Disruptive Art"
MIT News Article: "Using art to disrupt systems of oppression"
In his work, visiting artist B. Stephen Carpenter II models how social practice (by researchers, artists, educators, activists, and others) offers possibilities to disrupt systems of oppression. Credit: Sham Sthankiya
VIDEO: How we made a ceramic water filter with B. Stephen Carpenter II
B. Stephen Carpenter II, Water Filtration Project. Courtesy of the artist.