Digital Age Learns From Architectural Ornaments: Artifacts as Inspiration for Student and Collaborative Art Projects

Abstract

Can a building’s ornamentation grow and change? Can it inspire artists, educators, and other scholars to be creative in new ways? In this article, we, an instructional faculty team of two studio art professors and the fine arts librarian at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE), describe how its collection of Louis H. Sullivan (1856–1924) architectural ornaments inspired various artistic events, including collaborative studio art projects. We provide information about Louis Sullivan and his connection to Richard Nickel and SIUE’s Sullivan architectural ornament collection. Next, we make a case that collaborative art projects and events like ours add cultural value to original or similar artifacts in one’s physical and virtual communities. Finally, we demonstrate ways in which technology facilitates such collaborative projects. John DenHouter, Rodrick Whetstone, and Therese Zoski Dickman Digital Age Learns From Architectural Ornaments: