Caroline Woolard

Caroline Woolard (born 1984) is an American artist{{Cite web|url=http://www.art21.org/newyorkcloseup/films/caroline-woolard-flips-the-real-estate-script/|title=Caroline Woolard Flips the Real Estate Script {{!}} ART21 New York Close Up|website=ART21 New York Close Up|access-date=2016-03-05}} and organizer, whose work explores intersections between art and the solidarity economy.{{cite news|last1=Adam|first1=Ludwig|title=Can a Sharing Platform for Artists Point to a More Equitable Society?|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/techonomy/2014/06/09/can-a-sharing-platform-for-artists-point-to-a-more-equitable-society/|accessdate=5 March 2015|work=Forbes|date=9 June 2014}} She primarily works collaboratively and collectively and was a founding member of Trade School, OurGoods, BFAMFAPhD and the New York City Real Estate Investment Cooperative.{{cite news|last1=Bergin|first1=Brigid|title=Will Teach for Goods: An Experiment in Bartering|url=http://www.wnyc.org/story/72090-will-teach-for-goods-an-experiment-in-bartering/|accessdate=5 March 2015|publisher=WNYC|date=7 March 2010}}{{cite news|last1=Rueb|first1=Emily S.|title=A Trade School Where Ideas Are Currency|url=http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/a-trade-school-where-ideas-are-currency|accessdate=5 March 2015|work=New York Times|date=23 February 2010}}{{cite news|last1=Moore|first1=Christopher|title=Trade Balance|url=https://nypost.com/2010/04/26/trade-balance/|accessdate=5 March 2015|publisher=New York Post|date=26 April 2010}} Woolard previously worked as an Assistant Professor of Sculpture at the University of Hartford and a mentor at the School of Visual Arts. She is now working for Open Collective and Open Collective Foundation.

Early life and education

Woolard was born in Providence, Rhode Island. She earned a BFA degree in 2006 from Cooper Union, which at the time was a tuition-free art school in New York City.{{Cite web|url = http://www.newschool.edu/parsons/faculty.aspx?id=91929|title = Woolard, Caroline|date = |accessdate = 7 March 2015|website = The New School|publisher = |last = |first = }}

Career and work

Woolard's work explores solidarity economics, collaboration, barter, labor, and other forms of monetary and non-monetary exchange.{{cite news|last1=Steinhauer|first1=Jillian|title=Could local currency be the future of money?|url=http://www.salon.com/2013/11/10/is_local_currency_the_future_of_money_partner/|accessdate=5 March 2015|work=Salon|date=10 November 2013}} She makes sculptural objects that facilitate communication{{Cite news|url=http://springboardexchange.org/caroline-woolard-defines-what-it-means-to-be-a-solidarity-economy-artist/|title=Caroline Woolard defines what it means to be a solidarity economy artist - Creative Exchange|date=2018-07-25|work=Creative Exchange|access-date=2018-11-10|language=en-US}} and also co-creates systems of sharing and exchange. Woolard says that she became involved with social practice art not because she was against commercial or institutional art, but instead because she believes the art world is too isolated.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/24/arts/design/outside-the-citadel-social-practice-art-is-intended-to-nurture.html|title=Outside the Citadel, Social Practice Art Is Intended to Nurture|last=Kennedy|first=Randy|date=20 March 2013|work=The New York Times|access-date=7 March 2015}} Woolard hopes to promote interdependence between artists.

Our Goods (founded in 2008) is an online platform for resource sharing within the creative community. Our Goods received numerous awards, including support from the Rockefeller Cultural innovation Fund (2012-2014), the Economic Revitalization for Performing Arts grant from The Field (2009-2012), and a prominent space in Creative Time’s exhibition, Living as Form (2011). In 2016 the independent platform shut down and moved on to Facebook.

Trade School (founded in 2009) is an online platform that allows people to propose and sign up for classes which are paid for using barter. Trade School chapters popped up in over 50 cities internationally. Woolard feels that broadening art classes to those who would not traditionally be able to afford them will expand the world of art for the better. As of 2018 there are 26 schools still linked on the website.

File:BFAMFAPhDStatementsCaroline.png

BFAMFAPhD (a mashed together acronym of BFA, MFA and PhD, founded 2014) is a research and advocacy project that uses US Census data to illuminate the ever-rising cost of getting a college art degree and its dubious relevance to the ability to make a living as an artist.{{Cite news|url=http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2014/11/04/cleveland-institute-of-art-hosts-conference-and-exhibition-on-socially-engaged-art-and-design|title=Cleveland Institute of Art Hosts Conference and Exhibition on Socially Engaged Art and Design|last=Usmani|first=Josh|date=4 November 2014|work=Cleveland Scene|access-date=7 March 2015}} In addition to these economic concerns, Woolard and the other collaborators highlight problems of ethnic, racial and gender diversity in the art world.{{Cite news|url=http://hyperallergic.com/135474/report-finds-nycs-art-world-200-whiter-than-its-population/|title=Report Finds NYC's Art World 200% Whiter Than Its Population [UPDATED]|last=Steinhauer|first=Jillian|date=30 June 2014|work=Hyperallergic|access-date=7 March 2015}}

The New York City Real Estate Investment Cooperative (founded 2015 with lawyer/organizer Paula Segal and others) aims to collectively buy and maintain permanently affordable space in New York for civic, cultural, and cooperative use.{{Cite web|url=https://art21.org/watch/new-york-close-up/caroline-woolard-flips-the-real-estate-script/|title=Caroline Woolard Flips the Real Estate Script|website=Art21|accessdate=November 10, 2018}}

Other works of art that Woolard has created are public seating, urban campsites and swings for subways.{{Cite web|url = http://travel.mediamatic.net/person/24401|title = Caroline Woolard|date = |accessdate = 7 March 2015|website = Mediamatic|publisher = |last = |first = |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150402113600/http://travel.mediamatic.net/person/24401|archive-date = 2 April 2015|url-status = dead}} In 2009, Woolard curated a "newspaper exhibition" which highlighted the many economic issues facing workers in the arts.{{Cite web|url=http://www.mediamatic.net/126816/en/brooklyn-pavilion-2|title=Brooklyn Pavilion 2 Showing a Newspaper on Art Labor and Economics|last=|first=|date=2009|website=Mediamatic|publisher=|accessdate=7 March 2015}} Woolard's Exchange Café was presented at the Museum of Modern Art as part of the Department of Education’s Artists Experiment initiative (2013).{{cite web|title=MoMA Studio: Exchange Café|url=http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1364|publisher=MoMA|accessdate=5 March 2015}}

=Awards=

Arts and Social Justice Fellow, Judson Church, New York (2015)
Woolard's work has been supported by a fellowship at Eyebeam, residencies at the Queens Museum, MacDowell Colony, Watermill, and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council,{{Cite news|url=https://www.artforum.com/news/id=67725|title=Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Awards 2017 Grants and Residencies|work=artforum.com|access-date=2017-07-08|language=en-US}} a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation's NYC Cultural Innovation Fund.

References

External links

[http://carolinewoolard.com/ Official website]
[http://tradeschool.coop/story/ Trade School]
[http://bfamfaphd.com/ BFAMFAPhD]
[http://nycreic.com/ New York City Real Estate Investment Cooperative]

Category:21st-century American women artists

Category:Artists from Brooklyn

Category:Cooper Union alumni

Category:Living people

Category:1984 births

Category:University of Hartford faculty

Category:Artists from Providence, Rhode Island

Category:21st-century American artists