{"id":402968,"date":"2026-01-16T19:00:05","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T00:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/yfile\/?p=402968"},"modified":"2026-01-19T09:16:55","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T14:16:55","slug":"york-u-professor-rethinks-public-art-earns-national-recognition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/yfile\/2026\/01\/16\/york-u-professor-rethinks-public-art-earns-national-recognition\/","title":{"rendered":"快播视频 professor rethinks public art, earns national recognition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lost and Found<\/em>, a 快播视频 professor\u2019s public art project that created meaningful, sustainable and participatory experiences, has earned two major awards.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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In 2023, Holly Ward<\/strong>, a visual arts professor in the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design<\/a> was contacted by the City of Markham\u2019s public art program to develop a project for the Rouge Valley Trail in the Unionville neighbourhood.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Holly
Holly Ward<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Enlisting her frequent collaborator Kevin Schmidt, an adjunct professor at Sheridan College, the two visited the trail to gather inspiration. During these visits, the artists were struck by experiential, unplanned, everyday moments, such as hearing a musician practicing just out of sight. They had found their inspiration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ward and Schmidt, whose shared work emphasizes collaboration, community engagement and experimental artistic practice, have long questioned where art can happen outside conventional cultural centres. \"Creating in this way is the essence of our work \u2013 and it feels so rewarding,\" says Ward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Lost and Found<\/em>, they forwent a traditional public show or staged performance, instead creating an interactive art exhibit inviting residents to participate by walking, playing, listening and discovering art in motion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"For this project, we wanted to activate the public imagination in regards to rethinking categories around artistic forms, and to experience art in public space in a very intuitive way,\" says Ward. \"The message of this project really was 'art can be anywhere you find it.'\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lost and Found<\/em> did so through a series of subtle, unscheduled moments along the Rouge Valley Trail. Local amateur musicians were hired to practice \u2013 not perform \u2013 their instruments in public, without signage or explanation. Passersby could stumble upon fragments of music, uncertain whether it was intentional or incidental, encouraging attentiveness rather than consumption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other experiential elements included a lending library of brightly coloured slogan T-shirts bearing open-ended or contradictory messages. Trail users and local groups were encouraged to wear the shirts while walking together, prompting reflection on self-expression and public communication. The artists also incorporated two mobile sound carts with unconventional instruments designed for experimentation rather than expertise, as a means to draw people into spontaneous moments of conversation, collaboration and play.<\/p>\n\n\n