Over the winter break, I focused on gathering the preliminary data for my relational database. I visited the Burchfield Penney archives once again to specifically examine records from 1974 and 1975, the first two years of Artpark's operation. What I learned then was that Artpark actually had a publication that ran during the years of my study. Articles featuring specific artists might be useful in the future for receiving a more complete picture of their careers prior to their residencies.
I am currently developing the database using Airtable. So far, I am finding Airtable very easy to use and it allows me to easily keep track of which artists went through the same institutions in their careers. However, gaps in the data are becoming inevitable, as the archival documents cannot provide complete exhibition history for every artist. Additionally, not all of the artists-in-residence were visual in their medium. Some were performers, some were poets, and some were even educators. I will have to determine how I would want to distinguish between these different mediums in my database.
As for figures, if I had a time machine, I could go back in time and take my own photos of the temporary land art created at Artpark. Unfortunately, I cannot and the ephemeral works no longer exist (although some were recreated recently). So I will likely stick with screenshots of the database and resulting visualization.
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