Caroline Woolard is an American artist and organizer whose work explores intersections between art and the solidarity economy. She primarily works collaboratively and collectively and was a founding member of , , and the . Woolard is currently an Assistant Professor of Sculpture at the University of Hartford and a mentor at the School of Visual Arts.
Woolard's work explores solidarity economics, collaboration, barter, labor, and other forms of monetary and non-monetary exchange. She makes sculptural objects that facilitate communication 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. Woolard hopes to promote interdependence between artists. Our Goods is an online platform for resource sharing within the creative community. OurGoods received numerous awards, including support from the Rockefeller Cultural innovation Fund, the Economic Revitalization for Performing Arts grant from The Field, and a prominent space in Creative Time’s exhibition, Living as Form. In 2016 the independent platform shut down and moved on to Facebook. Trade School 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. BFAMFAPhD 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. In addition to these economic concerns, Woolard and the other collaborators highlight problems of ethnic, racial and gender diversity in the art world. The New York CityReal Estate Investment Cooperative aims to collectively buy and maintain permanently affordable space in New York for civic, cultural, and cooperative use. Other works of art that Woolard has created are public seating, urban campsites and swings for subways. In 2009, Woolard curated a "newspaper exhibition" which highlighted the many economic issues facing workers in the arts. Woolard's Exchange Café was presented at the Museum of Modern Art as part of the Department of Education’s Artists Experiment initiative.
Awards
Arts and Social Justice Fellow, Judson Church, New York
