For John, in transit.

Jon, DAH-LING!
Now I see, something so very AMERICAN about your art : Loud, young, hot-rod art sneezed upon whatever canvas or object that you find. To you, anything and everything screams to be made relevant. I love it. Yet at the same time, there is something so tender and romantic about how you treat your work. Roaring and hideous colors placed so lovingly upon the quietest and meekest of things, whether found or created. You, sir, are one of my favorite people to watch develop as an artist. I enjoy greatly how confounded and stunned by your work you are, as though someone else made it. Someone that doesn't make sense. Someone you are very much trying to meet and understand. There is no self doubt that I can sense and that is a tremendously powerful thing to own. There is humor and a sense of play and joy that is infectious.
Obviously being in VC has informed your work, however the freedom that not being in VC has allowed you, to my mind, a much richer oppurtunity to develop. Take that, Ray Nichols.
I envy how fluid your process is and will try to emulate that in my own work. Thanks for the lesson, my man.

Since your work is so "found"
here
http://www.squareamerica.com/

Here
http://www.1shot.com/home.html

for greg

i know its way after when this was suposed to be posted, but here goes anyway.

first of all, your artwork reminds me of the game jenga. the game was created by Leslie Scott, and it was originally called Takoradi bricks, after the city it was created it. She lived in Ghana growing up. She after graduating high school she started to work on the game and tried marketing it to companies.



that is the lady that created Jenga.

below is a poem from the Author Gary Snyder, it talks about hay being stacked, i thought it applied.

Hay for the Horses

He had driven half the night
From far down San Joaquin
Through Mariposa, up the
Dangerous Mountain roads,
And pulled in at eight a.m.
With his big truckload of hay
behind the barn.
With winch and ropes and hooks
We stacked the bales up clean
To splintery redwood rafters
High in the dark, flecks of alfalfa
Whirling through shingle-cracks of light,
Itch of haydust in the
sweaty shirt and shoes.
At lunchtime under Black oak
Out in the hot corr,
Out in the hot corral,
he old mare nosing lunchpails,
Grasshoppers crackling in the weeds
"I'm sixty-eight" he said,
"I first bucked hay when I was seventeen.
I thought, that day I started,
I sure would hate to do this all my life.
And dammit, that's just what
I've gone and done."

Gary Snyder

here are two links to news about the great wall of china
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3109109.stm
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D06E4DB1F39F931A15757C0A960958260
the last one is about how the space shuttle found lost parts of the great wall of china by radar

This artist, Tim Biscup, made art pieces that were interchangeable that could be stacked, to create a totem-pole, its not exactly similar to your work, but it does contain stacked objects, plus this is one of the artists that i like their work.

http://jonathanlevinegallery.com/limited_ed/tbiskup.html



This artist stacks thread spools ontop of one another, this artist more relates to your work. The artist is Devorah Sperber, she stacked 500 spools of thread.
http://www.kqed.org/arts/visualarts/index.jsp?id=18261

Comin to a close

I figured that I would post the fu dog finality here, and my last sculpture piece is on the sculpture blog...does anyone know how to view other blogs without being an author of that blog?

Protection, Bound and Submerged, 2007
Polyurethane Foam, Steel, Plastic, Twine, Cinder Blocks, Ice
3.5' X 2.5' X 2.5'



Two blocks of light attempt to draw the viewer's attention. Drawing closer reveals that the lights are shining on two blocks of ice encasing two Fu Dogs that are trying to burst out of the water, but are being held down by twine and cinder blocks. The creatures traditionally guard the entrances to people's homes protecting them from evil spirits and bringing good fortune, however, over time people have reduced their meanings to mere novelty items. The Fu Dogs are ready to leap out of their tanks and perform their duties, but I attempt to keep them and their present intrigue in stasis and let the water do the changing.

Directions and and and

To all my friends in class...

Please please please

join me at my home for a night of art and revelry as we take the oppurtunity to celebrate the season, art, end of semester, and the departure of our sons, the dear and beloved Joe Netta and the illustrious Jeremy Tan. At Fawcett gallery we will be showing the work created from the sonic arts class taught by Prfs. Lance Winn and Ashley Pigford. A mere one block away, my painting show is on display, next door to that, rock and roll will be screaming live from a basement!!! Holy cow!

Directions to my studio are:

1039 w. 7th street.

Wilmington. 19805

Take the 95 north towards wilmington.

exit at the SR-4 / MARYLAND AVE. exit- EXIT 6- toward MARTIN LUTHER KING BLVD

continue straight until you hit 8th street.

take a left.

pass over the 95, go 2 blocks to Harrison street.

Take a left.

go one block to seventh street.

Take a left.

go one block to Van Buren. Find Parking.

My studio is on this corner 7th and Van Buren.

If you have any problems, call 302 740 2531.

When prompted with the question, "were you in the shit?" your reply should be, "yeah I was in the shit" answer correctly and the operator will guide you.

BYOB

Designate a driver or prepare to abdicate your keys. I recommend carpooling.

Neat-o

I was thinking of Jeremy’s last piece in another aspect instead of the structure and the insects. I was thinking about the use of shadow and the importance of the shadow in the last piece. When I think of shadows Plato’s cave comes to mind, where the shadow becomes the actual object instead of the object itself. The shadows of the moths become completely different than the moths themselves to me, when I’m looking straight through the fabric. When you lay underneath the structure the moths and their shadows then become more connected. When I was thinking about the shadows the moths made on the fabric I thought about silhouettes and the little pictures artists make by cutting out a person’s silhouette, which is usually their profile. Then I found work from various artists between 1760-1870, which were kind of weird and different. http://www.peggymcclard.com/aaa%20Silhouettist%20Biographies.htm

Abby:)

Abby,

Here is my post for you thus far:
Your work for me is relatable because I think in a tangle (ADD)
and your work for me highlights that chaotic moment and the idea of mapping
out a thought pattern. I know you work with words( I also enjoy this) and I think
that the idea of speech is how you have illustrated it. We learn sounds, letters,
words, sentences, it is all strung together. I like what you are doing a lot and I
really wish I could have seen the performance piece with the 6 pockets and
Becketts quote (lol). Are you working on something right now? IF so I would like
to hear about it....

After looking at your work the ideas that I have for myself is to incorporate the overwhelming beautiful tangle in my upcoming piece. I think it fits because as I mentioned earlier it imitates my thinking pattern. I would make sculptures similar to one of the ones I produced a couple semesters ago.

Some artists you might look at are:
Adrianne Crane :http://brooklynartproject.typepad.com/my_weblog/sculpture/index.html (there are a few nice pieces on this page, hers is the red bowl piece.)
I know you said real artist but I thought you might like this:http://hnn.us/blogs/2/authors/1187.html
Finally you most likely know this one but: Buzz Spector (anywhere on the internet)

Thats about it for now ~Ash

yoohoo...Jo!

Ok so now that ive actually had a chance to see your work in person...and ALMOST finished it has a much much stronger impression on me. I think was just excited by the annoying piecing together an impossible puzzle aspect...I have a slight puzzle obsession :) But I think theres something interesting in the idea that because they sort of exploded you had to piece these things together unexpectedly much like archaeologists do...you didnt get to just recreate something...you had to go through the whole process yourself. I dont know why but that adds so much more to the project for me. I found this site that has all of these articles about archaeological finds...10th century honey pots....footprints in clay....lots of random things...but i just thought it was interesting because a lot of them go along with that whole idea of things that wouldn't be intentionally preserved for the future.
http://www.lockergnome.com/news/category/archaeology/

So now we just need to get pictures of each others work...

oh...and i dont know if it was just when i tried to look at it...but I couldnt see the last post you did...so im not sure if it was a picture or what...ill try again a little later.
~Bethany

sir joe

so... this is late but ya. last tuesday we got to see joe's performance piece and it was awesome!!! the way you combined the noise from her feet and the feet themselves was great. it was very intriguing, i kept wanting to know who was behind that curtain, and what was going to happen next... and as much as it hurt (my eyes were going crazy) the really loud sounds she made by jumping on the stage really were working cuz it brought me back to the present. (i tend to get lost in thought/ distracted). umm loved the black curtain added some mystery!

ok so i'm supposed to suggest some news articles... so this is kinda not art related but i think you'd enjoy... because i remember one day we were talking about rat-tails and how you are growing one... so i found this article about how to keep that tail nice and healthy: http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/homestyle/11/27/healthy.hair/index.html

so a little curious... and possibly unnerving article about some crazy fungi: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/11/21/france.art.ap/index.html?iref=newssearch

lastly if it were up to me everyone on the planet would be required to read harry potter... because life needs a little magic + it has this way of making anything seem possible... so i suggest you read j.k. rowling because she amazing and harry and the gang have gotten me through some though times!

sounds of saturn

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/sounds/

Leah number 3

When I talked to you about your piece, one statement stuck in my head which was something like, " I was trying to make something heavy light". So in terms of philosophy, this reminded me of some ideas that I heard about several physicists trying to overcome the forces of gravity, and not just by flying with engines or using magnetic forces, but actually producing an anti-gravitational force. This in itself is quite an interesting concept, but in trying to search for writings on it and not having extensive knowledge in this particular field-go figure- I can't suggest any credible readings on this matter.

http://paranormal.about.com/cs/antigravity/
This site lists a whole mess of links to articles about anti-gravity

However, on a semi-related digression...magic and how to levitate leads to a lot of fun youtube videos and different people saying they have the best way to do it ever. Again, I can't provide the best feedback on the credibility of which technique is best, but I was really tempted to try the Balducci one, that is apparently David Blaine's choice. Hope this is fun and perhaps even interesting.

http://www.levitation.org/self-levitation.htm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/06/nlevitate106.xml
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/400289/horizontal_levitation_revealed/
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/448034/secret_science_anti_gravity_revealed_homemade/

In the last one, they threw in a picture of a girl at the end which I don't understand, but the floating card is pretty cool.

bethany, oh bethany

Brittany

Sooo to me Brittany's work has changed so much over the course of the semester. In the beginning her work was much more structured and I feel she began with more of an end in mind. Recently she has been working in a much more process oriented way and it seems with not so much of an end in mind. To me both of these are very successful ways of creating art and I think it might be interesting to combine both in some way to create one larger piece. More later.

team ashley

okay terribly late but...

when thinking about Ashley's ambition for the "total Ash" experience I am thinking that it would be useful for her to maybe look at Laurie Anderson's work? random but true. Also strangely enough William Pope L. and for current news events to ponder I think the flood in the Tabasco region of Mexico---look especially for photographs of the temporary structures that people are living in on their roofs.

Leah part dos

So I was just thinking about how I would describe your piece in words to someone else...in a very crude and generalized statement- "wholy" clouds. Thinking just about this statement and the difficulties of your process -meticulously constructing, trying to preserve these forms through firing, having cracking and other issues- I find myself relating it to environmental concerns of global warming and the ozone, etc. However, when I look at your pieces in reality, these concerns don't jump out at me from your aesthetic. To me the actual pieces are just these strange solid manifestations of the natural phenomenon that someone could never really grab. Clouds are painted and depicted in so many ways and usually in a soft, fluffy, and light manner, and your pieces have this strange visual and tactile weight. I know that your holes were intended to make the heavy piece lighter, but by poking holes in this solid form, it reveals the solid nature of the material removing the direct illusion of light clouds. I find this very interesting.

for Laura

yesterday in crit was the first time I got to see all your finished pieces. I think it's a good idea to move away from the domestic size and usage for them. The discussion about other ways to utilize light with them was very interesting. The idea of using the negative spaces between the forms to act as a sort of template for your spray paint is something worth trying. Especially the way you set them up on Tuesday, I could definitely see them in positions where they are chasing each other, or protecting each other, or serving as some sort of filter (for paint, or light, or paint as light or any other such thing). Right now to me they are some sort of creature, and as i picture them larger, I see them being a landscape. Perhaps both. I like the way the square ones stand and tilt, they have a sense of tension. I was thinking about music, and Bjork came to mind. I suppose your pieces visually reminded me of some of her sounds. Some of her music also relates to Iceland's landscape, and I think your pieces relate to landscape as well. You have sharp, more rigid pieces, with fluid, rolling, intertwining pieces. I wonder if the way your pieces were displayed together, in such a strange way made me think of that. Anyway, you can see lots of music videos on youtube. Her music is a strange mix of things put together.

JASON

I'm going to write about you.
Just so you know.
It will be.

I’m still thinking about Jeremy’s last project and how a large part is the incorporation of moths, which made me think of Damien Hirst (http://www.whitecube.com/artists/hirst/) and the paintings he creates with actual butterflies. The paintings are really beautiful and aren’t obvious in the materials he uses, which are real butterflies. A few of the paintings look like kaleidoscopes. He also works with other animals, but I thought that the butterflies would be the closest to Jeremy’s work now. And after looking at Damien Hirst I was trying to find other artists that work with insects, but in a different way. I found this artist named Mike Libby (http://www.insectlabstudio.com/index.php/) who works with real insects and antique watch parts and electronic components. He combines them together to create insects that are partially natural and partially mechanical. The insects aren’t drastically changed; they still look very similar to how they looked when they were completely natural with no parts added. He works with spiders, butterflies, cicadas, dragonflies, beetles, bees and wasps. They are displayed as if they have never been changed.

For Bethany, my punny friend

Hello hello! Unfortunately it hasn't been easy for Bethany and I to meet, largely due to the eye surgery I had on Monday that knocked me out for all of last week. However, I can now see! And it's amazing!!

So I have had a lot of fun researching for you Bethany. I haven't seen your completed works, but I have found an artist whose visual style reminds me of yours, and I have also found an artist whose wood carving work is all, get this, puns! It's awesome. So here we are:

The Pun artist (and other wordplay) is Ruth Geneslaw. She works in wood:

Underdog




Dragging my heels




Shopping for Mr. Right



these are a few of my favorites, but the rest are worth checking out: http://ruthgeneslaw.com/index.html

The artist whose work reminds me of yours actually reminds me of some of the things I saw you do in our intro class with Jason a whiiiile back. The artists name is Naoto Hattori.

Idolize





Inspiration




More available here ofcourse: http://www.wwwcomcom.com/home.html

AND LASTLY! Did you know that there is a Pun American Newsletter? Worth checking out!
http://user.aol.com/punamerica/

Thanks for your input on my piece, and I was going to break apart the tablets on my own, however the pit firing process did that for me, perhaps way too well because some of them...alright many of them...were unsalvagable. You will see tomorrow :)

for Laura

I think its fun that you are using the extruder to make all these hollow forms and then put them together. It seems that the goal is to create a more utilitarian art object. I like the way the forms interact, and the idea of using them as a way to display light. Since the forms are so simply created and interesting on their own, with all their different sizes and weights I think that the light detail is really where you should focus. The light inside the finished chandelier I don't think takes advantage of the form of the piece. You have this very earthy object that is repeated and massed together, and the more you build onto that (or the idea of a mass of something) I think the light (and shadow) will be able to become a more important part. A single light bulb in the middle casts out light, but almost overtook those really cool clay parts.

For some reason, I was reminded of that piece with all the plastic cups by Tara Donovan: http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/features/stender/stender4-3-06.asp

the repetition of that material created a beautiful sculpture, and while hers was not meant to be a chandelier, or an object created for light, light became a really important part of the piece. The translucency, stacking and space between the cups created light and shadow and turned the cups into a landscape, or something alive.

If you were looking at it from more of an industrial design standpoint, I remember seeing some home made light fixtures, and a lot of other really interesting lighting solutions at the design triennial at the Cooper Hewitt last semester. There was one light fixture made out of wire and old glass bottles, it might give you some ideas about the technical side of your chandeliers.
http://www.cooperhewitt.org/EXHIBITIONS/triennial/design_life_now.asp

also, on their website I know current/past exhibitions have a lot to do with lighting, so it might be worth browsing, just to see what people are making.

for alex

Seeing what you've done with your arrows in the past (intermediate clay) and viewing your set up the other day in the crit space has led me to ask several questions. You talked about the Wilmington set up as directing the view from the office buildings into the cemetery. Such as people work themselves to death or work to get to these ends. My interest was lost when this point was made because of the literalness of it. I think the newest set up is much more interesting. I think using an object like the arrow is hard because we are all familiar with that sign. We all know that arrows represent a direction or an intended action. The way that you placed them in the crit space related a different story because of the orientation of the objects.It felt like you were getting somewhere new with the idea of the arrow as a symbol. I also liked that you didn't have a predetermined design for the mass you created. You went in with many objects and arranged them as you thought they should be at the moment. I also think the garbage bags should be included with your piece because they investigate the path you took to get to the state that the objects are in. Along this line have you looked at Jasper Johns painting of the target or of the american flag? The way he uses symbols as a jump off point is directly related in the final piece he creates. I would suggest googling the terms "sign and signifier" I think this path would be good for you and lead you to some more interesting ideas about display and what concepts you could include with your arrows. Questions like why blue and why arrows come to mind and i think if you could direct me to view your piece differently i could approach what you are thinking more clearly. Semiotics is another interesting system i think could benefit your work (thats where most people situate the "sign and signifier" idea).

For Jo

Ok so I totally missed the deadline for this last blog due to thanksgiving break craziness...but better late than never, right? Well hopefully :). Ok so, Jo and I haven't gotten a lot of chances to talk about our projects with each other yet, so Im not sure how much Ill be able to actually post at this moment in time. There is one thing that kind of stuck out to me though while ive been looking up some things related to the clay tablets. From what I understand...youre recreating these types of tablets that had once accidentally preserved bits of culture you wouldnt really excpect to be preserved, so if youre doing things from now, should the tablets be broken and shattered and beaten? Like with some bits of writing missing, and breaks and cracks...or some that have been pieced back together like a puzzle....I dont know if you have made any like this or not...but i noticed one you were working on that seemed reletively smooth and perfect. It just seems that if these things were originally preserved because of accidental fires , and have been dug up centuries later...then they shouldnt be in the best condition..and since your first project unexpectedly shattered, it could be an interesting link between your semesters work. The only other thing that comes to mind at the moment is the manner of installation...ar ethese things going to be displayed on a wall or table like in a museum? or will they have some different sort of set up. like still half buried in dirt and stones that might require a bit of archeological interactiong or something....I dont know I like interactive things so i thought it would be neat. I found some interesting images that might be able to describe more of what im talking about...but for some reasons i had some issues trying to get them posted on here...im a little computer illiterate....so if youre interested you know how to get ahold of me :) Ok...thats all for now!

ode to joe

well mr. joe, i have been doing some research and i think i might have found some intersting pictures if not artist to check out.

You were talking about making huts for your final project and i came across this sweet photo:



by: Amanda Degener, i was reading a article about her work and she was making these stuctures for a group of people who only sleep out-of-doors... which i thought was curious...

i also found some really awesome scultures by Myung Jin Choi:




i just found them really intersting and fun.

next i found this guy named Byeongjun Shon and for some reason his work reminded me of yours:





and lastly i just liked this:



so i hope this helps spawn some new ideas...

fo Sasha

I apologize this was not done sooner.
I heard you had trouble posting on here so
this is for you to post any thoughts
or things you may have to scribble.

I will post later...promise, i know I've been flaky.

for Miss Leah Van Rees

I think that I've mentioned it before, but when watching you carve and poke holes into your ceramic "cloud forms" I immediately thought of this type of thing...I'm not sure who the creator of this particular piece is and copies of these are quite common at Chinese novelty stores, but I still always find them to be extremely interesting, meticulous, and borderline obsessive objects since they are carved from a single piece of- ivory in this case.

In your piece, you've taken a singular form and conduct the simple movement of piercing a hole through it, but but it has turned into this extremely repetitive process. Following suit, Anthony Gormley's work also reveals that repetitive nature, but instead of large numbers of negative space, he has made large numbers of positive.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/arts/making-180000-figures-is-one-big-deal/2006/06/06/1149359745033.html

These fields of his he has done on several occasions-he doesn't actually make all of the figures himself- but I think they each provide an interesting visual- texturally especially as yours does.

Finally, I found this artist who subject matter interests floats in the skies, Thomas Saraceno.

After looking at Jeremy’s recent piece I was thinking about artists who create environments by dividing space with very loose material. The hanging space Jeremy created with the fabric is a really nice aspect of the piece that I am interested in. The fabric has a really organic and beautiful quality when it hangs. I am also interested in the contrast between the very translucent fabric and the thicker fabric. This particular piece reminded me of the artist Do-Ho Suh, who uses somewhat translucent fabric and creates different spaces with this very light material. (http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/David_Winton_Bell_Gallery/suh.html)
After thinking about the spaces Do-Ho Suh creates, that are very translucent and light like Jeremy’s piece, I saw a news article on the MSNBC website where NASA is making a prototype inflatable moon base that will be placed in the South Pole for a test. The structure doesn’t look very different from other inflatable structures and can be inflated in 10 minutes. They discussed how the inflatable can save space when in transportation, but can create a habitat when inflated. It is one of the many prototypes NASA is working with. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21836088/)

my dust cubes were finally installed under the stairs and I was really excited about how they turned out. I find that the best things happen when I explore and let things come together. One thing lead to another, and I ended up with three very different, but very connected environments.
I think the most important thing is that I am finally learning that experimentation and uncertainty are an important and interesting part of my process that I should simply embrace. That's my plan for the rest of everything. In the beginning, I was stuck on materials, which became frustrating, so I have also learned that it's ok to just...let...go.

Right now I'm working on a group of inflatables that were inspired by a daily meditation routine. I was picturing a "sonic" environment that was connected to drawings I made while I listened to this meditation. I was interested in lightness, movement, tethering and moving through this environment. the theory behind these sounds is that they induce your brain into specific brain wave patterns that lead to your well being I suppose. and if you listen every day they are guaranteed to change your life. and while you listen, you just let everything be "ok". I just got to thinking about what that mental state would look or feel like three dimensionally, or how those sounds or brain waves, or their supposed effect could be translated.

Other than that, I am very much missing clay, so I'd like to spend some time playing, plus i think it wold help simplify my approach to working.

my inspirations have been those sounds, and the idea of meditation. I would say my work this semester deals with interconnectivity, and systems.

perhaps an interesting collaboration opp

http://forgottensculptors.blogspot.com/

maybe some reasons for why i am the way i am

falling blindly into circumstantial realities this past month of my existence in the world has not been conducive to my creation of art, although it has been helpful with opening my eyes to the reality in which i am forced to live in. All that aside, my final clay project as a bfa major at the ud while still marinating in the thought and planning phase, is moving along. i hope to begin implementing some sort of physical activity by monday. I need to record video. i need to build some domiciles. i need to touch clay (im hoping it's like riding a bike!) I feel excited about this project because i felt like i fell off in a biog way about half way through the semester. my focus was hifted toward other things that are art related but things that don't explore my ideas or create art for me.

i read alot. i listen to a lot of music. im watching more films and movies than i would like to admit. kafka has inspired me over and over again. the burrow (thankyou abby) especially ofr my next piece building ephemeral housing units served as a guide book in dealing with my issues involving space and time.

alfred jarry. alfred Jarry. Alfred jarry. look him up. amazing. i promise. his thoughts and ideas have opened up a new world for me giving me reason and acceptance for thinking the way that i do. analyze the world one moment at a time. and analyze jarry's plays there are many of them out there.

ubu.net
http://www.pataphysics-lab.com/sarcophaga/#

this site is amazing. i plan for the next couple of weeks to complete the filming of the project and the installations i plan to create around our world.

musically, for some reason i have been listening to a lot of duran duran lately. pleae don't judge, i can't figure that one out either. but it all ties in somehow im just not sure how yet.

grocery list in hieroglyphics

So as most everyone has seen, my first project has become a study in things that are beyond my control. Such as possibly contaminated clay that disintegrates in the kiln and "matte" glaze that is in fact not matte. however, I am somehow pleased with the outcome of my piece. I am setting her up for documentation and observation on the 9th (Friday). It will only be a question of whether or not I can correctly piece the puzzle back together. I am honestly excited to see my piece put together even though it is nothing like I originally planned. That is life.
My second piece is becoming more and more interesting to me especially as I work out the translations. I have requested small paper documents from friends of mine in different places (not all at UD) and have recieved some really interesting and random responses. I am currently translating a CD playlist into Russian for my next tablet.
The pitfire is to be built the week of Thanksgiving on my parents' farm.
I am really happy with where I am and what I have accomplished. I was of course devastated by the incident of my woman and the kiln but now I think I may like the outcome better.
In terms of links, literature, films, etc?

The Cunieform Dictionary Project
Egyptian Dictionary


Films: I just watched the movie C.R.A.Z.Y. It is in french, it is amazing and it's difficult to find in the US but totally worth the effort.

progress/regress

WHat is happening with this piece? When am I ?
I have passed through what was a very tedious and hectic time with this. Finally Sun Tsu was right! Attack the corners. Bite a million little bites. you will get there. I am reminded of a documentary i saw about the chinese building a road for supplies during WW2. They had nothing with which to fight and embraced a strategy of slow retreat, China's withdrawal into CHina..
There was a brief clip of a peasant squatting barefooted in the middle of an ocean of pebbles, hammering on one. These stones needed to be broken down to use as pavement for the Burmese road. All he had was a small hammer with which to break them down. That's all any of them that were building the road had. Yet one pebble at a time, it happened. THis massive, Long and winding road through impossible terrain was built so that the besieged chinese could get a lifeline.
Now, with a possible 21,000 more 12 foot pieces of monofilament to cut and tie, I feel like I am floating in a vapor of work and contemplation. I am smashing a million pebbles to dust with a tack hammer. I'm not building a form any longer. I am just tying this thread. Tying this thread. Tying this thread.

hi, so i'm working on my arrows still. the process is taking longer than i would like but oh well. i think after i get some more really big arrows made, fired, painted and set up, i'm going to be alot happier with this piece. im planning on setting them up in piles grouped together like a little colony or something. no thinking about installing this piece is accually getting me alot more excited than i orginally thought. (sweet!)

so far this semester i feel i havent gotten much done. and i'm sad my work is feeling a little meaningless right now, but i'm trying to stay positive and accept this has been a semester of process pieces.

also somehow the trashbag playing a much bigger role in my life/art these days... how did that happen. oh the fashion possiblities... and now i'm keeping the bags i spray my arrows on becasue its making this great road sign/graffitti/ silolette thing.

i'm currently brainstorming for a final project of something fun and exciting. possibly something to do with harry potter... or maybe alittle more abstract.

i'm having trouble sorting through all this information, and finding a direct/ path to the promise land aka a fuctioning piece. hate to be the negative nacey, i'm just so lost right now. and somehow thats competely apparent in this random work i'm attempting... um arrows? please point me in the right direction. ahhh

ok well when i figure it all out i'm let you know.

Progress...

I think things are going fairly well right now. I might be a little more behind than Id like to be at the moment, but then again Im the type of person where the more pressure I feel, the more work I end up producing. Im about one tiny element away from being completely done with the first three "visual phrases"...I put some of the pieces into the kiln today, so they should be ready by around thursday to paint and put together. My goal is to finish 4-6 more pieces in the next month. If I could get even more than that it would be fantastic, the more the better. The hardest part is just figuring out how to represent some of these phrases. Once they are fired it only takes a couple of hours to paint and assemble them. And im not sure whats up with my clay, but for some reason it takes forreeeeeeeeeeeeeeevvvvvvvvvvvvver to dry....so i see a lot of preheating and slow firing in my future. I think i pretty much have the rest of the semester figured out. Ive been trying to be more aware of my surroundings, the things i watch, the things i hear on a daily basis just to see if i can pick up maybe more interesting phrases to attempt to reproduce. Its all a very fun and relaxing type of project for me. This is probably the last ceramics class ill be taking, since Im hoping to graduate in the spring, so its probably best that I really am just having fun with it. Im really excited about the finished project, and I know its really hard to explain exactly what im doing and talk about it with everyone, when I cant really reveal what they are without giving the game away. I just hope that it ends up turning out as successful as I hope. Well...time to get rolling....deep breaths...and plunge into the workload....

I’m still working on the clouds, they are taking much longer then I anticipated but after finishing a few, I’m really excited about their installation. In the beginning of the semester I was thinking that these clouds would be very large and the number of them would fill the room. After working with the clay I realized that I needed to work on a smaller scale, for the clouds to stay together without breaking. The smaller scale is working out better than I thought it would. I have six clouds so far, one larger cloud with the large holes, a few small clouds with very small holes and a few medium size clouds with medium size holes. I just finished another large cloud, but it is not going to be covered with holes, instead I’m creating patches of holes that create a type of a pattern. After making the 5 clouds that are very airy and covered with holes, I thought that it would be interesting to add some clouds that were more solid, with only patches of holes. I hope that the contrast between the light airy clouds and the more solid clouds will add to the piece once it is completed. I want to make more small clouds (maybe 3-5) that will hang on the wall above the clouds that are placed on the floor. I’m going to fire all the pieces, and still debating on whether to leave them the natural color of the fired clay, or glaze them. I want to use lighting to emphasize the holes when I display the clouds. I can’t wait to finish these clouds to see what they actually look like, since I haven’t set them up together yet, I hope it works out.
I’ve been looking at some interesting paintings online by Shirley Kaneda. I saw her work while I was in New York and just wanted to see more of her paintings and read about her work.

Progress....

Right now I just finished my third "thought" bubble and I am working on "hell" or the fourth. So far things have been going well and I plan to add smaller bubbles that focus on certain elements of each bubble in the future. I started painting one of my fired pieces (the castle for those of you following my work). I am very pleased but I feel like something is off and I am still in the process of trying to figure out what that is. Other then that things are coming right along.

As for the future... on the drive back to UD from my home last week I brainstormed on my next semesters project. It occurred to me as I started to make these bubbles that they could form pieces of something much much larger... and they will hopefully. For next semester I plan to make a life-size version of me out of clay. These current pieces will be behind me (as if real thought bubbles) and many more pieces will be added in a full room installation that I want to be ready to show by graduation. It is very complex and a sketch would portray this best, yet I will do my best to describe it now.

As of right now I plan on having me on a bench smoking a cigarette. My loopy thoughts behind me and an army of small bugs at my feet. While across the way I want to have a table with my etches framed, as well as other art that I am slowly working on. The whole point of the piece is consistent with what I am doing now, because it is my take on my world. The piece is actually quite personal and some aspects I would prefer to be mysterious and left out of the blog at this moment. Yet anyone can approach me in class and I can attempt to better explain this if anyone is interested. I am not sure how else to explain it, sorry that the image I have just painted for you is so vague.

As for work I am looking at... I am simply taking in the world around me right now and trying to figure out what it all means. I find that some of the things I am attracted to most right now are things that I am in contact with everyday. Also some of my crazy dreams have started a dialogue for my work. I am reading a book, yet it really isn't art based.

Well that sums it up. ~ash

My last semester...in medias res

So far this semester, I worked on dealing with the footage of the warrior in a way that was suitable for me. It lead to two short films, Futilities and Warriors. I have been very happy with the outcome in those two endeavours and at this point consider them to be finished.

I am still working on the fu dogs, I just finished putting the last segment of the mother-mold at Thayer's in PA last week, so the dogs and molds should be coming home shortly. I also just finished putting together their future housing, and will test their water holding capability on...Tuesday? As for the materials to cast them out of, I think I have found the PVA, although I have to call Dupont tomorrow to find out if I am thinking along the right path as well as an particular safety precautions seeing that the material must be heated.

The next piece that I have been working on is the installation which will be going up sometime this week, once my installation space opens up. An update of the progress of prep is that the cocoons arrived yesterday, and I wanted to see how long it would take for one of them to emerge, so I left one out, and it popped out about 6 hours ago at around 3pm.

Here are two artist's that I have been looking at recently that also have been working with insects.

Mike Libby
Tessa Farmer

Finally, I have one last installation in mind involving the clay faces that have been sitting on my shelf for the past...long time. I am still trying to decide exactly what I will be putting in them, but I do feel that something should go into them. I am also debating what will be going above and below them as well-I am thinking something along the same lines as Tessa Farmer; a micro world hanging from the ceiling, but also growing up from the floor. I'm hoping that it will represent a sort of culmination of the types of aesthetics and issues of identity that I have been working with, not necessarily an end to that frame of thought, but hopefully it will feel like some sort of landmark.

THE NEW

for Tuesday, November 6th, to be posted by 9PM.

please post a self-assessment of your semester project so far and a plan for the remaining month of class. I am interested in you being honest, not in you trying to sell us on something. now is a great time to post links to art you've been looking at/thinking about, literature you have been reading, urban myths you have been debunking, films you have been watching.
we will be talking about this in one-on-ones Tuesday and you will begin presenting your work to the class as a whole starting the week of 11/12/07.
please start photo-documenting progress and completed (or incompleted) work

art for viewing?

anybody going to see any art this weekend, it bein first friday and all? im looking for something more exciting than philly im tired of seeing the same things

hi friends... i know that i'm a major loser/idiot but i figure i could get some feedback here without facing the shame of asking in person. so... i was attempting to just do some general 'art'/ceramics research (i was bored and wanted to look at some fun/intersting clay stuff) and was having some major trouble finding pretty much anything... i guess my search was to broad or something, i've just been using google and basically i'm not really getting anywhere... so if anyone has any advise for pointing me in a more positive direction, i would really appreaciate it. or if you guys wanna just hit me up with some names of cool artists or whatever... i'm intersted in finding some fun stuff to look at... just having some trouble getting to anything thats not trying to see me bricks. thank you so much!

I really enjoyed Laura Heon's lecture. I was really interested in Hans's work, and I think through her discussion of his work, I learned about how she approaches her own. I would imagine that every curator works differently. She was very knowledgeable about the entire history of his work, and the history that influenced his work. Although she can't possibly have the same point of view as the artist, but I felt she spoke about it in a way that really made it feel more personal. It's interesting to hear, that just like everything else, many of the art works we see are filtered through a very small or elite group and the art world can be shaped by their personal opinions, visions and tastes. it's bananas.

After a slightly frustrating start I'm enjoying my dust chambers again. building them is not nearly as interesting as getting to fool around with the environment that is created inside. A lot of decisions are made through process and material. The unknown factor, is what the dust will do, and while sometimes the unknowns bother me, I am learning to embrace and enjoy them. I find if I rely too much on a plan, things don't work out as well. I'd still like to use light in some way, I've mostly been thinking about using a projector, so the dust has another element to interact with. I am enjoying the simplicity of this project. Although they are sort of complicated systems, the simple cube, the dust and the fans have created something that was unpredictable, and able to stand alone.

As for music, I'm not so sure. I feel that these pieces are very quiet, and contain sound elements all their own. Perhaps they will make their own music! I think they are a strange balance of complex/simple.

Dark Come Soon

First of all, a brief response to Laura Heon: I honestly had trouble with some of the pieces that she talked about, but only in the sense that I couldn't decide how I would feel about them if I had seen them installed at a show. The explanations she gave made them interesting to me, but a deconstructed trailer home on a wall...the pictures didn't do it justice and I am not sure I would have enjoyed the way in which the artist displayed his work. The ideas behind it were strong to me but I don't think I would have made the connections if I saw those pieces in person.
But I am probably revealing my own weaknesses by saying that. It's just how I felt.

In terms of my own piece, I am discovering a few challenges along in the process of making it, but I am pleased with many of the results. I am going to get to learn new techniques for firing and how to operate the gas kiln, so those things are exciting to me, and I am really enjoying the rope pieces and their physical presence. This weekend I am going to start addressing the surface treatments of the ropes...so far I am picturing Terra Sig for a sort of silken rope effect, but I am also brainstorming how to make the ropes more realistic. I am pondering the possibilities of maybe rolling rope dipped in something over the terra sig for texture? any suggestions?
Musically this piece actually hold significance for me because of the band I am currently obsessed with. At first the connection is purely that I am listening to this band while I am making this piece (and while driving, and while walking, and while doing homework...), but it goes further than that. Tegan and Sara use puns and strong artistic sort of imagery in their lyrics. My piece could easily be translated into Tegan and Sara -style lyrics (and if you know the band, especially Sara-style lyrics). In terms of specific songs, Knife Going In and Dark Come Soon really strike me in comparison with this piece. Look them up, they are awesome.
www.myspace.com/teganandsara or www.teganandsara.com.

Laura Heon--
She didn't talk about herself too much, and what she actually does from day to day. You know, the ins and outs of her position. Instead, her lecture was very much focused on what her artist did/has done/will be doing. I would have preferred if Hans was there over Laura. It was like a filtered down presentation of artist Hans Schabus. Anyway. Bananas! She graduated from Harvard, she's smart. She looks at other galleries for artists, and in some cases, just asks them who the big deal is these days--then does some research on them. Then like, maybe, they'll get to do something for her.

As for my project(s). Well I'm kind of unsure of clay, I still don't know what to make of it. And so, I'm experimenting with some things, just letting shit happen. I'm learning things crack in ceramics, and I'm just going to embrace that I think. I think firing clay is kind of annoying, you know, after I make something, it's done. So the whole waiting for the clay to dry thing, then firing, then glazing, and firing again, is just crazy to me. Still, to this day, I haven't glazed anything. I think thats kind of admirable.

As for clay music. I'm usually one to quietly sing to the clay, the song changes everyday. They're usually bad songs. But I think the question was--what music piece or something would your clay be? I think it would have to be just some kind of weird talk radio. The kind of station where its background, not really kickin' out the jams, but informational. Seeping information. You know, into your brain and stuff.

Attending the lecture, i was eager to hear how someone within the big gallery scene approached inhaling art. i liked many of her ideas about scouting out artists, such as she needs to see something new to want to work with a particular artist and the fact that she knows that she must be an expert in her field, i don't think a lot of people feel that way about their job. Her presentation of another artist's work was also impressive because of the background information she gave us on why these ideas are important to her and the artist. I think we usually only get one side or the other of that story. I think this approaches where the job of an art historian becomes useful to artists, other than that I'm having trouble finding any use. She drew parallels with movements in design from the Bauhaus and correlated an understanding of Schabus' art in a linear way through art history. This makes understanding her views and hopes for what art should do easier for me to accept then a Greenburgian rant or a jab from Hickey.

The work I've done so far this semester with the presence of the object is continuing to move forward, in my mind anyway. From the pile piece i think the video installation was the next logical move for me. I think the next force will be to create an object that exists in time and space under the requirements of the known natural laws (this is mainly because at this time i do know how to transcend them). I'm thinking of objects with no utilitarian use (i can't get away from the Nauman slant step and i am fully aware of this - just o everyone knows!) or other meanings of the core idea of an object such as thought, memory, or intention. I'm not sure where this going right now, I'm thinking fabric and thread being swooshed together with needles and speed. i would like to see this action end with some sort of voluminous form with thought, memory or intention.

As far as music goes, i listen to a lot of jazz and I'm very aware of what music i can listen to while i work and what music i cant. The projection piece i did would most closely relate to Terence Blanchard's piece for trumpet entitled Child's Play, it's off his album titled Flow, if anyone is interested, he comes highly recommended (from me) to provide inspiration and jazz that follows a constantly forward moving trajectory. This song in particular is interesting to my work because he provides all the parts of a melody within each separate part of a song without developing the whole line. In other words, he gives only what we need for the moment and then later in the movement, when you feel like he's pushed you out onto the side of the road at 70 mph, he fills the rest of the melody in with enough air and abdominal spasms to yank you back in the car as he doubles back to scoop your ass up. But please, I am in no way comparing my thought process with someone like Babe Ruth or Pollock or Michael Jackson, I think that would relate a comradeship that i would be too eager to pursue.

1. I did not attend the lecture :(

2. After talking to the class in critique Tuesday I realized that my project could go further then landscapes. Of course I am going to continue on this path. Yet if these are my thought bubbles why should anything in them be real/ recognizable? Why couldn't they be moods ideas and so on. I can't wait to continue pushing my thought bubbles further. I think the more I work at them the better they will become. It is funny how we start out doing one thing and end up doing something completely different. I think I need to record my thoughts more as well that way I have a source to return to when I start the new bubbles. I think what I like most about what I am doing right now is the idea that this is a never-ending project!

3. In terms of music I am unsure as to what my project reminds me of. I guess all the music I listen to, because the music in my life helps shape and mold my ideas of life and so on. Yet the two pieces I have right now remind me of some sort of Jack Johnson song. But if you were to ask me the same question tomorrow I am sure it would change. Like I have already mentioned, I am pulling this art from my head, which is influenced by the things that go on in my life. Hence the music, TV, books, friends, and so on that I have thus far encountered.

-Ash

In Laura Heon's lecture, two of the pieces that she talked about really interested me. The first one was the one that was made up of the moble home that was taken apart to show the different levels and floor plan of the building. by it being in pieces you could see how over time it slowly wore away and looked more used and dirty. its interesting how they took an already made object, and just by altering how you look at it, it changes the meaning of it, and gives it a whole other way to look at it, instead of as an home, but as an art piece. the other piece that interested me was the structure that was built over the building. The intricacy of the structure underneath that supported the shape was really interesting, it reminded me of the supports for a wooden rollercoaster.

so far this semester i have learned more how i should learn to work faster. my bigest problem is the speed at which i work. The fact that i spend so much time on small detail causes me to work at a much slower pace. also i realized more that i tend to try to put off starting somehting because i am not sure exactly how i am going to do it, so i figure if i put it off i dont have to try to do it, but that ends up meaing i dont have as much done as i should. like this semester so far how my corn still isnt done being sculpted yet.

The song that i think reflects my corn country hillbilly would be, "Jimmy Crack Corn, and I Dont Care" for obvious reasons. mostly because it reminds me of a country song about corn, and well that theme relates to my current piece.

I enjoyed the lecture on Tuesday night. There were a few pieces that I thought were really interesting. The fist was the mountain that was built over top of the building, creating a mountain scene that fused the two areas together. In person I think it would be an amazing visual, I wish I could have seen it. There were many aspects of the piece the artist did in Sight Santa Fe that were intriguing. What first caught my eye was the floor that looked like a painting because of the carpeting, it was an image that I would not have expected to see when tearing apart a mobile home, but was really interesting and beautiful. I also liked the aspect of the dirt that was placed in the large room, and after time you could see the patterning and paths that people had taken. The work seemed very clean and simple, but I really liked the ideas they conveyed and expressed through all the different types of materials.

My project so far is going pretty well, but I have come across some difficulties. Right now I’m on my second cloud, the formations of the clouds building with news paper, then building with clay isn’t so bad, but I had no idea how much time the holes were going to take. I think it’s worth it though. I really like the affect the holes have on the piece. The problem is that now that I’m working with two different sizes of holes and it makes me want to experiment with hole size more and how it changes the shape or the feel of the shape. How large can I make the holes without loosing the shapes of the clouds? I want to make a lot of clouds now ranging from around a foot and a half to as large as I can go and still fire them. I’m also wondering now if its necessary to have the entire cloud shape, top and bottom, or if it will be better to do the top and hint at a bottom so that more light can enter into the cloud and will also add to the light feel of it. Once finished with all of these clouds I want to hang them and maybe place some on the ground and have water underneath them, with their reflection.


After thinking about the musical work that my project reminds me of, I’m not sure of a particular song, but I think about the sound a flute makes. It reminds me of that sound because of all of the holes and if I were to guess what type of sound it would make if air was pushed through I would think it would be something like when you blow across the top of a glass.

well... laura's presentation we very intersting, her job sounds pretty fun going around look for new artists and helping them present a big show... so cool.

my project so far.... well i'm learning alot from it, firstly i'm learning that more is always better, and i'm learning how to let the clay anwser some of my questions, instead of forcing anwsers. also garden knome size is bigger than you'd think. umm lets see this project has been a journey into... the infanate obysse of a fantasyworld meets shunken crazy, interior designer... i dont really know. but somehow it reminds me of dr. seuss... and childhood.

the music playing around this project would be something from the telatubies or the same music as frolicing threw a field of daisies.

I found Laura Heon's lecture to be very interesting, but it also frustrated me as well. I truly enjoyed Hans' work however, when Laura was discussing perfecting her art eye I felt that she was being a bit close minded. I found it odd that she only tended to look at artists who she found by word of mouth through people she respected. If everyone were to do this then how would any new artists be found? I think that is a big struggle for beginning artists and actually beginning anything that it always helps to have a connection of some sort that will get you known. What about the people who are creating great art, but just don't know the right people?

On the aspect of my work this semester I feel like my ideas are growing as my artistic side grows. I find more and more that projects can spawn from other projects based on my ideas and my continual questioning of the work I create. Even though not everything is working out exactly how planned and there is a lot of trial and error I find that that too helps me grow as an artist.

I enjoy music on occasion, but a lot of the time I enjoy silence more. I envy those people who have extensive music collections and are always listening to new bands and as much as I want to want to be one of them I am not. So I think if my art were to directly connect to music it might be something light and soft and playful that you almost don't notice playing in the background so that it doesnt distract from everything else. Or maybe my art is just the everyday sounds of cars driving on distant roads and lawn mowers in the background and keyboards clacking and creaking of stairs and so much more that creates the "music" of our environments.

In terms of the Laura Heon lecture, I found the art of Hans Schabus to be quite interesting in that he was able to produce so many different pieces with very different aesthetics, all while investigating the idea of "modernism". I understood what Laura Heon was trying to say when she said that the artisan aspect was not as important as the conceptual aspect in art today, however I do believe that the ideas and the artist behind the piece will guide the type of aesthetic , which may call for more or less of an "artisan's" skill. Finally, when the question of how she finds her artist's to show was asked, her answer was both interesting and a bit disheartening. I found it to take quite a bit of discipline and dedication to actively go out and continually see work to find something that she felt worthy to get into the site, but the fact that artist packets that she receives rarely lead to a show reveals just how selective that kind of exposure can be.

Looking at my two films that I have produced so far this semester, I have discovered that what started out as avenues of learning how to use new tools has lead me to some very personally meaningful work. They have helped me to articulate a bit better, what the connection is between what I have been investigating this past several semesters, and what it is that drives me to continue to want to make art at this point in my life. --more on this as my artist statement develops.

Finally, in terms of music, I believe that I already mentioned what music I felt my work was relating to during the critique the other day. It was the strange sound test featuring the Asian guy wearing the stereotypical Asian pajamas singing that tongue-in-cheeky, Coney Islandish song and finishing with a completely different tone of voice and facial expression while saying the words, "I have no more wind".

your next assignment

DUE DATE: Thursday, 10/4
3 parts
1.
I would like everyone to write a brief response to Laura Heon's lecture on Tuesday, 10/2, at 5 PM in Smith 130.
2.
In addition I would everyone to write an assessment/reflection on their projects so far this semester. What have you learned, what has changed, where do you think you might go with it?
3.
And last but not least, tell us all what musical work your project reminds you of. If it hasn't made you think of anything already, spend some time communing with it and see what happens.

strange corn

Seth,

For me, the whole phallic reference with your ear of corn isn't overly concerning. However,
I think the message that could potentially come across more readily caught my attention. I think a hillbilly ear of corn is slightly stereotypical. I don't know if you are sort of playing up the idea of a stereotype or if perhaps you could look further in other pieces.

and

Jason,

I'm very excited to see the result of the piece you are working on now. I like the sort of beautiful surprise you discovered when you started to drill the plexi--something tells me that will probably happen a lot with this piece. I think you made some very nice choices in materials and I'm interested to see once the structure is completed how the little girl will be (or not be) a part of it.

Brittany

Greg of the beautiful gutter

Greg, we spoke today about your pieces of making waterway systems that referenced gutter systems and fountains. You also mentioned how you would like to create an environment out of clay that would not only interact with water, but would also create an environment for people to walk through. I think that it would be pretty amazing to see that whole structure made out of clay, but I can also see potential in adding ceramic elements to existing structures, i.e., directing the waterflow of rain off of the roof of the studio building and bringing that inside to some destination of interaction. You also said how you intended to fire all the parts in order to withstand the water. I think that it might be interesting to use the soluble nature of clay to add to your piece, perhaps by creating multiple waterways leaving some areas unfired so that as one area dissolved a new area would come into play. All in all I enjoyed seeing what you are working with so far and look forward to seeing more.

Jeremy

porous clouds

I know a lot of people were posting about Leah's but im gonna do the same. We discussed how to make the larger clouds look similar to the smaller ones shes put holes in by hand in a different way. This led to dipping fabric in slip which is something I experimented with a few semesters ago. I think it would wonderful to get some sort of heavy felt like fabric and maybe hole punch the holes in it in order to get a porous effect. Then by drenching the felt in clay and really saturating it I think it would be possible to pull it over a cloud like form. I am really interested to see what dipping a thicker fabric in slip would do and when it is soaked u might even be able to stretch the fabric over the form. This idea is also interested because by using holes in the clouds you can mimic what a cloud really is in a way with the idea of water falling out of it and the form of the cloud not being able to hold anything either.
Another person who interested me was Jeremy because I feel like his project is taking a different direction than other work I've seen him do. I enjoy the fact that he is focusing more on visual connection between two things that have no other connection and I am very excited to see the final video.

On Tuesday Jo and I talked about our projects. I think that the woman figure, that at both ends turns to rope, like a frayed knot is going to be really interesting. Jo said that her figure was going to be life like and gradually turn into the rope at the ends. I really like the idea of the rope extending across the room, and having the woman near the center. I think this distance with the rope will make the image more powerful and help the viewer interact with the piece. I can’t wait until Jo finishes this piece. I think that it will be a very powerful image. Jo had some really great ideas for my project as well. She said that Laura had worked with fabric, dipping it in slip and firing it. I want to try some test pieces with different fabrics dipped in slip to make the clouds more porous and light.

at the beginning of class on tues. i was at the point where i didnt want to keep working on my corn country hillbilly piece. i wanted to stay away from phallic images for my work, since most of my work lately has had some sort of phallic aspect to it. but i was talking to a few people and they suggested that i continue to work on it and cover the whole thing with corn kernels and that once it has a husk on it it should be a lot less "penis like". so i decided to continue with it. um... i dont know what else to say about my discussion about my work... so now i will end with a picture of a toy i like that is in the style of the work i want to do. it is a piece in my collection of toys. they were a free givaway in november of 2004. you have to go to a store with a coupon that you printed out from a website and they gave it to you, they are limed to 1500 pieces each and there was a monster that was limited to 500, i have all three. they might be among my favorite items in my collection. they are 8 inches tall.

Alex's journey to a chair... Thrown?

Alex,

From what I have seen from your work I have come to the conclusion that you are not a big fan of the traditional uses of clay.... And I love it. When I first noticed you covering the chair with clay I was confused and somewhat uninterested. Yet after talking to you in class I am able to see that your project is so much more then a dirty chair. The idea of inserting this into an environment and leading one up to it is quite interesting. I know from your "bed of clay" piece that you like the viewer to interact and what you are proposing sounds like it will require a lot of that and force the viewer to experience something you set up for them. I personally am excited to journey through this little world that we just barely touched on. I think if you really push the idea of forcing one through a space and make it attention grabbing and meaningful this will be a successful piece.


I looked around a little bit and thought you could look at this:
http://www.hometone.org/entry/exotic-clay-furniture-by-maarten-baas/

I hope everything works out and if you need to talk anything out with someone I am there to listen. Clay it up...~Ashlie

ashlie's advent calendars

ashlie, well i must say i i'm throughly enjoying your project's concept. i love the fact that you are taking a rediculous tradition and making it all about how you view the world. i think its great and fun and wonderfully random. my only suggestion would be to think about if the 'advent/christmas/count-down' thingy is important or if its just about interaction or i dont know. maybe somehow your pieces show a count down to your birthday or to some random day in febuary. i'm not sure i might be out in left field but we didnt really talk about whether there was any countdown implied with this. also it might be fun to make the doors out of something like fabric or something just to add a little texture... you know. well i know this was probably not very helpful but i like where you are headed so keep it real!

my unusual interaction

haha I just liked the sound of that.

Leah and I talked with one another about our pieces in class for fresh opinions. We spent some time with my piece, but we really went into hers and how to deal with making something weightless (clouds) out of something with significant weight (clay). Leah wants to make the clouds that could make Monet-like reflections. Her clouds are to be abstract and porous, or at least that was my impression. The engineering behind this is an issue, and it reminded me of some of Laura's pieces using lace last semester and her solutions for keeping her delicate pieces from being too fragile to be practical. I told Leah to talk to Laura about glazing pieces before firing them in order to make them stronger.
Leah, I hope you take this as far as you can. I think your clouds will be most effective if you can really stretch the size, and I was most excited about your mention of placing some kind of water container beneath them in order to create the reflection. Your painting background brings something unique into your work and your thought processes, and I hope you capitalize on that.

--Jo

sasha, the bird lady of advanced clay

sasha (sorry if im spelling this wrong), i think a more performative approach to your piece would help out the idea a lot. you were talking about migration patterns and nesting in the sense that they would apply to humans. i think the scale that you are working at is doing a disadvantage to this relation. thats why i suggested a piece where you would build a nest yourself (or someone else) in front of an audience. i think if your going for the parallel between human migration and "nesting" this would tie in the humn aspect very nicely and take some of the bird out of the information you provide the audience.

Madman Joe Netta, Bassist extraordinaire, congealer of the intangible.

Joe,
I really admire the methodical approach to your art making. Material seems to take backstage (is that the saying?) for these profoundly weird and well thought scenarios. The work you produce will become more successful the more you generate outcomes using the same methods. The map is an example. I would really like to hear the sounds of different cities played back to back to hear just how different cultures create their metropoli and if the resultant sound is somehow incidental, coincidental or inherent to a specific. Fascinating.

Steve Martin said "Talking about music is like dancing about architecture" He said this to convey the futility of talking about something that defies language yet has the capacity to express the human condition so articulately in a way language lacks. There are some connections to this quote and your idea. Have you considered having this music set to dance? .....that would be neat.
Also what would be cool is if you got a map of the human nervous, vascular or respiratory system and did the same thing.....

Leah's Clouds

Leah I love this idea and having known you for some time now I think it fits your style and the type of art you typically strive to create. Last time I checked you were interested in creating a space over run with clouds on the wall. I think some should also be suspended and maybe even coming out of the floor. Also if the space has a window, or even a wall would work for this you could have some clouds coming out of the outer walls as a hint to what awaits the viewer inside.

Some websites I found that might help in the development of your ideas are:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.britishcouncil.org/es/arts-art-architecture-design-design-jessshaw-image315x379.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.britishcouncil.org/es/print-page%3Fid%3D60123&h=379&w=350&sz=40&hl=en&start=28&um=1&tbnid=yP8U3o5wOJRpxM:&tbnh=123&tbnw=114&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcloud%2Bart%26start%3D20%26ndsp%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den%26sa%3DN

http://www.publicartinla.com/sculptures/desert_cloud2.jpeg

http://www.boisestate.edu/art/gallery/visiting/valecture.html

I think the first two use light beautifully and I know you were talking about using light in your piece. The last piece reminded me of clay and the way it had smaller and larger circles was quite interesting.
Best of luck -Ash

maps and sound

Joe:

I'm really interested in your map/sound piece. I share an interest in maps themselves, but your approach is really fascinating. The idea of a map (or a complex, man made drawing) as the source of a musical score, and how that music can then be related to our manufactured landscape is a surprising and incredible connection. The video footage of you punching through the maps I think serves as a really important part of the piece. Not only is it nice to see the process but the sound element is there as well. I wonder what besides maps could be treated in a similar way perhaps newspapers, charts, photographs...

I think the songs created have lots of possibilities for comparison, finding connections and in a way reinventing a landscape or a strange recording of life as is shapes an environment.

pointillism in sculpture

I agree that ashley's idea of creating a larger thing with many small objects is pretty exciting. The idea of multiples can be really interesting as long as you have enough and can get through the tedious time it takes to make them. I'm not really sure I understood why you wanted to use a skull image it definitely has potential, but it might be hard to keep it from looking too trite (skull scarves for example). Although if anyone wants to buy me that diamond covered skull I am all for that! Ralph Helmick and Stuart Schechter use alot of this pointillism technique in their work...

http://www.handsart.net/pastprojects.html

I think their pieces are beautiful in the way they hang and also how you can see completely though them. They also kind of remind me of Jeremy's flock idea for sculpture.

I think that Ashlie’s idea of creating many small skulls in a variety of colors and attaching them to a wall to create an image by pointillism is a great idea, with a lot of potential. I think that the skulls together would have to take up a very large space, like an entire wall or even two walls. You also might want to think about the room it would be installed in. It would be really great to be able to see the image from far away, instead of only being able to see the skulls up close. I was wondering if you would create the larger image, or if you want the viewers to interact with it and be able to create images of their own. In creating the colors of the skulls you could use some of the same techniques the pointillist painters used, like putting two primary colors next to each other like a blue and a yellow to create a green, instead of just having a green. I can’t wait to see what happens with your project!

john your ideas on space and form are very interesting to me. dealing with dimensionality utilizing 2 dimensional forms is a great way to explore this idea more. have you checked out mathew richie? he does those huge metal sculptures based off of his line drawings. also i was slightly reminded of kara walker and how she uses projection and silhouette to create dimensionality.

well i remember reading about this a little while ago and though it applied. Damien Hirst made a cast of a human skull out of platinum and covered it in diamonds and it is worth $100 million dollars.

there is a post on another blog on the step by step process with pictures of how the skull was made

http://www.supertouchblog.com/2007/07/21/techniquethe-making-of-damien-hirsts-diamond-skull/

First of all, I was really interested in multiple presentations. In order to narrow down my choices I decided to go with the presentation for which I still have a question: Jeremy, was the clay bust you made of yourself actually completely fired in the fire pit you made or was it also fired in the kiln? How long was it in the pit? I have this idea about clay tablets and writing that I started thinking about in my anthropology class and the process of actually hardening the clay in a live fire holds some potential in terms of my idea since that's how the ancient clay tablets we have now were accidentally preserved...
As a semi-related note, I am glad to be in a class with such diverse backgrounds. Normally in my ceramics classes I have been bouncing ideas off of other ceramics majors, which has been awesome. Still, the perspective of VC, and 2d students will be a new and interesting one to explore in crit.

hi, well i just wanted to say that jo i love your work and i think it isnt a cop-out if you continue to STRETCH this idea/theme of form. because there is still plenty to explore. i also think you should check out kiki smith... for some more imspiration. umm i also wanted to mention it was fun and intersting to hear about everyone else's personal style/art.


http://www.uam.ucsb.edu/Media/smith_roses.GIF


http://www.uam.ucsb.edu/Media/smith_butterfly.GIF







i'm pretty much down for mud wresting in general so... bring it.

seth,
i would like challenge your man eating banana to a mud wrestling match. after school at the back of the playground.

Jason,

Hearing you talk about your work today was fantastic. It was great to see what kind of ideas that you have been investigating since we took beginning sculpture together. In particular, I found the film and its presentation of images in the that sort of stream of consciousness format to be extremely interesting and beautiful on several fronts. As I watched the film, I felt a sense of longing for a childhood that I have left behind, but more of a longing for a sense of protection received and given as a child and for a child respectively. And now as I try to remember your film, I find myself remembering the clips and sounds in different orders and probably adding in nuances of my own memory and thoughts into the memory of the film.

I'm not quite sure how far and what aspects of memory you are interested in looking at, but I have read up on a few interesting topics of development of the mind which you might be interested in if you haven't come across it already. The one that comes to mind initially is of Piaget and his influence in developmental psychology. Here's as excerpt of his model from a wikipedia article:

Stage One - Sensorimotor (birth to 1.5 years)
Stage Two - Preoperational (1.5 years to 7 years)
Stage Three - Concrete Operations (7 years to 11 years)
Stage Four - Formal Operations (11 years and onward)

Moral judgment stages were termed Heteronomy and Autonomy and were later further delineated by development psychologists.

When watching your film, I felt a strong connection to a more adult frame of mind-as in someone who was past stage four in Piaget's model. It might be interesting to investigate the earlier stages of memory, or in other words how a child thinks and remembers things.

Here's Piaget in a painting...he's got some crazy hair: