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".