for brittany

here's that blog.

in the future

I guess next semester I still want to focus on print/photo with ceramics since those are both my passions. Tracy and I are having a difficult time doing so at the moment but I really want to make something successful using it next semester. I also want to try sound pieces in my projects. Tracy and I were talking today about how cool it would be to just carry a recorder around for the day and catch weird snippets of people's conversations and then edit it so it makes these crazy stories. I think that would be pretty awesome...now if only I could make something out of ceramic to go along with it. We shall see what happens.

As far as a link to an artist, I would say check out Scott Aitken's photo's. They are pretty amazing and he's probably my biggest influence in my photography portfolio.

http://www.scottpix.com/art/paintwl.html



how awesome is that?!

There's a big scary world out there....

I had every intention of getting this blog posted yesterday, but it seems the end of semester stress and exhaustion caught up to me and I fell into a sort of 12 hour coma/nap. So anywho...graduation. Big scary ugly word. In no way am I the least bit prepared to move into the real world....but its ok, I still have grad school ahead of me somewhere. (Hopefully). So unfortunately with the University forcing me out...this is where my little journey with ceramics must end. At least until I can afford some day to get my own kiln and whatnot. Hahaha...that would mean having money...wishful thinking on that one. So with some recent talks with professors and contemplating over the past four years of work, I think I'm going to start pushing myself into the realm of illustration. Not the computer graphics kind. Computers and I have a sort of hate-hate relationship. I just seem to be drawn towards paintings and drawings ideas that have very illustrative qualities. So in the next year, I plan on building up a portfolio of paintings and drawings and whatever else I can manage to accomplish to cater towards graduate school study in that field. And even though I'm technically a painting concentration, I will never be satisfied with just working in that medium. I'll find a way to get back to these ceramics pieces I enjoy so much....

So I suppose my future projects lie in creating the best darn portfolio I can. Oh yes and moving to pittsburgh in the next couple of weeks. Thats going to be a project in itself...I think it should count lol. Oh! I almost forgot...this is completely random but its something I think I will have fun with. I recently signed up for this little sketchbook project. ( http://www.arthousecoop.com/ ...scroll down until you see the section called "The Sketchbook Project") Basically people from all over the world sign up and get these little sketchbooks, and you fill them with whatever you want inspired by the theme "How to save the world". You send them back by the deadline...and they put them all in a show somewhere. Georgia maybe? I don't remember. But hey it sounded like fun to me. You can still sign up until June first if anyone else is interested....and I think you have until august to finish them.

Alrighty then...I supposed thats all. Enjoy the rest of the time any of you may have in college...graduation comes entirely too soon...
Oh, and come to the BFA Exhibition. (I'll be in 203 Taylor)

~Bethany

Making pots is addictive. The distance between me and the wheel is always too far. I wish I had a wheel in my living room. Someday I will. I'm thinking about this idea of process and how I want to put myself inside the process of making pots. For my future art I'm thinking about new circumstances and how that can affect the process. A wheel by a window.... wow, a window. What would happen if I could pot by a window? I don't to say what I want to make next because I don't know. But I think sunlight will be involved.

Lately I've been looking at the work and process of Scott Cooper. http://www.negentropic.com/clay/index.htm.

simple lines, simple colors.

The Future.

So the semester is ending, but the journey is never over.

For the future I think that I am going to stick with things in the realm of altered states of consciousness. That is basically what I have been doing for a year now and think that I have not solved enough mysteries for myself and want to keep running with it. How I will get to the next thing and what it will be I have no clue... It will probably come to me in one of those altered states but until then I can only imagine. Over the summer I plan to work on a stop motion movie, and a lengthy one. So I look forward to starting that and to see what the summation will yield. Other than that I have no plans for the future. I am always open to what hits me in those last moments before my mind takes me to another place and when it gets there. So until it gets taken to an interesting enough place again I have no plans.

Exhibition Link:

Oliver Lutz: Paint it Black

I made a new stop motion video as well, and it is related to my project on god in many ways, so check it out! (PS Full view and turn it up!)

Meditation

Several things

First off, Emily, could you post those blogs?

Secondly, and sort of along the same lines an artist I have recently come across (through my roomate Katie) Michael Sieben http://www.msieben.com/ makes zines in collaboration with other artists. One piece was made by mailing drawings back and forth and building off of what happened. His work is humorous, so the personal aspect doesn't seem overwhelming. For me, they all look like memories, or maybe a metaphor for a memory. Anyway, he is worth checking out I think if you are thinking about working that way.

Thirdly, I've really been thinking a lot about how to create more of an art practice for myself. I was at those same talks Emily was referring to and it was really interesting to see real life things being executed and put out there. It made me really look at my way of working and made me question what I'm doing here, my intentions, how I can be more active in my own process, how I can get over the self-consciousness I have about art-making. (for starters I actually sent photos of my work to my parents, and I don't really ever show them things). I think a lot of it has to do with acceptance of what I really want to accomplish and having the abilities to do/articulate them.

I just accomplished my first participatory piece (with julianne) and it was another opportunity for me to think about what kind of things I'm interested in making, question the things I'm doing as I go along so I'm steering them towards some sort of end that I can react to. It was a really fun experience, making the setup and participating in the party we made. Ultimately it was a major learning experience in planning/documenting and being assertive towards you own work (setting up for a desired result is not always a bad thing). By that I also mean some people will only show up for the food and you can't always let them away with it.

Collaboration is a lot of fun. or at least it can be when it's right. Julianne and I had a really good time, even though we don't have much to show for it. It will exist in our hearts (sadly)

There were a lot of parts about the making of this party that were beautiful. For instance, the moving of the tent.
I can set the scene; it was late at night, the tent was billowing and swelling in the wind and we were inching it along the pavement. It felt immensely huge and that whole experience was when I was like oh, we should have this on video. So it really got me thinking about how the making can sometimes be even more provocative than the result, the importance of DOCUMENTATION and the nice surprises that can happen when you immerse yourself in a task. so maybe thats something I could look to in the future...

Bipol-Art

What does my future hold? Basically I plan to continue developing my installation. Which means Big feet?, A wall of words, car seats, video, music, BLAH. It's a bit chaotic and the pressure is on. I have one year left to construct this piece, and I'm loving it. I appreciate all of the feed back on the bugs and one comment concerning giant feet actually inspired me (Thank You!). I plan to get the "me" part of the installation, the wall of bipolar words, and the car seats done by the end of next semester. Hopefully some of the fog will begin to lift and all will be able to see the direction I am heading in. Hopefully all of the single pieces I have been working on seem more monumental in the correct context.
On the battlefront of mini golf, I have two bugs made, two left to make, then I need to fire and paint. I am really excited and basically I am just enjoying the project.
Finally I do not really have an artist or an exhibition for anyone to look at, but I do have a site. It isn't well known artists, and most do not reside in the U.S.. Yet in a way I feel as if the site relates to my current ongoing piece. It is a website for bipolar artists. I like to just drop in on it and look around at others in the world. It's interesting how we are all connected even by the smallest strands. It sort of makes you feel less alone, I think art in general does that for me. Just enjoy, or not.
http://www.bipol-art.com/

P.S. The quote on the home page is from the book An Unquiet Mind. A small piece of my inspiration for my installation. It is a wonderful book and if anyone wants to read it I have it (if you have the time for that.. I know, who reads anymore!)
Well that is it. I guess.
To those of you graduating, congratulations and good luck in your future endeavors, I know you guys will go far.
To those of you that I will see next semester... enjoy summer and see you in the studio!!!!
Later Gators ~Ashlie

well hello,

i've been collecting inspiration lately and i think i want to revisit the idea of street art. and i love this photo!! i'm not sure of any action plans yet but i think i want to explore that avenue. also i wanted to either incorporate or was just thinking about the science of sleep and how dreams are strange and creepy and weird. this movie has really great environmental structures and i think that goes along with street art, how do you create an environment and how does that environment change the experience of art.

so i'm thinking really broad right now, but hopefully things will become clearer after some well deserved zzzz...

as for some interesting things to check out i just found this website outta the blue.. and its pretty awesome but i cant find the artists name anywhere but check it out:

http://www.xmarkjenkinsx.com/outside.html

art for everyone

what am i thinking about making next?

lately i've been inspired by people who've been getting their work 'out there.'  there's an english dept. grant that sponsors students to immerse themselves in other cultures and write literary editorials. i heard some, and they were pretty great--well written AND informative.  students went to Nepal, Katmandu (Julia, do you remember Ian from intro?), regions of the Amazon...

how can we artists do something like that?  

I also came across some interesting blogs that circulate artwork for the purpose of circulating artwork--sending drawings for free if you want them (I sent this to Jason earlier this week.)  So, as of now I'm wondering how can mass produced OR distribution-without-expectation work be explored?  In bookmaking we have a final project, and I've been looking at 'zines'...I'm really NOT interested in political statement or personal exposure, so how do I reconcile these things?

yesterday I saw Frida at the PMA: phillamuseum.org

she's an inspiring woman.

also, a site that Laura told me about yesterday: fecalface.com 

check it out. (especially the Argentinean graffiti stop-motion artist Blu)

ps. mini-golf is going to be great.