Thursday, June 28, 2012

All Eyes on LexArt's new project--UPDATED

Update: Concordia was installed last weekend by New York-based artist, DeWitt Godfrey. Read all about it here.


  Artist talk, Tuesday, July 31st @ 5:30 at the Downtown Art Center. Friends of public art -- don't miss it! (thanks Celeste for the photo of us!). 





Monday, June 25, 2012

Opportunity: Unpaid Internships at KHS

There are several fantastic opportunities for individuals looking to broaden their skills in museum, historical societies, education work, and collections. Click here for more info (thanks to Rachel for passing this along!)

Friday, June 22, 2012

LAL: 4thF tonight and ARTFAIR@EQUUS this weekend




The 9th annual Francisco's Farm Arts Festival, presented by the Lexington Art League,
Equus Run Vineyards, and Midway Renaissance, transforms Equus Run Vineyards in 
magical Midway, Ky., into an outdoor exhibition of fine art and craft THIS WEEKEND!


WHAT: Fine art, Live music, Mouthwatering food, Award-winning wine, and Fun for everyone
WHEN: June 23, 10a-6p, and June 24, 10a-5p
WHERE: Equus Run Vineyards, 1280 Moores Mill Road in Midway
WHO: You, mingling with more than 100 artists
HOW MUCH: $10/vehicle (no charge for parking)



Thursday, June 21, 2012

Opportunity: SFC



June 21, 2012

ARTIST OPPORTUNITY
Summerfair Cincinnati announces
THE AID TO INDIVIDUAL ARTISTS AWARD

Deadline: Aug. 25, 2012
   

Summerfair Cincinnati, a partner of The Carnegie, has announced the Aid to Individual Artists award (AIA), an annual award of $3,000 bestowed to juried artists living within a 40-mile radius of Greater Cincinnati.


Each selected artist will receive an award of $3,000 payable in three $1,000 payments: October, February and June. Individuals permanently residing within a 40 mile radius of Cincinnati at least 18 years of age may apply. Artists may not submit more than one application per year. Faculty sponsorship is required of any students enrolled in a degree-granting program. Members of Summerfair Cincinnati and any artist who has received a Summerfair Cincinnati Aid to Individual Artists Award within the past three years are not eligible to apply.


For more information and to download an application, please visit Summerfair Cincinnati.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Opportunity: Studio Assistant, part-time



Post-graduate Studio Assistant in Art* Transylvania University: The Art Program invites applications for the 2012-13 studio assistant position. 


Friday, June 15, 2012

dot.domain: the new rush?

Mr. Anton Vidokle's case below. It's a mixed bag, to be sure: decentralize power by becoming one in the process? you decide. Cheers to LES and btw, my answer is Yes, with much courage in order--
http://galleristny.com/2012/06/e-flux-applies-for-art-top-level-web-domain-name/

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Piranesi and Preservation

I had heard of Giovanni Battista Piranesi, an Italian architect-turned-etcher working in the mid-1700s, but had never considered that he might have been a founder of more contemporary historic preservation movements. This is one of several revelations to be found in a fascinating article by Rob Goodman, "Behind Historic Preservation, a Surreal History." 

Piranesi is most famous for his series of images of the ruins of classical Rome. His etchings depict the rather dilapidated architectural sites of his time as the awe-inspiring monuments we now understand them to be. Goodman points out that both Piranesi's artistic skills as well as his business acumen "helped re-establish [the ruins'] power to overwhelm and overawe, and [Piranesi] argued that this power was worth conserving." I find it very fortunate that members of society agreed with this assessment then and continue to do so today.
The Colosseum, 1757, etching

Carceri Plate VII - The Drawbridge

Piranesi is also known for his series of fantastical prisons, and Goodman suggests these exceedingly strange and disturbing images helped inspire artists such as M.C. Escher and Edgar Allen Poe. Further, Goodman argues that "Just as his recovery of the ruins made Piranesi a father of neoclassicism, his prisons... ...made him a forerunner of the surrealists."  Interestingly, Goodman goes on to compare the conservation of old buildings as somewhat surreal in that it allows us to encounter elevating architectural spaces among the many alienating (and perhaps nightmarish) strip malls and big box stores on our streets today.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Spiral Jetty: A Personal View

The image above is from the DIA website -- Spiral Jetty as we've known it from the textbooks.

Beginning the trek, we are equipped with walking sticks. The rocks on either side  (about 6' out) are the borders of the Jetty, which is 15' wide. Even with these make-shift guides, each step proves to be a challenge because the Jetty is 99% submerged. Oh, and the surface is not flat. In fact, it's incredibly uneven.




In addition to two sticks and thick socks and boots, I am equipped with hip waders and six layers of clothing to combat the wind and cold (photo from Bob. Thanx!) 



Another challenge: the water was more of an obstacle than an aid in walking out toward the spiral. 



Taken from the hills atop Rozel Point, on the Great Salt Lake.  The Jetty begins just past our Jeep and extends 1500'  beyond the coast. 


About 3/4 of the way out and turning to look back toward the coast (and the Jeep), the rock barriers have disappeared. We have no borders to aid us in our navigation.











We made it out to about 1000' (I'm not entirely sure as to the exact distance), and we were very near the arc in the spiral.  The journey was fantastic and, next time, we hope to go even farther.

Monday, June 4, 2012

looking down the [rabbit] hole

The Hanover Connection: Installations by Leticia Bajuyo and Deb Whister is on view in the Anne Wright Wilson Fine Arts Gallery.  Stop by to see it and make connections between Bajuyo's CD-horns and Whistler's paper-based reflections on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Come back for the show's Closing Reception with Artist Talk 
on Friday, September 14
from 12-2 p.m.

Friday, June 1, 2012

New Museum Theory: Young and Old Reconnecting with Art



MoMA's program, launched in 2009
Over the past year, I have taught two classes about museum theory and application (Curatorial Studies and New Museum Theory). The courses have been populated by students in Art and Art History primarily, although English and History majors have enrolled also. This cross-pollination among the students is exciting for me to observe and to facilitate as students bring ideas from their disciplines to the conversations.  


One of the things that we discuss in these courses is how museums shape knowledge. By this I mean the ways in which museums help us to understand history, geography, majority and minority cultures. Museums also help us to understand what art (or history or science or...) is, why objects were collected, and what relevance they have for us today.  I have often thought of this as the shaping of new knowledge, but what about knowledge that has been submerged and/or lost to the ravages of time?


Thinking about new and old knowledge (or knowledge that once was), I reflected on the place of objects. All objects have stories and it's up to us, as 21st-century viewers, to allow the object to tell its story. How do we experience an object? Under what contexts? With what authority? 


I was reading an article brought out through NPR about the Kreeger Museum in Washington, D.C. which runs a program for people with Alzheimers. Their program is based upon the Meet Me at MoMA program at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. (For info on the Met's pioneering program, launched in 2009, click here.) The story on NPR told about the Kreeger's program, giving information on how their efforts aim to connect middle schoolers with those with Alzheimer's. When viewing a work from the Kreeger's collection, Monet's Sunset at Pourville (pictured below). 
Monet's Sunset at Pourville, featured in the Kreeger's program
Paired together, teams of seniors and students observe the painting's figures along the beach. "It kind of seems romantic," one student offers. The caregiver for one of the Alzheimer's seniors contributes to the conversation also, chiming in, asking her husband to imagine himself inside the painting. She asks if he would like it there: "Oh, yes. Very much so," he answers. Gordon, an art lover in his 70s, found out about the Kreeger program through his Alzheimer's support group. A female student asks her senior companion whether he perceives the scene as calm. "Pretty calm," he answers, and adds: "Salty, salty, salty air. Whenever you go to the beach you can go into the sand."The students and the seniors are connecting through art. They are telling their own stories while learning about the story that Monet puts before us. 

The Kreeger's program is small, focused, and offers enriching opportunities for all involved. Beyond the personal connections and the knowledge being shaped, the program offers much-needed stimulation for all involved, especially the Alzheimer's folks.  Derya Samadi, who runs the Kreeger's Alzheimer's program, says art museums have always been places of refuge and stimulation for her, and they serve the same purpose for men and women with Alzheimer's."There's something about being in the stimulating environment," Samadi says. "It's there for them; they haven't lost it. They just can't connect to it. So you're just trying to open up channels for them." 

This story about the Kreeger's program, and the existing program at MoMA, remind me of the broadened audiences for art and the ways in which we might engage them. To read the full story about the Kreeger's program, click here