GCVA

ART170 Grand Tour: Hadrianic Cuirass

2012-02-03T07:55:00.000-05:00

“I could see possibilities of Hellenizing the barbarians and Atticizing Rome, thus imposing upon the world by degrees the only culture which has once for all separated itself from the monstrous, the shapeless, and the inert, the only one to have invented a definition of method, a system of politics, and a theory of beauty.” Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar (1950). Hadrian’s cuirass often details Athena wearing the aegis and being crowned by two Nikes. If any doubt, the owl and the snake beside her are two of the city-goddess’s most recognizable symbols. She stands on a representation of the she-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus. Echoing the lines above, the imagery on the armor is only a further reification of Hadrian's interest in embracing Greek culture with Roman -- for its own sake. The emperor was, also, named archon of Athens.

Images top: Agora, Athens; middle: detailed view of the texture, heavily restored, at Corinth; and bottom: a version at Olympia (taken at various excursions from 2004-2011)

DARE to do art...at GC!!!

2012-02-02T23:03:00.004-05:00

Students in the past Fall's Senior Thesis course had a laugh with this image, a riff on the "dare to keep kids off drugs" bit. Maybe you also noticed this poster as it made its way across internet sites a few months ago. Like it? Not?

Hopefully you, faithful blog readers, know the warning signs of art. For other readers, seriously...take the plunge, study art at GC! Questions? Contact any faculty member or check our department website to find out about courses, curriculum, and post-graduation plans of recent alumni.

London, Dublin: Study Abroad Winter 2012-13

2012-02-01T11:00:00.000-05:00

Have you ever considered studying abroad? Or perhaps would like to go again? If so, you'll have a chance next winter. I'll be leading a two-week course to London, England and Dublin, Ireland over the winter break of 2012–13 through CCSA, the Cooperative Center for Study Abroad. It will be a digital photography class focused on the topic of landscape/cityscape and place. We'll fly out at the end of December and stay a week in London, including New Year's, and then hop over to Dublin to finish out our time. Once home, we'll continue to edit and refine our photographs, post them online for critique and discussion, and finally produce a self-published book via Blurb. You can see my sample HERE.

I had the good fortune of leading this same class four years ago with a fantastic group of students (pictured at the top), both from Georgetown College and other colleges and universities. In addition to the two major cities, we visited a variety of attractions and nearby locales, including Stonehenge (above), riding the London Eye (below), the Globe Theatre, Bath, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Glendalough (at the bottom), and Howth.

Online applications for the trip will begin through CCSA around April 1 and the Winter 2012–13 catalogs should be available soon. However, on-campus meetings won't begin until the fall of 2012. Final deadline for applications will be at the end of September on the 28th. There are no prerequisites for the course, so it is open to anyone; although a class in photography and/or digital imaging is recommended.

So if you're interested in working with the camera, if you like to explore the world around you, if you'd like to study abroad, if you'd like to make fantastic friends and great memories, then perhaps this course is for you. In the meantime, if you have questions or want to know more about the trip, stop by my office to chat (Wilson Art Building, room 107).

Prof. Darrell Kincer

Plastics and Art History

2012-02-01T07:08:00.001-05:00

Artist Chris Jordan Revisits Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa in his series, Running the Numbers, where he uses data about various global phenomena to generate images from art history. Adding new meaning to the phrase “pictures of the floating world,” Jordan transforms ”2.4 million pieces of plastic, equal to the estimated number of pounds of plastic pollution that enter the world’s oceans every hour” into the form of The Great Wave. Go to his website and click on the image, the zoom effect is reminiscent of the the Eames’ Powers of Ten video and helps to put the sheer quantity of trash into perspective. He has also done a number of other works of Art Historical reference out of everything from plastic bags to to agricultural seeds, make sure to check him out.

(via Printeresting)

at home and away. . . art majors create opportunities

2012-01-31T10:01:00.002-05:00

Below you'll see two photos from recent years. In the first, Ashley is in the drawing and printmaking studio, where she felt most comfortable. For her senior exhibition in 2010, Ashley developed a body of work that involved both mediums, as well as performance. Beneath, Angie is in the Cloisters, a division of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Fascinated by painting, Angie developed a body of work while she was in New York City during the summer of 2010, when this photo was taken.

Seeing these photos reminded me that art majors create opportunities for themselves to learn, grow, and succeed in the development of a body of work and much more.

Here's to....

2012-01-30T17:00:00.006-05:00

the opportunity to meet artists exhibiting at Georgetown College Art Galleries! Students can get up close and personal with both contemporary works of art and the artists who made them. Regular, changing exhibitions in the Cochenour and Anne Wright Wilson Fine Art Galleries give students and community members the chance to speak directly to professional artists living and working today. For example, here are a few photos from last year, last semester, and last week featuring Georgetown College students and friends:

GC Students past and present, Cortney Thorn, Devon Stivers, Bess McHone, Hannah Snider with visiting NYC artist Linda Stein (3rd from left), Dr. Decker (center) and artgal (right)


Shelby Riddell (far left) and others enjoy listening to Chicago-based environmental artist Allison Warren

Devon Stivers and Terrell Taylor discuss the photographs of Louisville artist Michael Winters before his artist talk

Michael Winters conversing with community member during the opening reception for the Cochenour Gallery exhibition, "Deeper Into the Presence: Pictures from Red River Gorge by Michael Winters"

When chairs are more than chairs

2012-01-29T22:27:00.001-05:00

When chairs are more than chairs...they are a lot more fun.

Opportunity: Collections Mgmt @ KHS & positions at Williamsburg

2012-01-28T01:08:00.005-05:00

Do you have a passion for cataloging historical artifacts? The Kentucky Historical Society (KHS) seeks a detail-oriented individual to catalog historical artifacts and care for collections. This position helps the Museum Collections and Exhibition team catalog artifacts, take digital photos and manage the online database. This is a team-oriented position working behind the scenes at the Kentucky Historical Society. To apply, e-mail cover letter and resume to khs.hr@ky.gov. No phone calls please. Application deadline is January 31, 2012.

The Kentucky Historical Society (KHS) is a state agency and membership organization that is fully accredited by the American Association of Museums. The KHS mission is to engage people in the exploration of the Commonwealth’s diverse heritage by providing connections to the past, perspective on the present and inspiration for the future.

Also-- keep your eye on Williamsburg...Lots of opportunities listed here

Robot Critique

2012-01-27T14:39:00.002-05:00

Story:

Each year we take a department art trip. If it is to Chicago or GA or Philly or St Louis, we always have a good time. While on the way home from an art department trip to Savannah Georgia, Athens GA, and Clemson TN Lynnesy Catron lost a bet. As a consequence she had to do the robot and ask for feedback from the gas station we were at. Enjoy. (video starts horizontal but switches soon)

BRING IT -- Alumni Donation Challenge!!!

2012-01-26T00:06:00.001-05:00

Who doesn’t love a little friendly competition? GC ALUMNI are asked to make donation of $10 or more ---for a challenge....The Development offices from GC and Pikeville want to encourage alumni to make a donation online to see who has the most school spirit! This contest is centered around the February 2 when the women’s and men’s basketball teams play one another. The winner of the contest will be announced between games on Feb 2. All funds will go to student scholarships, but be sure to ask for your donation to fund the ART SCHOLARSHIPS. I would further ask you to direct that donation specifically to McCormick-Williams (a scholarship named after two long-serving faculty).

Gifts must be made online between 4 a.m. EST on Monday, Jan. 23, and Noon EST on Thursday, Feb. 2.  • All online gifts from Georgetown and UPIKE during the challenge period will count toward the challenge total.  • The school that achieves the highest number of unique donors (not the highest dollar amount) within the challenge period will be declared the winner.  • Only one gift per person during the challenge period will be counted.  

Consider donating to the Art Scholarships over the next two weeks -- we're getting new scholarship applications already, in house for incoming students for the Fall 2012....Wouldn't it be great to give MORE money to art students? And, if you can't contribute now, consider donating in the Fall.

Thanks! Earl Grey

{photos above from 2009 Alumni bball game (left) and our beloved AWW building}

Even Deeper: Winters Photography

2012-01-25T11:35:00.004-05:00

I must admit that I'm very excited for Michael's show in the Cochenour. I've had the privilege of getting to know him over the past few years as a result of connections with the 930 Art Center in Louisville. I've been able to show a few pieces there and each time I usually get to talk with Michael more and more.

It's exciting when you meet someone with a kindred spirit, who speaks your language; and in our case it's the language of photography. It's fun to sit down and talk shop because we have so much in common, and as a result we can often talk about issues that are more deeply rooted and inherent in our shared medium.

What I wanted to point out with this post is that both Michael and his wife Mickie share the practice and passion of photography and artmaking. To this extent, here's a link to their website where you can see more of their personal work and photography business.

Hope to see you at the reception tomorrow.
DK

Go Deeper

2012-01-24T07:00:00.004-05:00

Welcome Back! The first week of spring semester is also the first week of 2012 GC Art Gallery Programming! Join us for a Reception this Thursday, January 26, 4:30-6:30 in the Cochenour Gallery to meet artist and Louisville 930 Gallery Director Michael Winters. Michael will be giving a NEXUS Talk at 5:30 regarding the exhibition of his recent photographs, Deeper Into The Presence: Pictures from Red River Gorge by Michael Winters. And, be sure to check out the 930 Art Center to learn more about what Michael does.

See you in the Art Galleries!

Welcome Back (I hope)

2012-01-23T06:41:00.000-05:00

Thought I would start off the new semester with a brand new installation made from 1,000 bicycles entitled Forever bicycles by dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, who emerged four months ago from a prolonged detention by the Chinese government for alleged economic crimes. The installation is one of 21 artworks on display as part of “Ai Weiwei Absent,” at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum and runs through January 29th.
Images like this can be inspiring, at least they are to me and I hope they are to you. This got me thinking of things I hope for in the coming semester and I have made a short list.

I hope your break was amazing, or at least refreshing or different.
I hope you find inspiration for yourself this semester
and I hope you don't wait for someone to bring it to you.
I hope you are ready to get to work.
I hope you are excited about your classes.
I hope your ambitions are chomping at the bit.
I hope this semester is a pivotal one.
I hope you missed us.
I hope coming into the building makes you feel at home.

Welcome back.

Opportunity: SCOPE art show and NY apartment

2012-01-19T22:35:00.002-05:00

Artists Wanted : Year In Review is a juried, international all-medium-encompassing open call for art awarding $50,000 in prizes, including an Exclusive Featured Booth at SCOPE Art Show during Armory Week this March 2012 and One Month in a NYC Luxury Loft. You are invited to take part in a mission to present a range of technique, style and narrative that captures the best emerging artists of 2011. Click here for info.

Georgetown Cultural District Update!

2012-01-18T00:02:00.006-05:00

As readers of the blog may well know, the Art Department at GC has been involved in the planning of a cultural district designation for Georgetown and Scott County. The KAC defines a cultural district as a "well-recognized, labeled, mixed-use area of a community featuring a high concentration of cultural amenities that attract local residents and visitors alike." The program is aimed at revitalizing downtowns and rural areas, promoting tourism destinations and connecting such diverse fields as art, historic preservation and agriculture.

Feeling as though we meet these criteria and have what it takes to continue as a district, members of the Georgetown-Scott County arts community began meeting in the fall 2011 (August 23) and reached the conclusion early on that we wanted to apply for Cultural District Certification. We completed a hefty project application and submitted this to the Kentucky Arts Council on November 1. The four organizing coordinators for the application have been Historic Georgetown (Kitty), Cardome Center (Allison), and G-SC Planning Commission (Brian) in addition to yours truly. But, we have a whole community of partners -- Art Gal, Jan at SCAC, Annie, Judy, Earlene, Artie, and so many others.

The Arts Council has alerted us to the date when the announcement of CD status will be granted. It's February 9 and Governor Beshear will make the announcement. We're hoping to caravan to Frankfort to hear the news (and hopefully, it's good news!).

One accomplishment has been the City of Georgetown's declaration of our Cultural District. So, we are taking the name and running with it. WE ARE a CULTURAL DISTRICT already. To this end, we are implementing one of our objectives, that is, the creation of a central calendar to share news of the cultural events in our community. We've begun that process already. Click here to see our beginnings of our Georgetown Cultural District Calendar!

Note: Image at top was taken by Jan at our recent meeting of the GCD. Image to the left visualizes only one of our many cultural events throughout the year. Here, Marjorie Guyon is talking with students from the Landover Nation during her exhibition "Nation of Nations" in the Cochenour Gallery of the LRC.

Upcoming Lecture: Memorial Mania

2012-01-17T00:58:00.004-05:00

Memorial Mania
The Hite Art Institute at the University of Louisville presents the Frederic Lindley Morgan Lecture entitled "Memorial Mania," by Erika Doss, author of the book with the same title.
Why do we make memorials in America today, and why do we make so many of them? Doss's talk focuses on contemporary American interests in memory and history and urgent desires to express them in public art and commemoration. Location and contact information are located here.
Fans of public art, American studies, and contemporary issues may find this lecture of great interest. Doss is professor and chair of the Department of American Studies at the University of Notre Dame. She has authored several American studies titles over the past two decades, including Spirit Poles and Flying Pigs: Public Art and Cultural Democracy in American Communities and Elvis culture: Fans, Faith, and Image.
Hope to see you there!

Opportunity: Workshop and Training

2012-01-13T15:42:00.001-05:00

KFW’S SPECIAL PROJECT SEEKING APPLICANTS FOR FREE WORKSHOP & PAID ART ACTIVITIES LEADER POSITIONS
KFW’s Special Project, focused on making art with families of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated loved ones, is expanding to include two community-based locations. To prepare for this expansion, Monica L. Williams, the National Artistic Director for the Special Project, will lead Art-Making and Empowerment Techniques for Re-Entry, a free interactive training workshop for up to 10 selected participants on Saturday, January 28th, from 11:00 am to 3:30 pm. All participants who complete the training workshop will then be eligible to apply for one of four new positions on KFW’s Special Project Team as twice-monthly Art Activities Leaders.

The deadline to apply is Friday, January 20. Selected participants will be notified on January 24.

To receive an application, email KFW Executive Director Judi Jennings at judi@kfw.org.

Opportunity: Photo contest

2012-01-13T15:36:00.000-05:00

Google Photography Prize
in association with the Saatchi Gallery

Do you see the world through a camera lens? Does the work of Wolfgang Tillmans, Thomas Demand, Ryan McGinley or Jeff Wall spark your imagination?

If so, we would love you to enter the Google Photography Prize, a global competition launched by Google and the Saatchi Gallery that offers students a chance to showcase their work internationally and to have it exhibited at one of the most prestigious galleries in the world.

Who is eligible?
The Google Photography Prize is open to students in higher education around the world (some exceptions apply, seehttp://google.com/photographyprize for more details).

What prizes can you win?
All contestants get the opportunity to share their photographs online.

The top 100 contestants will receive a Galaxy Nexus Android smart phone.

Opportunity: Kentucky Crafted: The Market (Sat. March 3 in LEXINGTON)

2012-01-12T21:22:00.003-05:00

Art students have volunteered at this event in the past. It's a great way to share the arts with Kentuckians! Interested in helping out? Contact Dr. Decker for information.

From 1 to 1 million – fun facts about Kentucky Crafted: The Market FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky Crafted: The Market, the award-winning arts marketplace that had its debut in 1982 at the Kentucky Horse Park, returns to Lexington at the Lexington Convention Center after a long run in Louisville at the Kentucky Exposition Center.

From 1 to 1 million, here are some fun facts about The Market.

1 – Kentucky Crafted: The Market has been rated the No. 1 Fair and Festival in the nation three times by the readers of AmericanStyle, the preeminent magazine for collectors of contemporary craft.

2 – Two billboards have been unveiled in Lexington to invite all Kentuckians to The Market. Do you know where they are?

3 and 4 – Mark your calendars for March 3 and 4 to experience Kentucky Crafted: The Market at the Lexington Convention Center.

6 – Artisans from six states beyond Kentucky will be guest exhibitors at The Market. Look for artists representing Best of Missouri Hands, Georgia Made Georgia Grown, Indiana Artisan, Ohio Designer Craftsmen and the Southern Highland Craft Guild.

8 or 10 – Admission is $8 if you buy your tickets online athttp://1.usa.gov/Market2012, or $10 at the door.

14 – Have fun participating in one or more of the 14 workshops and hands-on activities offered throughout the days of The Market. Get involved in a wide spectrum of arts including gospel singing, creative writing, storytelling, songwriting, Japanese fabric dyeing, weaving, drumming and dance.

15 – The Kentucky Stage will feature 15 live musical performances by the talented artists of the Kentucky Arts Council’s Performing Arts Directory. Hear Americana, Celtic, jazz, gospel, world and roots-rock music, including original tunes by some of Kentucky’s best singer/songwriters.

20 – In 2011, The Southeast Tourism Society has named Kentucky Crafted: The Market a Top 20 Event in the southeastern United States.

30 – Expect a celebration. This is Kentucky Crafted: The Market’s 30th birthday!

36 – The 36-page official program lists everything you want to know about Kentucky Crafted: The Market and is now available online athttp://1.usa.gov/Market2012.

181 – Visit the booths of 181 exhibitors at Kentucky Crafted: The Market – where tradition meets cutting edge – and shop for paintings, prints, jewelry, wearable art, home decor, furniture and artisan foods along with Kentucky-related books, CDs and DVDs.

10,000 – There are 10,000 parking spaces within easy walking distance of the Lexington Convention Center in downtown Lexington.

1,000,000 – This state-sponsored wholesale/retail arts show produced by the Kentucky Arts Council generates more than $1 million annually in economic impact for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

The Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency, creates opportunities for Kentuckians to value, participate in and benefit from the arts. Kentucky Arts Council funding is provided by the Kentucky General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts. Information provided by the KAC.

Opportunity: Western Elementary Art Day (March 15th, 2012)

2012-01-08T15:52:00.002-05:00

Diana from Western Elementary is looking for students to assist with Art Day, March 15, 2012. Please note: this date falls during GC's spring break. Interested in volunteering? Contact Dr. Decker for the email address.

Description: "The day will be set up where artists hold mini-workshops for classes that rotate from one "station" to another. Each session or class is for about 45 minutes. We are looking to focusing on art in every way possible. The date again is set for March 15th starting from around 8:00 am to about 1:00 pm. With breaks for lunch!"

Russ Bellamy at Turner Center

2011-12-31T16:05:00.011-05:00

Currently on view at Turner Center, Valdosta, GA. Enjoy --

sad day...Helen Frankenthaler

2011-12-27T12:10:00.015-05:00

The artist Helen Frankenthaler in her studio on Contentment Island in Darien, Conn., in 2003, with her work, "Blue Lady," acrylic on paper. Photo by Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times

Many students in art classes at Georgetown College come to know the work of Helen Frankenthaler because we are fortunate to have a work by her housed in the Dr. Donald L. and Dorothy Jacobs Gallery in the Ensor Learning Resource Center on campus. Personally, I discuss her work and development as an artist, sometimes briefly and other times in depth, in art history courses. Frankenthaler offers so much to art's history and, in my view, a means of critiquing the push toward abstraction in the mid-20th century. It was sad to learn that she'd passed away this week. In her honor, I've pulled some words about and images of her and her work. Enjoy.

From The New York Times...Helen Frankenthaler, the lyrically abstract painter whose technique of staining pigment into raw canvas helped shape an influential art movement in the mid-20th century, and who became one of the most admired artists of her generation, died on Tuesday at her home in Darien, Conn. She was 83. Read the full notice here.

GC's first art history major, Ashley Gabbard Darland (GC art history '07), addressed the artist briefly in her art history thesis that year. Darland discussed each work in the Donald L. and Dorothy Jacobs Collection, housed in the Ensor LRC on the GC campus. This collection includes Bilbao, a 13-color screen print from 1998, shown immediately below.

In commenting on the artist's place in art history, Darland notes: "Helen Frankenthaler’s works are often classified as stain paintings for their thin washes of pigment that are reminiscent of watercolors. She paints directly on to non-painted canvases so the pigments stain and absorb into the canvas. She began this technique in the early 1950s after being inspired by a large exhibition of Jackson Pollock’s works. Her techniques have influenced many artists over the years, most notably those who are color-fieldists. Other than painting, Frankenthaler also welds steel sculptures, creates ceramics, and illustrates books. In 1985, she had the unique opportunity of designing the sets and costumes for a production of England’s royal ballet. She has also taught art in several universities include Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. Frankenthaler was married to the late artist Robert Motherwell, whose work is also featured in the [Jacobs] gallery."

In the image above, from the original installation of the Jacobs Collection on the GC campus, Bilbao (the orange and yellow "picture" -- here, invoking Frankenthaler in my own use of language) is shown on the second wall at right.

For two thorough posts about Frankenthaler's work and her turn to prints, as well as the source site for two of the photos of Frankenthaler used above, click here and here. A screen capture of one of the blog posts, related to her work Mulberry, is inserted above.

Feel free to leave a comment below.

shout out to...Angelina

2011-12-23T10:42:00.003-05:00

who's joining the Cincinnati Art Museum's visitor services team.

CONGRATS on your new job:)

Sharpie Boy

2011-12-22T00:06:00.000-05:00

Came across this and thought it was enjoyable. . .

Faber Castell from eric yeo on Vimeo.

holiday cure

2011-12-20T08:00:00.002-05:00

Everyone's a curator, or so say some as outlined in the recent article "Ain't Miscuratin'" by Cat Kron. While I don't know if it qualifies, I do take a certain pride in the "art" of arranging ornaments on the tree and the presents beneath it. So, in the midst of department store displays of stuff and store windows dressed up to the hilt (even the table set for a holiday feast), I encourage you to consider the visual elements and principles of design present. Just trying to keep your art skills sharp during the break! Seriously,

Tree at Rockefeller Center in NYC

Peace, Joy and Happy Holidays to All!

Merry Christmas from The Swedish Legal System

2011-12-19T06:39:00.001-05:00

John Kieltyka was part of the duo that taught my first class in college and had a huge life changing influence on me. If it were not for him and Monika Lidman I would be who knows where. But more importantly he is part of a band called The Swedish Legal System and they would like to wish you a merry Christmas with their version of Silent Night. Enjoy!

Opportunity: Sell it @ Berea

2011-12-17T12:31:00.000-05:00

BEREA, Ky. – The Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea invites Kentucky artisans to apply to have their work selected to be offered for sale at the center. Deadline 12/31/2011

The Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea is dedicated to showcasing and selling visual art, music, books, fine craft and special food products made by Kentucky’s many outstanding artisans. The center currently features works by more than 650 artisans from all across the Commonwealth.

The Kentucky Artisan Center sells primarily the work of Kentucky artisans who are juried into the Kentucky Arts Council’s programs, the Kentucky Proud Program, the Kentucky Guild of Artisans & Craftsmen and the Southern Highland Craft Guild. Several times a year, however, the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea accepts applications from artisans not involved in these programs. Their products are reviewed by a panel looking for works that are of excellent quality, are distinctive, and are marketable with the center’s customers.

Product application categories are crafts and other visual arts, music, film, foods, and literary works. Applicants must be residents ofKentucky and at least 18 years of age.

Artisans interested in having their works considered by the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea should complete and submit a one-page application form, along with images and supporting materials. Application forms may be requested by calling the center at 859 - 985-5448. Forms may also be downloaded from the center’s website: www.kentuckyartisancenter.ky.gov

Deadlines for Receipt of Applications:

Dec. 31, 2011 (for January 2012 review)

June 30, 2012 (for July 2012 review)

Sept. 30, 2012 (for October 2012 review)

The Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea is located at 200 Artisan Way, just off Interstate 75 at Berea exit 77. The center’s exhibits, shopping and travel information areas are open daily from 8 a.m. - 8 p.m. (9 a.m. - 6 p.m. daily Jan. 2 through March 30). Admission is free. For more information call 859-985-5448 or visit the center’s website at www.kentuckyartisancenter.ky.gov

The Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea is an agency in the Kentucky Tourism, Arts & Heritage Cabinet of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Call to Artists

2011-12-16T10:10:00.004-05:00

Right Here Over There
Exhibition: March 23 - May 13, 2012 at LAL @ Loudoun House
Deadline: January 31, 2012

Found Object Gift Exchange 2011

2011-12-14T22:06:00.008-05:00

Thanks to everyone who came over tonight for the Get Together & Found Object Gift Exchange. We have another great photo to add to the album.

Hope you enjoyed the cookies, cider, coffee, and other treats. Good luck on final exams, papers, and critiques. And, we'll look forward to seeing you in the Art Department in the Spring 2012! (PS to Danielle & Rylery: we know Shawn will be around in the Spring. Know that you're also welcome to come by for a visit or to serve as guest-crit.)

Rebranding @ Matchstic

2011-12-14T09:04:00.007-05:00

Earlier in the semester, ART 338 Intermediate Graphic Design had a Skype conversation with the Matchstic branding house in Atlanta. Craig Johnson and John Bowles sat down to talk with us about the company, their projects and insights into graphic design and branding. In particular, we talked about evolution and revolution when it comes to logo design and brand identity (a topic for one of our projects in ART 338).

As it turns out, they have been working on their own redesign over the past year and posted the results of their hard work and innovation on their blog yesterday. It's a great study of fantastic design that you can read HERE. Check it out!

engage!

2011-12-13T08:00:00.002-05:00

Fall semester is winding down but check out the activity in the Art Galleries! Art Tigers Interactive Meeting at Noon on Tuesday, December 13 in the Jacobs Gallery and then on Thursday:

Cochenour Gallery, Ensor Learning Resource Center

Thursday, December 15
Opening Reception, 5:00-8:00 PM with
Artist Talk at 5:30 PM with Special Guests, The Glendover Nation:
children from the YMCA of Central Kentucky's after-school program
Part of Georgetown's Antiques & ArtWalk

Artist Marjorie Guyon has created a public art project examining the question, "how do we form a more perfect union?" Nation of Nations is by definition a local, regional, national and finally an international endeavor. Guyon has selected Georgetown College as the first venue to host the traveling exhibition of her project.

The ten panels printed on canvas in this exhibition echo the original works on view at the University of Kentucky's William T. Young Library through May 2012. Guyon's mixed-media work features life-sized figures and provocative text. Across the top of each panel the phrase "Have Mercy on Us" appears in the actual handwriting of our country's global citizens. Intended to move people to consider how "we, the people" can create a more perfect union, Nation of Nations poses a powerful question for our time.

To what end?

2011-12-12T12:00:00.000-05:00

Just the other day our Art Department Faculty had a great discussion about the intention and audience of the GCVA blog. Who should be writing? who should and is listening? Is it is being used to the best of its capabilities? And a whole host of other questions. One question was brought up that I thought needed to be posted. This is what do you think? You as the viewer and our audience should let us know what you think. What changes if any do you want to see on the blog?

Holiday Fun at Dr. Decker's: Weds. December 14, 4-6 pm

2011-12-10T00:40:00.008-05:00

It's that time of year -- cider, coffee, cookies, and, yes, the found object gift exchange. I am serving as host this year. All students enrolled in art classes are invited...come on over this Weds (Reading Day) from 4-6 pm. The only thing you need to bring is something for the gift exchange (wrapped however you wish!). Do the Duchamp thing: bring an assisted readymade, rectified readymade, corrected readymade, or reciprocal readymade.

[Note for those of you who have not had "modern art" a readymade may be defined as commonplace, prefabricated objects, isolated from their function and context with or without alteration, elevated to the status of fine art by a the act of declaration, and perhaps, also mere selection.]

Here's a photo from what I believe was the inaugural event, held at my place, back in 2004 or 2005.

Address: 125 Hemingway Place in Georgetown.

Map on this link. NOTE: Google Maps is outdated, there are no large trees in the lawn.

Take a study break and come over on Wednesday! All art students are invited!

Show Art

2011-12-10T00:03:00.001-05:00

The International Education Committee (IEC) at WKU is pleased to formally request submissions from undergraduate and graduate students from any post-secondary institution in Kentucky for presentation at the WKU Statewide Study Abroad Symposium in the Media/Art categories.

Deadline for submission in the Media/Art categories is Friday, February 3rd, 2012.

In order to submit, the student must be enrolled during the 2010 - 2011 academic year, and studied abroad during any semester from the 2009 Fall Semester through the 2011 Summer Term.

Media/Art Categories:

1. Photo Essay

2. Art

3. Poster

4. Creative Interpretation

More details can be found at WKU's Statewide Study Abroad Symposium website: http://www.wku.edu/studyabroad/students/symposium.php

Again, we are working on some wonderful awards/scholarships for participants at the event!

The Student Media Art Submission Form is attached for your convenience.

Proposal submissions and any questions can be directed to me (erin.greunke@wku.edu) and/or Dr. David Keeling (david.keeling@wku.edu).

Thank you,

Erin Greunke

Western Kentucky University
Adjunct Faculty and Doctoral Student of Educational Leadership

Dept of Geography and Geology
1906 College Heights #31066
Bowling Green, KY 42101-1066

Zakic @ 30 Open Doors (Los Angeles)

2011-12-09T07:28:00.000-05:00

Friday, December 16, 5-10 pm

Bergamot Station Art Center

for directions or more info see:

http://bergamotstation.com/explore.php

or contact the venue directly here

Modern Art Presentations

2011-12-08T00:06:00.010-05:00

Students in the Modern Art course have been giving presentations on art movements and sub-movements, approaches, and media of the past half century. Topics this week have included assemblage, photography, architecture, pop art, minimalism, feminism, and earthworks. Despite the cold and, yes, snow flurries! students left the art building, under Katie's direction, and went across the street to create an earthwork first hand. The task: to engage and make work with the earth or the living environment.

As readers of the blog may know, my personal and professional interest in public art extends to land art as well. While there are multiple definitions of this movement (and, as Katie pointed out today, Stokstad only gives us two paragraphs of information about this movement), I see earthworks and land art as one of the defining shifts in modern art. The premise of this sub field (pun intended) is straightforward and two-fold. Land art and earth art/earthworks, a movement and classification of public art that emerged in the 1960s and continues today, makes the earth both a canvas and the pedestal for works. Such artworks are intended primarily as permanent, large-scale forms in wide-open spaces and in particularized natural environments, such as along a river, within a lake, amidst a field, or in an urban setting. Examples include Claes Oldenburg's Placid Civic Monument (1967), Michael Heizer's Double Negative (1969-1970), Walter de Maria's The Lightning Field (1974-1977), James Turrell's Roden Crater (1977-present), Christo and Jeanne-Claude's Valley Curtain (1970-72), and Nancy Holt's Sun Tunnels (1973-76).

Our earthwork was conceived in the space across from the Art Building -- the grassy area that Allison Warren once took up for her public art piece, Crossing (after Whitman). As a class, we chose to create one work rather than single works individually. Aptly titled A Pile of Sticks (We're Very Literal), the installation/earthwork was created with natural materials only and without the aid of any connective materials or alterations of the form in order to join elements. See top photo for the completed work. While A Pile of Sticks (We're Very Literal) may not withstand the semester or, even the day, we hope that you enjoy this ephemeral earthwork.

Our next project is the Modern Art Game Day. Join us on Monday, December 12 in the Wilson Gallery around 12:30 (giving us time to set up the games at noon). All are welcome to join us!

PS to TJ: Thanks for taking our photos.

PPS: as a way to link this post with the previous one by Darrell, see this information on a new exhibition in Paris on anamorphosis, that is, an image that needs to be seen from a special angle to be seen without distortion. Story here.

Picture of A Picture Call for Entries

2011-12-07T08:17:00.003-05:00

The 930 Art Center in Louisville has a coll for entries – online submission with no entry fees. Quoted from their site:

DEADLINE TO ENTER: Sunday December 20, 2011 at midnight

ON VIEW: January 6 - February 12, 2012

Inspired by the fantastic website, Dear Photograph, we’re asking you to photograph a picture from the past in the present.

Submit the digital file below and we’ll print and frame our favorite 24 entries. At the opening reception we’ll let everyone vote for their favorite and we’ll give some sort of prize.

Make sure the resolution is high enough to print an 8×10″ print.
File type must be .jpg.
Feel free to submit more than one too.

Click HERE to submit your entries or find out more.

Photo above: Michael and Owen Winters (via 930's web page)

art cent$

2011-12-06T09:30:00.000-05:00

Having worked in art museums and galleries for the past decade or so, I am no longer surprised when the first question many visitors ask pertains to value. Not artistic value, mind you, but cold, hard, cash value. Instead of inquiring about how a work of art was made, how long it took to make, who made it and why, I estimate seven out of ten gallery-visiting folks will come out and say something along the lines of: "Which one of these is worth the most?"

"The Pig That Therefore I Am" by Miru Kim

It's a difficult question to answer. Like the economy, the art market is complicated and fickle. I read an excellent article that addresses the subject based in part on the author's impressions of the big art fair, Art Basel, Miami. Titled "Why is art so damned expensive?", Blake Gopnik has some amusing--and real world--commentary to share. His explanation as to why contemporary art prices are soaring (despite the horrible economy) include "the prestige factor", the fact that "dollars are easier to measure than beauty", the notion that some wealthy people are turned on by "the thrill of the hunt", and that increased competition between collectors (and artists) "skews the market".

Gopnik concludes with a nod at the price of appearances: "Top art collectors aren’t shoppers like anyone else. If they spend right, they can purchase the status of cultural patron. No one looks up to you for buying a fleet of Bentleys, but own a flock of Richard Serras, and you become a supporter of culture." Hmmm, I wonder if Santa would entertain the timely idea of adding Eli Broad to my list?

Invention Say WHAT?

2011-12-05T05:00:00.000-05:00

When I was a guest in my mothers fourth grade classroom she asked them what was the best invention of all time. The answers were of course amazing. No cars, computers, etc. The answers included, paper, paint, shoes, pockets (one of my all time favorites), telescopes, and bikes. Well I would have to add one more to that list after what I came across today... Conductive Velcro! The possiblilites are endless. This would allow for some of the craziest applications. Some that we have never even thought of. And this is not the future this is now. It is on sale for 22 dollars. HERE. For those who do not think this way, lets look at it like this. Imagine that you no longer have to have earbud wires because the wires are the velcro that already exist in your jacket. One of the proposed usages is

"a shared workbench that uses conductive hook and loop (velcro) to hold tools. Tools that have conductive loops on them can be attached to the wall of the work bench containing conductive hooks. In combination with a computer system, it would now be possible to see when exactly the tools were checked out, and by which worker."

Wow! What would you do with it? What is your favorite/ most important invention you can think of?

Opportunity: Internship LVAA

2011-12-03T00:06:00.001-05:00

Louisville Visual Art Association Internship Program

Deadline: December 16, 2011 for the Winter/Spring term (January-May)

Internships are available in the following departments:

1. Art Education

2. Arts Administration

3. Community Arts

4. Curatorial/Event Planning

5. Executive Assistant

http://www.louisvillevisualart.org/intern.html

ART370: The Art of Portrait

2011-12-02T09:19:00.011-05:00

NEW ADDITION for Spring 2012

ART370: The Art of Portrait

hour: 1 (one credit)

with: BORIS ZAKIC

meets: TBA

what: Drawing “Life” vs. Rendering Likeness

Drawing (as pursued at colleges anyway) is a way to quench curiosities. A way by which one leans toward something, an “inkling” or a “dabble” of sorts. It’s the college-artist’s way of “gesturing toward.” I have spent a good amount of time and energy last year looking into this. As it stands, it fares less as what one’s work is, but a try at: Even the mightiest of hotshots (assuming Sarah Thornton’s latest rumoring holds water) have had their episodes of this type of gesturings. That’s what The Art of Portrait feels like for me. I have been resistant on pursuing this kind of course for a long time. On philosophical grounds, teaching portraiture (like figure-drawing before it) seemed to me engaging in a type of neo-scholasticism, defending the old-school doctrines in the pluralistic world of ours, like the few of our “State of Drawing” colleagues, or Ross Zirkle, may he rest in peace, used to do. I will give it a shot in Spring, for an hour and with limited enrollment, not because I am succumbing to their views, but for I spent last six years on portraiture. While in process of compiling the material and work for the related catalogue (image above) it has occurred to me that there is much of relevance here for a student to explore within a studio setting: just think of the distinction of drawing “life” instead of drawing from life, for starters.

Image: Cover for Kaiser Söze: The Badass Portrait, an upcoming catalogue due February 2012.

Guest Post by Catherine Shelburne

2011-12-01T00:06:00.003-05:00

Drawing Exhibition Comes to Georgetown College: Experts’ Theories on Drawings, Methods, and Artist Selection

By: Catherine Shelburne, freshman, intended art major

All that attended Tuesday’s “State of Drawing” found the gallery show to be impressive. The Anne Wright Wilson Fine Arts Gallery currently holds drawing samples that represent art faculty from almost every college in Kentucky. Many of the artists whose work is shown said they enjoyed the range of pieces, and one artist, Russel Weedman of the University of the Cumberlands, described the show as “beautiful and diverse.” It goes without saying that everyone enjoyed themselves and the artwork, but I found myself enraptured not just by the breathtaking artwork but also by the round table panel discussion. Moderated by our own Professor Boris Zakic, the panel consisted of gallery directors Andrea Fisher of Transylvania University, Ester Randall of Eastern Kentucky University, Kristina Arnold of Western Kentucky University, and Jason Franz director of Manifest Creative Research Gallery and Drawing Center in Cincinnati.

The panel generally agreed upon the resurgence in drawing due to economic and technological changes in the past century, and the shift in the hierarchy of artistic media. They also all generally believed that a drawing needed energy and je ne sais quoi to please them, but what made the discussion so interesting was not the agreement, but the disagreement. The contrasting views gave everybody something to think about. Is that not the best part of academic discussion?

Most exciting were the varied teaching methods. While Fisher declared a more liberating drawing class with mixed media and less attention to technical skill best, Franz found that the rules imposed upon students while learning the foundational skills of drawing encouraged creativity within a structured setting and fostered free expression in more advanced levels of studio classes. Arnold looked for a happy balance because she often starts drawing classes traditionally but grows tired of what seems to her that repetitive teaching style. Abandoning the structure mid semester, she branches out into other media forms. These teachers, all from different schools and backgrounds, have such different ideas about the best methods of instruction. I look forward to the crop of new artists Kentucky will soon have under the tutelage of these fine people.

The panel also discussed the selection of works. Fisher once again wanted to see more popular modern drawing styles such as anime and cartooning. She found this exhibition traditional in its selection, and assumed the cause was the generation of the artists selected to contribute. She suggested a gallery show filled with the drawings of the students instead of the professors. This statement most likely got almost every student artist in the room thinking about what they would like to see or present to the public. Franz disagreed about the generational gap, and Randall found it interesting that the works selected by the artists did possess some traditional thinking. It gave rise to many other unanswered questions about the cause of the traditionalism, the affects of the age gap between professor and student, and how they played a role in the works selected.

So many questions, so many ideas, so much to think about! I could not imagine a better way to spend my Tuesday evening, and if you haven’t seen the show yet you should definitely look, observe, see what I am talking about for yourself. The exhibition “State of Drawing” is on view until December 15^th. The works will only make you think about all the wonderful possibilities the art world has in Kentucky.

This Friday @ UK: May Photo Lecture & Open Studio

2011-11-30T06:00:00.001-05:00

Two events happening this Friday at UK:

1) The second Robert C. May Photo Lecture of the semester, featuring Julie Blackmon at 4 PM in the Worsham Theatre, UK Student Center. Find out more HERE.

2) UK Fine Arts Open Studio—a great chance to tour UK's art department, see student work and make new art friends. The event is from 6–10 PM in the Reynolds Building. Find out more HERE.

Hope to see you there.

Drawn

2011-11-29T07:00:00.000-05:00

... to State of Drawing in the Anne Wright Wilson Fine Art Gallery. Thanks to EVERYONE who participated to make this exhibition possible. If you were not able to be at the opening reception and round-table dialogue, you can still check out the show, including People's Choice Award Winner Exposed Roots by Bethany Kalk.

Profs. Darrell Kincer, Sheldon Tapley (Centre) and Daniel Graham

Prof. Boris Zakic with Manifest Gallery Director and Prof. Jason Franz

Dialogue discussants Boris Zakic, Andrea Fisher (Transy), Esther Randall (EKU), Kristina Arnold (WKU) and Jason Franz.

schiele much?

2011-11-28T04:30:00.000-05:00

I have a been a long time fan of the work of Egon Schiele, ever since I had to copy his drawings in my freshman year of college. I came across the work of Adara Sanchez Anguiano and the series of drawings entitled "take your clothes off". It was an immediate kind of look that you cannot copy and just pretend it is not there. And with no text accompanying the work I was left to think of this as an obvious plagaristic unoriginal action. I understand a difference in concept, content, and context but it was just a sad day when someone takes something and doesn't make it their own in such a blatant way without acknowledging it.

Adara Sanchez Anguiano

Egon Schiele

Adara Sanchez Anguiano

Opportunity: Internship Wall Street Greetings--PAID

2011-11-23T15:29:00.005-05:00

contact Betsy at Wall Street Greetings. The company caters to financial industry with several major corporate clients. For the complete position listing (it was sent to me as a pdf and I couldn't post it here) Email: betsy@wallstreetgreetings.com or call 859.873.0877

Appropriation, Internet Meme, and Art History

2011-11-23T10:42:00.005-05:00

Lt. John Pike, the U.C. Davis campus police officer who pepper-sprayed passive student protesters, is popping up in some of the world’s most famous paintings as part of an Internet meme intended to shame him for his actions. Read and see images accompanying the story of the pepper spray incident (a bit graphic) and view the slideshow of images.

Put simply, pictures best explain this meme. Here's an appetizer:

And, here's a link to the source appropriation.

Talkin' Turkey!

2011-11-22T09:13:00.000-05:00

Fall 2011 Art Seniors talked turkey with viewers at last evening's opening reception for their show: Plagiarize This! on view through December 8 in the Cochenour Gallery. Here are some photos from the Happy Thanksgiving event.

Danielle Cinderella, Ryleyanne Vaughn, Shawn McPeek and Department Chair/Advisor Dr. Juilee Decker

Danielle speaking about her process.

Dath and visitors enjoying art.

Ryleyanne sharing her concept.

process before process

2011-11-21T08:49:00.001-05:00

This past week I was took part in a conference event hosted by The OLVDA (Ohio Valley Lumber Dryers Association). It is a unique organization of some of the knowledgeable individuals. This was my second event to be involved with them and it was fantastic. On this trip I was able to tour a wood veneer factory, a custom plywood plant, and an international lumber drying and shipping yard. All three were amazing. It really struck me about how far materials have to be processed before they can be put into our artistic process.
Recently in my artistic practice and process research I have been investing a lot of my time into traditional veneer techniques so the veneer factory was super fantastic to see in action, not just in text form (as I have become familiar with it). The trees are debarked split into "flitches" (half logs), then put back together and soaked in super hot water to soften the lignin. With the molecular structure of the logs softened they can then be sliced into sheets, these are then dried, trimmed and reassembled into full panels through a heat cured gluing process. This is done for the front and back of every piece of plywood you see. The middle core processing is a whole other process altogether. Different logs and species of wood require different types of slicing and assembly.

An Artful Week

2011-11-20T15:54:00.007-05:00

It's Thanksgiving week and we've lots to be thankful for in the art department, including art events every day of this shortened week.

Come one, come all to the Anne Wright Wilson Fine Arts Building, Gallery & the Cochenour space this week....

Monday, 5-7 pm in the LRC's Cochenour Gallery space

Plagiarize This! Fall 2011 Senior Show featuring Cinderella, McPeek, Vaughn

GC NEXUS event at 6 PM -- artist introductions and discussion

NEXUS Enhancement also available -- talk to Dr. Decker

Tuesday 5-7 in the Anne Wright Wilson Fine Arts Gallery
State of Drawing exhibition coordinated by the Art Faculty
Panel Discussion @ 5:30 pm in the Gallery is a GC NEXUS event
Watch for the write-up by GC art history major, Catherine, to be posted after Thanksgiving break
NEXUS Enhancement available -- talk to Dr. Decker

and a class project...

Wednesday 2-3:15 in the Anne Wright Wilson Fine Arts Building hallway

Cabinet of Curiosities, project 4 by the Fall 2011 Curatorial Studies students

Stop by to hear the presentations and read the Curatorial Statements

GC NEXUS Flex possible-- talk to Dr. Decker

Lean into Drawing!

2011-11-18T13:10:00.022-05:00

Foreshadowing our landmark exhibition (see Tuesday's post), I would like disrupt our feverish anticipation and give a few quick primers for a moment – if only to remind ourselves of those so-called normative intentionalities when it comes to drawing. The exhibition Italian Renaissance Drawings from Fra Angelico to Leonardo, held at The British Museum last year, will prompt me to break it down this way:

a. Storehouse of ideas: For the fifteenth century artist, a stock of drawings was a form of intellectual capital that could be useful in the production of future paintings, tapestries, sculptures, medals, embroideries, letterings, shields, facades, interiors and designing objects of all kinds.

b. A lens into artist's work: largely responsible for preserving and collecting, as well. Vasari, for example, was an avid collector, and used it for his iconic Lives of the Artists, a fundamental resource of the history of Italian art. As you know, “sketches,” Vasari says “are the artist’s language.”

c. Portraits, contractual and informal use of drawings between artists and patrons: the use of drawing for all these purposes has been fully established in this period. Sitters as patrons or patrons expecting a visual rendering of their commissioned project was a way of accommodating assurances and fortifying relationships: “Make me a little sketch to show me you understand.” (Duke of Milan to an artist)

d. Drawing albums: Jacopo Bellinis’s “London Album” was a heavy volume of fully developed renderings of scenes, it's simply magnificent.

e. Drawing in artistic training: A practice of making copies as a means of study, analysis and absorbing the style of the original.

f. Preparing Paintings, Cartooning: all types of drawing at various stages: compositional renderings, drapery studies, cartoons for the on-site applications, transfer “squaring” or gridding of all types.

g. finished and unfinished drawings: is one of those ever-recurring mysteries, a point at which intentionality runs to an impasse: but as we’re bound to see next week, still very much a part the dialogue today--

Join me Tuesday for the discussion:

Tuesday, November 22, 2011 from 5:00-7:00 p.m.

5:30 Round-Table Dialogue with Distinguished Guests (NEXUS)

Jason Franz, Director of Manifest Creative Research Gallery and Drawing Center, Cincinnati and Gallery Directors Kristina Arnold, Western Kentucky University; Andrea Fisher, Transylvania University; Esther Randall, Eastern Kentucky University and Jennifer Reis, Morehead State University.

Moderated by Professor Boris Zakic, Georgetown College.

Opportunity: Position in Frankfort at the KAC

2011-11-17T09:47:00.006-05:00

Hurry--position open until Nov. 24! Thanks to Rachel for passing this on to us! At the Kentucky Arts Council: Admin. Asst Serves as initial point of contact for all communication systems within the agency. Coordinates all incoming, electronic, and hard-copy communication from constituents, and disseminates information or requests for assistance to all agency staff. Monitors and disseminates all agency email; processes daily mail. Streamlines and provides suggestions for efficiency to communication strategies and systems. Monitors and disseminates all agency email; processes incoming and outgoing daily mail. Coordinates, monitors and documents all outgoing agency electronic and print communication and mailings, working with program directors and communications and technology branch. Prepares reports on outgoing agency communication and tracks expenditures for such. Develops, monitors and update constituent database as needed. Responsible for ordering and coordination of all office supply purchases and monitoring of supply inventory. Prepares quarterly analysis statement of supply use and makes recommendations for cost-savings. Prepares financial documents and accounts for receivables upon delivery of services. Coordinates, finalizes and communicates through various media forms arrangements for multiple public grant and adjudicated panel meetings throughout the year. Works with panelists to coordinate, finalize and communicate final travel arrangements. Prepares meetings materials; conducts data collection and reporting for panel meetings. Provides support for database, website and social media functions. Assists with development, implementation, monitoring and documentation.

Search for “Administrative Assistant III” with a pay grade of 12.

http://personnel.ky.gov/employment/

Core Strength

2011-11-17T00:06:00.014-05:00

Working out is difficult in the winter months, but not for the Cincinnati Art Museum (CAM)! They've tightened their belt, flexed their muscle, and are offering us a glimpse of their core strength (pun intended).

What I mean to suggest is that through their fresh, new display they are privileging their highlights and giving us a view of their strengths, the reasons their permanent collection is regionally premiere.

Senior art majors and some of their friends and family visited the CAM on Sunday afternoon to take in the art and were in for a real treat. The Emma Louise Schmidlapp Wing, designed by noted Chicago architect Daniel H. Burnham (think 1893 World's Fair!), had been closed for the summer. It's open now and is no longer a Doric-columned parade of ancient and classical civilizations. The corridor that formerly housed numerous Greek, Roman, and Egyptian objects along with an appetizer of modern and contemporary acquisitions has changed -- for the better. It's got core strength -- and by that I mean HIGHLIGHTS from the entire museum.

Behind graduation-tasseled-pods visitors can encounter a singular (or pair of related works) closely. These viewing areas stretch the length of the Schmidlapp Wing, featuring more two dozen major works from key areas comprising the museum's collections: Warhol, Matisse, Avedon are given private, almost peep-show treatment, just as Gainsborough, Flemish panel painters, Duveneck, and an Egyptian mummy are privileged. This new look is intimate, inviting, and absorbing. It encourages quiet, focused study and concentration on singular objects.

But this isn't the only change in the main corridor. Some of the ancient works from the classical civilizations and Egypt will be re-installed in a newly-created gallery upstairs called The Collections: 6,000 Years of Art. The space (and, maybe, even the core strength corridor on the first level?) will incorporate educative features as well. This space will be open later this fall (it was still under wraps when we visited on Sunday).

If you have the opportunity to visit the CAM over break, please do! The museum is free (bargain) parking is $4.00 (bargain!) but you get that for free as well if you spend $10 in the cafe or $15 in the gift shop. Go----See-----Art, become inspired or learn something knew, and share your passion with friends and family.

Gallery Hop & "Western Vistas"

2011-11-16T06:48:00.006-05:00

Gallery Hop this Friday, November 18, in downtown Lexington from 5–8 PM. It's a great opportunity to see local and regional artwork and meet new art friends. Make sure to ask me for Nexus Flex credit if you attend. Click here to download a map of participating galleries and venues.

And if you're there, stop by Ann Tower's gallery to see the work of my friend Chris Segre-Lewis from Asbury University. He has a show entitled "Western Vistas," featuring large-scale oil paintings of landscapes from the American west. Chris's work will also be featured here at Georgetown in the upcoming State of Drawing exhibition.

Hope to see you there!

State of Drawing

2011-11-15T09:55:00.000-05:00

Have you ever wondered about your future artworld colleagues and contacts? What are they up to now, even before you meet them? Next week, you'll have the chance to speak with teaching artists--and fellow students--from nearby institutions. They'll be visiting Georgetown College for State of Drawing, an invitational exhibition that showcases original drawings and unique examples of draftsmanship by art faculty from several of Kentucky's colleges and universities.


Boris Zakic, Boy and a Goose (Boethus, verso, part I) conte over indigo/white wash, pen and ink on paper 11x14 inches

For more information about the exhibition, including the featured artists, click HERE. See you in the Anne Wright Wilson Fine Art Gallery on

Tuesday, November 22, 2011 from 5:00-7:00 p.m.

5:30 Round-Table Dialogue with Distinguished Guests (NEXUS)

Reception attendees will have the opportunity to vote for a "People's Choice" award.

The Ten

2011-11-14T10:16:00.001-05:00

I recently came across an article about an interesting group called "The Ten". It was a group of painters that banded together in the 1890's to "secede from american art society" (all men). They made an agreement to exhibit their work annually with each other. They did so until 1919. Each artists work was supposed to be represented but it never quite worked out that way with the exception of the 1908 exhibition (Catalog HERE). The group was originally made up of twelve but some backed out of the agreement. The Ten insisted on abandoning the environment of Boston and New York and cities in general to retreat to farms, summer homes, and artist colonies. However 9 out the 10 studied in Paris.

I thought it was a fascinating idea and I wonder if it could have happened in this day and age. In some ways it would be much easier to retreat as long as you had access to the internet. But to find the commitment to cut off completely or to have the drive to be in a selective community is something completely different. I just thought it was an interesting story within the story of art history.

Read the full text HERE

Liverpool: Boyd’s Chaosmos 20TEN revisited

2011-11-11T07:30:00.014-05:00

“Memories of a Plan(e) Maker. Perhaps there are two planes, or two ways of conceptualizing the plane. The plane can be a hidden principle, which makes visible what is seen and audible what is heard, etc., which at every instant causes the given to be given, in this or that state, at this or that moment. But the plane itself is not given.

There are only nuances of this first conception of the plane. -- It exist only in a supplementary dimension to that which gives it rise (n+1).

Then there is an altogether different plane, or an altogether different conception of the plane. Here, there are no longer any forms or developments of forms; nor are there subjects or the formation of subjects …. only haecceities, affects, subjectless indivituations that constitute collective assemblages.”*

“look at those in-betweens and paradoxes”**

***

*from Becoming-Intense, Becoming-Animal…, p. 265-266. Deleuze, Gilles, and Felix Guattari. A Thousand Plateaus. Trans. Brian Massumi. Minnesota UP, 1987. Print.**Chris Boyd, curator's commentary from vimeo trailer Chaosmos 20TEN, release Nov. 2011, Concrete Films Ltd. concretefilms.co.uk, Liverpool.Merseyside. ***image featuring Gordon Cheung (front) Chris Boyd/David Ogle (background). image source: Concrete Films Ltd.

Opportunity: Show your art in Kentucky Monthly

2011-11-09T17:33:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Rebecca Redding for sharing this information with us. Kentucky Monthly's "Campus Life in Kentucky" Student Photography Contest
Frankfort, Kentucky (November 9, 2011) – Kentucky Monthly magazine is
seeking college students’ photo submissions for a “Campus Life in
Kentucky” pictorial feature in the February 2012 issue. The magazine is
interested in showcasing Kentucky colleges and universities from the
perspectives of the students. Favorite campus activities and locales,
best study spots, favorite faculty members – basically anything that takes
place on a Kentucky college campus and is appropriate for a
family-friendly magazine – is welcome for submission. The contest is open
to all actively enrolled students of Kentucky colleges and universities.

Deadline for submissions is Friday, December 2, 2011. Photos must be
taken at a Kentucky college/university at which the submitting person is
currently enrolled. Images captured at non-Kentucky campuses should not
be submitted and will not be considered for publication. Winning
photographers will be notified by January 17.

For complete “Campus Life in Kentucky” contest details, and to submit
photos for consideration, visit www.kentuckymonthly.com and click on the
“Submit a…” link and chose “Campus Life in Kentucky” (direct link:
http://kentuckymonthly.com/uncategorized/campus/). The online submission
form is the only method by which photographs should be sent for
consideration. Please do not mail or email photos. Should entrants have
difficulty uploading photos, they can contact Kentucky Monthly via the
email address above.

just one more week to...

2011-11-09T15:50:00.001-05:00

Instead of Dancing...
WALK to
Please Call Stella by Black and Jones

Dance Party Cancelled.

Join us Thursday, November 17, 5-8 p.m. for the Georgetown Antiques & ArtWALK

Anne Wright Wilson Fine Art Gallery

Characters of Little Character

2011-11-09T06:00:00.004-05:00

"Good fonts copy, great fonts steal." —Arial

Arial…has a rather dubious history and not much character. In fact, Arial is little more than a shameless impostor. —Mark Simonson

I read Mark's enlightening commentary on Arial a while back. For those who have an interest in typography, I encourage you to find out why so many designers despise this ubiquitous font. To read his article, click HERE. To know how to spot the difference, click HERE.

Opportunities: Internship at LVAA

2011-11-08T20:57:00.001-05:00

Organization Background
The Louisville Visual Art Association (LVAA) internship program welcomes students and recent graduates who wish to supplement their education and professional experience by working in a not-for-proﬁt arts organization. LVAA internships offer experiential education in a challenging, hands-on environment in exchange for a substantive contribution from gifted and interested individuals. LVAA is a not-for-profit organization that provides art education, art enrichment, and advocacy to a broad spectrum of people throughout Jefferson County and five surrounding counties. Headquartered in its National Historic Landmark home at the Louiville Water Toweron the banks of the Ohio River, LVAA attracts more than 45,000 participants annually to its exhibitions, art classes and special events. LVAA interns have the unique opportunity to participate in the development and expansion of these programs and operations.

The Application Process
There are three application deadlines and selection periods per year. Internships require a minimum commitment of ten hours per week for three months, during which time interns complete a speciﬁc project as well as daily assignments. Interns also participate in departmental meetings, special events, and various educational programs, as well as attend LVAA events. The Louisville Visual Art Association seeks diversity in its intern staff and provides equal opportunity to its applicants.

Applications may be submitted electronically by emailing jackie@louisvillevisualart.org and attaching your application form, resume, two letters of recommendation, and any additional materials by the appropriate deadline. Letters of recommendation may be submitted separately with the applicant's name in the subject line. If applicable, include your school's credit requirements in the e-mail.

When submitting an application by mail, send one copy of your application form, resume, two letters of recommendation, and any additional materials by the appropriate deadline. If applicable, include your school's requirements for credit with your application.
Please address all application materials (including letters of recommendation) to:
Education Programs Manager
Louisville Visual Art Association
3005 River Road
Louisville, KY 40207

Deadlines
December 16th for the Winter/Spring Term (January - May)

Internships
Internships are offered in following areas:
1.Art Education

2.Arts Administration
3.Community Arts
4.Executive Assistant

1. Art Education
Interns provide organizational and on-site support for numerous education programs, including the Children’s Fine Art Classes (CFAC) program, the internship recruitment process, and adult education classes. Duties may include general departmental duties, such as preparation of program packets, educational materials, research, correspondence, and scheduling. Candidates must have excellent organizational and basic computer skills, and should be comfortable interacting with the public.

2. Arts Administration- Reports to Design and Membership Coordinators
Interns will work to increase visibility for the Louisville Visual Art Association and its programs. Duties include: mailings, production of printed materials, web content organization, membership database and records maintenance, posting events, drafting media advisories, and developing relationships with print publications, television and radio stations. Candidates should have experience with cataloging and/or database entry and Microsoft Office, the ability to work independently, strong writing and organizational skills, comprehensive use of the Internet and social media programs, and experience with Photoshop.

3.Community Arts
The Community Arts Intern will provide assistance in initiating and managing ongoing Open Doors projects and will entail: Assisting in drafting grant proposals for potential Open Doors projects, as well as drafting reports to granters, setting up new community art projects by recording information and documenting projects through photography/video/blog as well as through the organized filing of completed project forms, continued organization of the program, dreaming up and participating in fun community oriented art-making projects next to professional artists and participants from various organizations around the city. Skills required: copy writing skills, Microsoft Office; some photography/Photoshop/graphic design/ web design experience; positive and effective people skills; a vehicle, a phone, and access to the web outside of the LVAA; Art-making experience; a positive attitude.

4.Executive Assistant
The Executive Assistant Intern will work side by side with LVAA’s Executive Director to help coordinate projects relating to: community outreach, marketing and public relations, financial management, fundraising, grant writing, communications, community relations, and advocacy. Furthermore, this intern will be responsible for daily tasks as requested by the Executive Director. Applicant must possess strong organizational skills, proficient writing and communication skills, and the ability to work independently.

click here for more information and to download the application form

For more information please contact Jackie Pallesen, Education Programs Manager, at 896-2146 x104 or jackie@louisvillevisualart.org

copy that?

2011-11-08T07:30:00.000-05:00

What is excellence in the arts? A provocative question, and one that Franklin Einspruch addressed in a keynote speech he delivered October 21 at Augusta State University. Not only is his essay, entitled "High and Low: What is Excellence in the Arts?", an interesting read (it was included in the College Art Association's online newsletter last week), it contains a passage that speaks to previous blog posts regarding copying another artist's work:

"And because excellence is a dynamic, it’s impossible to know how many traits or which traits are the right ones to copy or not copy. The problem is nearly paradoxical. The only way to relive the experience that good art gives you is by making things that are different from that art, and it’s usually not obvious as to how the new art should be different. At this point, a lot of artists chicken out.

... Figuring out how to make something good and different, when it’s not obvious how to do so, requires courage."

Forger Wolfgang Beltracchi, left, in court, and the alleged forged paintings by Derain (centre) and Leger (right). Photo courtesy of The Art News Paper, Issue 229, November 2011
Published online: 03 November 2011

Ah, copying, a topic which brings me to point out another intriguing article I came across in The Art News Paper regarding art forgeries. Apparently, the German media is treating a family of forgers with kid gloves, including likening their actions to that of Robin Hood, where the ultra rich are taken to give advantage to the poor.

Finally, in addition to wanting GC::VA blog readers to muse as I did about these two seemingly unrelated stories, I would like to guide you back to the same issue of CAA News. It has a link to an article in the Stranger that asks whether U.S. visual artists should be entitled to royalties. (The responses are quite thought provoking.)

So, in trying to put all of my musings about these articles into some sort of summary, I came up with this: some artists appropriate excellence and some artists (?) fake it, and other artists (in California) get paid when their originals are re-used. Do you copy?

Partial Works

2011-11-07T05:50:00.002-05:00

I recently saw a video on the metropoliton museum of art website for Islamic art curator Navina Haidar where she "extols the implications and aesthetics of the broken or incomplete". Great 4 minute video that tours the viewer through a collection of fragments in the museums collection. Beautifully photographed fantastic objects that really do create their unique narrative through there partiality.

View video HERE

I had a professor in college named George Ferrandi who had a huge impact on me. I remember one day a students getting into a debate over the visual elements and choices of a particular artist that was in the gallery at the time and George chimed in with the question. "What is more beautiful, a porcelain doll, or a porcelain doll that has been broken and put back together?" As a young undergrad just getting into art this question really challenged me. Not just for the aesthetic debate but also the question of intentionality. I responded with a question, asking if the person broke the doll on purpose? Was it found or was the person assembling it the original owner? For some those things didn't matter. But they did to me in order to form an opinion. To this day I believe that the development of context and a conceptual framework is so important to the works in which we view. Of course there are some minor exceptions I have found myself in the middle of but they are very rare.
I found Navina Haidar's statements to be really interesting, especially in the context of her job as a curator. The ideas of self producing narratives with incomplete objects, filling in gaps with pleasure rather than questions, I found these practices fascinating to me. She talks about the cultural context that weighs upon finished works falls away when things are abbreviated. What an interesting thought that the less information you have the more liberated you can be.

Alumni Spotlight: Brandon Long

2011-11-04T08:43:00.008-04:00

Brandon Long, roof tin assemblage, 32x32 inches (@WAB, Fall 2011)

Georgetown College's, Painting Class, fall 2000

I have followed Brandon Long’s work for over a decade now. He is an artist of principled views of engagement. Even more remarkable, he is temperamentally inclined to follow through on his own terms, too. Neither a validation seeker nor is bothered about any careerist complexes, he just goes about his business.

So in this sense, what to make of the five towering, dingy-clangk, borderline-dangerous “roofing tin assemblages?” The easy answer may be “rustic and farm-boyish,” but you can easily miss the larger picture. Sure, they are held together by the rusty old nails found alongside the very barn-detritus used. Sure, they are also very weighty, beat-up and sharp. Sure, there are no protective bolts, no “Nancy Rubins” tensile cables. If you see wary newcomers to our building slightly lean away from the work’s surface, that’s no surprise. I caught myself at it, too. While the intentions of Long’s work may have appeared quite clear at the quick draw, it has also occurred to me that what I had initially (and narrowly) embraced as a processes of aestheticizing patch-work of rural repairs, was in fact, also steeped in a larger history: as a type of landscapes of protection and/or as a kind of conflicting abstraction of self-preservation. In the walls of the Athenian acropolis today, as a comparison, we can also encounter columnar drums, friezes and metopes of the temples above in the bulwark that is so designed to protect them. The repairs in Athens, as in Long’s sources, are usually made with whatever materials were available and at hand. Long supersedes them only in that it’s done in the name of wall-based painting, accounting for mid-20th sensorium at the precipice of our Blue Grass today: “Inspired by…the collages and assemblages of Kurt Schwitters and Robert Rauschenberg,…I often have to remind myself to not overanalyze any elements of composition, but to let the materials respond to their juxtaposed placement.” (from Long’s wall text, 2011)

Brandon Long, class of 2001, is currently a Programming Director at the CAC Danville. The work is on view through December, 2011.

You Are Your Own Asset

2011-11-03T00:06:00.005-04:00

It's the beginning of the advising weeks, so faculty are sitting with students and talking to them about next semester, and the one after that, and the one after that. As a student myself, I always found advising and picking courses to be a thoughtful, reflective, worthwhile, and eye-opening experience. I had high hopes for each new semester and the challenges it would bring inside and outside the classroom. Every dime that I spent, then, seems such a sound investment to me, now.

As you're looking at schedules and contemplating your education and your future, consider making the most of your experience in college. Definitely consider studying abroad (as has been mentioned on this blog so often!). Also, consider undertaking an internship for academic credit or otherwise. Please see any art faculty if you have questions about recent interns and where they have served. Consider, also, taking an extra class -- if it will fit into your 18-hour schedule -- just for the sake of learning. As a full-time student you're entitled to take 12-18 hours at the same rate of tuition. Why not make the most of it, by taking additional hours -- beyond what you "need" -- and, possibly, taking them pass/fail or auditing them? That way, you can gain knowledge without having to invest as much time as if you were a full participant in the course.

Finally, consider that education is an investment. Despite the controversial stance coming from the Occupy Wall Street movement as to the astounding amount of college debt, there is Obama-style HOPE forthcoming (likely) with the President's announcement last week of plans "to expand loan consolidation and income-based repayment programs a bit." Consider, too, Justin Wolfers's observation that when you take out a student loan or undertake some other investment in your own education, “the asset you are borrowing against is human capital” and that, unlike home values, the value of human capital isn’t likely to drop sharply in a year, he says. (See article here.)

Invest in yourself. The rewards and payoff may not be immediate, but your hard work, diligence, and a stake in your own education may serve you well down the road.

Pictures, from the top: Angelina and Earl Grey at GC Commencement, 2010; GC grad Hannah (GC'11) at the Speed Museum, spring 2011; Jacob (GC '11) at the opening of our exhibition for Curatorial Studies, Fall 2010; Anna (GC '14) and Earl Grey at the International Museum of the Horse, Fall 2011.

Robert C. May Photo Lecture Friday

2011-11-02T06:00:00.000-04:00

Mark Klett
Lecture: 4 PM, Worsham Theatre in the Student Center at the University of KY (Euclid Ave & MLK Blvd, Lexington)
Exhibition: October 9–November 13, University of KY Art Museum, Singletary Center

"Mark Klett walks in the footsteps of nineteenth-century photographers who journeyed to the great wilderness of the American West and created iconic images that helped define us as a nation. His work at locations like Yosemite National Park and the Grand Canyon examines the intersection of time and place, analyzing how we conceptualize both.

Klett, who trained as a geologist, takes a long view of the landscape. In 1977, he and two colleagues began the Rephotographic Survey Project. Looking at photographs made a century earlier, they located the exact vantage points used by Carlton Watkins, William Henry Jackson, and others, and then meticulously rephotographed the view. The old and new images, published side-by-side in a 1984 book called Second View, revealed both enduring geographic features and the human impact on the environment.

In recent years, collaborating with Byron Wolfe, Klett has created large scale panoramas that merge his own photographs with historic views, uniting past and present in a visual continuum. In Rock Formations on the Road to Lee’s Ferry, AZ, two black-and-white 1872 photographs by William Bell are seamlessly inserted into a contemporary digital color image of the scene. The road through the sun-bleached desert eerily disappears in the old photographs and humans sitting on the ground are dwarfed by dramatic rock formations. In the present day, a camper chugs out of the past in a terrain that has barely changed in one hundred and thirty years, save for that stretch of blacktop.

Klett has expanded the range of historic images he uses to embrace classic modernist photographs from the 1930s by Ansel Adams and Edward Weston, vintage postcards, and historic drawings and sketches. However, he continues to meld old and new, creating a sense of past and present co-existing.

Klett’s work has been exhibited and published nationally and internationally for more than three decades and is part of the collection of more than eighty museums worldwide, including the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography. He has received fellowships from Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Japan/US Friendship Commission. He is the author of thirteen books, including Saguaros (2007); Yosemite in Time (2005); and Third Views, Second Sights (2005), a follow-up to Second View: The Rephotographic Survey Project (1984). Klett is Regents Professor of Art at Arizona State University in Tempe." from UK Art Museum website

To find out more, click HERE.

This just in....make some money by selling your art

2011-11-01T15:36:00.005-04:00

Call to artists for Holiday Art Sale @ the SCAC November 12 - December 17, 2011

Delivery to the Scott County Arts & Cultural Center begins tomorrow--> Nov 2.

Call reads: "We welcome you to participate in this year's Gallery & Gifts Holiday Market, the annual Arts & Cultural Center Fundraiser offering shoppers a special gift selection of "affordable art" created by local and regional artists, artisans and authors. The Arts & Cultural Center Gallery will be transformed into a destination for discriminating gift givers seeking unique, original, creative, masterful, and meaningful treasures for family, friends and associates.

Delivery days and times: November 2 through 9, noon-4 pm, and by appointment. We encourage you to deliver your work early. Inventory will be displayed as space allows, and as items sell, new inventory will be placed on display.

Commission: 70% to artist (be sure to mark-up your sale price 30% which will go to the Arts & Cultural Center to support operations.)

This year we wish to market the artists as well as your work:

a) Please prepare a half-page artists statement /biography/ or description of your creative process.

b) If at all possible please provide photo of you "at work" or your work "in progress" to provide shoppers a personal insight into the creative value a gift of art embodies.

c) Be sure to bring business cards or other promotional flyers to market your work.

d) PLEASE volunteer to help Gallery sit and sell! Call Beth Stone, our volunteer coordinator @ 502-867-0060, or sign-up when you check your work in.

Gift Gallery dates: November 12 - December 17, 2011

The show will be open to the public Tuesday- Saturday noon-4 and by appointment.

Quest Farm will hold two Artist Receptions Wednesday, November 17 and Dec 7, 1-3PM."

more please

2011-11-01T07:30:00.006-04:00

Here are a few photos from our time with Black and Jones last week, and if you missed their engaging and entertaining talk, don't fret. They'll be back later this month to please you even more. Look for details in coming posts and be sure to immerse yourself into "Please Call Stella" in the Anne Wright Wilson Fine Art Gallery.


Artist Barry Jones during "Please Call Stella" installation.

Artist Kell Black speaking with Portia Watson at the Opening Reception.

Stumbling

2011-10-31T08:08:00.001-04:00

Artist Banksy using the all to famous quote from Picasso.

I have overheard the following statement a number of times in response to my question "so what are you thinking about doing for this assignment.
"I found this thing online, its really cool, I think I am going to do that."
I know a number of students that consider fumbling through stumbleupon as "research" and although a practice that can get creative juices flowing I do not believe it is a healthy practice for idea searching. Ideas can be found anywhere but the catch is that they need to be authentic in a larger hope of being something original. What I am talking about is totally different than the current exhibition in the Anne Wright Wilson Gallery by Black & Jones. It is not using things that are previously generated as new raw material for an original idea. It is students that see no problem with finding "their ideas" in someone else's and representing that "idea" through the use of their or someone else's work.
I know how easy it is to see something or hear something and think "That is exactly what I was thinking/believe/what to communicate". That is ok to think that but students need to then use some moral discrepancy not only in the area of copyrights and plagiarism but in their artistic integrity. You should want to make something new, not just something someone has not seen before. I often have a laugh at Evelyn Fuson (a current senior in our art department). She will often find things and share them with me and I have seen them before so it became a fun game where she would try to find things I had never seen. It also made me look a lot since I didn't want to "lose". I give the example of a class I taught a number of years ago entitled paperworks. The first exercise was to make a paper airplane they had never made before. I did a simple google search and made the first 10 I found. Then did the same for the searches "best paper airplane", "Crazy paper airplane", and "unique paper airplane". I came into class and had the students share their airplanes then I displayed some of the top hits I had found. It was obvious that students were all doing the same "research". I had them do it again and once again they displayed theirs and I shared from the second batch of searches and only one had something different then I had found in a simple search. Many forms of research exist, make sure to make the best use of your time and efforts in how yours is conducted.

You Know You Want it...

2011-10-27T00:06:00.002-04:00

Art Topics and Other Courses of Interest....

Advising begins on Monday, 10/31.

Consider these fine courses,

among all the art offerings, this spring:

ART 170/FDN 112 The Grand Tour: Ancient Greece T/R 8-9:15 am & 9:30-10:45 am (two sections) Taught by Prof. Zakic

FDN 112/ART 170 The Grand Tour: Ancient Greece is designed to reinforce skill development from Foundations 111, but the work will be modestly interdisciplinary, engaging a variety of topics. The outline of the course follows the standardized itinerary that includes the ancient sites of Athens, Delos, Olympia, Delphi, Corinth, Epidaurus as well as other sites beyond the Aegean or Greece proper. These are major centers through which art, architecture, ancient travel, archeology, ethnography, geography, literature, myth and history came to define all that we came to understand as “classical antiquity.” While the primary lens to the material is through a traveler of Ancient Greece, the comparative analysis of its relationship to subsequent periods, Hellenized territories and affected powers, such as its Roman rule, will unavoidably be explored as well.

ART 330:A Performance and Installation 1:00-3:20 T/R Taught by Prof. Graham (note course number ART 330:A ) This course is an investigation to the mediums of performance and installation. In this class we will explore various techniques, materials, ideas, and experiments centered on the body and its relationship to communication and the physical world. This will include but will not be limited to collaboration, conceptual brainstorming, manual labor (hands on making) and field research (getting out of the computer lab and studio). We will use projects and experiments designed to encourage the development of: an exploratory attitude, conceptual and technical ability, personal expression; and an understanding of the formal and visual language found in performance and installation. In all work, emphasis will be placed on finding imaginative solutions to the problems presented, on developing skills with a variety of processes and materials, on increasing your knowledge about the attributes of the body and craft. Don’t worry if you don’t know what you are doing that is all part of it. Prerequisite: none

ART 370: A Brand Identity 3:30-5:50 T/R Taught by Prof. Shields People fall in love with brands, trust them, and believe in their superiority. Students will learn to combine typography, color theory and layout to form a cohesive brand identity and apply that identity across multiple platforms. Brand identity process and best practices will be explored. Prerequisite: ART 234 or permission of the instructor. Software: Students may choose to use any combination of the following: InDesign, Illustrator, Dreamweaver or Photoshop.

ART 470: A The Art of Collecting 2:00-3:15 M/W Taught by Dr. Decker The artist, the collector, the art, the dealer: four aspects of artistic exchange that might yield modest as well as magnificent results. This course examines these four criteria with the goal of understanding a history of collecting. While the primary focus remains art collections, and, in particular, private art collections, other assemblages are within our purview. Particular attention will be paid to the stunning body of works created by the New English Art Club, and other 19^th through 21^st-century works, in the collection of John Milward. Students enrolling in this course have the opportunity to work closely with Dr. Decker and Laura Stewart, co-curators of the exhibition “A Passionate Pursuit: The Milward Collection,” an exhibition celebrating and documenting this collection. The exhibition opens in the Wilson Gallery on March 2, 2012.Prerequisite: one art history course or by permission of the instructor.

ART 470: B New Museum Theory 4:00-5:15 M/W Taught by Dr. Decker As Earthwork artist Robert Smithson noted, “Museums, like asylums and jails, have wards and cells—in other words, neutral rooms called ‘galleries.’” Smithson’s rejection of the museum and his assessment of the gallery as a dead space is not the only critique of museums and their spaces. For example, Fred Wilson, Andrea Fraser, Mark Dion, and others have critiques the museum from within. Beyond these commentary and actions, authors, critics, curators, and scholars have further questioned the museum. This course investigates the charged space of the museum, the history of museums, and the key theories and practices at play in museums today. Attention will be paid to the role of the object, its placement, and its impact on the viewer as much as the institution. Building upon these discussions, students undertake several experiential projects, including one that incorporates Web 2.0 technology. In addition, students develop case studies of galleries and their spaces. Students are charged with the questions: Can museums change? And, do they? Prerequisite: one art history course or by permission of the instructor. However, please note: this course is not primarily focused on art museums, but rather on object studies. Students from all majors are encouraged to enroll!

Guest Post from Italy: Elizabeth Metcalfe

2011-10-26T06:00:00.007-04:00

As a freshman in Dr. Decker’s survey class, we discussed and studied Brunelleschi’s famous dome in Florence, Italy. If you had told me then that in just 2 years I would see this dome in person, I wouldn’t have believed you. But here I am, spending a semester in Italy (my first time outside of the United States!) and walking past the enormous Duomo every time I step outside.

It’s almost unfathomable to me that buildings like the Duomo, built before America was even discovered, are dispersed throughout contemporary Florence. In Florence, I get to live life with one foot in the 15th century and the other in the 21st. The street I live on is referenced in letters written by members of the Medici, a powerful Renaissance banking family and patrons of the arts, but today bustling tourists walk the same steps of the Medici with guidebooks and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Here in Italy I have become acutely aware of the vastness of human existence. It’s one thing to read about Renaissance works in Stokstad, but it’s an entirely miraculous and humbling experience to be actually standing before the works I read about in class, especially considering the Renaissance is relatively recent in terms of the entire history of art. I wonder if Michelangelo, Botticelli, Leonardo, and other Renaissance masters knew how widespread and lasting their legacies would be.

Though the Florence of today is incredibly different than the Florence of the Renaissance, there is still so much to love about it:

1. the art—almost every week I am traveling to museums for class to see works of the Renaissance firsthand. The art in Florence isn’t just limited to the Renaissance either! There are many small contemporary galleries, and it’s impossible to walk through the city center without passing street artists or seeing guerilla art.

2. the sounds—whether it’s the clinking cups in the espresso bars, the street musicians, or the emphatic sounds of the Italian language, I love walking around and just listening to Florence.

3. the people—through passing the same street violinist on the way to class each day and being recognized by the vendors at the market, Florence is becoming more of a home to me. I love when I get to have conversations with Italians on the street, on the train, or in restaurants because they are so friendly! Plus, it’s an excellent opportunity to practice my Italian.

4. the food—everything in Italy is so fresh and delicious! I have a feeling caf food is going to get old really quick when I return next semester.

5. the travel opportunities—not only is there so much to do in Florence, but there is so much more in Europe BEYOND Florence! My school sponsors several trips around Italy, but I’ve also discovered upon coming here that it is extremely easy to travel to other countries. By the end of the semester, I will have gone to Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Germany, France, the Netherlands, England, and several regions of Italy. One of the wonderful differences between America and Europe is that in Europe, so many different and rich cultures are so close together!

Needless to say, studying abroad has been wonderful so far. It is definitely something I believe everyone can benefit from, even if just for a summer or winter term. There is so much to see, and every day I experience something new. It’s now the halfway point of my semester abroad, and despite the noisy neighbors downstairs who are always on the terrace either passionately fighting or casually singing opera, I conquered a week of midterms. Time has flown by and although I will probably be excited to return home, there are so many things I will miss about Italy. I can’t say it enough—STUDY ABROAD if you can!

Feel free to follow my travels at elizabethmetcalfe.tumblr.com. I hope everyone in the art department is having a great semester and I’m looking forward to seeing you all in January!

sure to please

2011-10-25T09:16:00.000-04:00

Please Call Stella opens Thursday, October 27 with a RECEPTION from 5-7pm in the Anne Wright Wilson Fine Arts Gallery. Artists Kell Black and Barry Jones, both professors of art at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee, will TALK at 5:30 (NEXUS). Learn more about the artists' backgrounds and this video installation show here and here.

In addition to meeting Black & Jones during their time at GC, please welcome media arts students from Elkhorn Crossing School (Scott County), who will be visiting the galleries and art department on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning this week.

Last week, we had the pleasure of spending some time with artist and Hollins University art professor Jennifer Anderson. Don't miss her cut-paper works on view now in the Cochenour Gallery.


Prof. J. Daniel Graham and artist Jennifer Anderson recall days at U. Ga.

Jennifer Anderson guides GC Women's Studies students into her work.

Factory Square show

2011-10-24T06:00:00.000-04:00

The Exhibition by Ledelle Moe and Robert Fronk was fantastic. Here are some images from the American Can. The show is up until December so if you get a chance, go see it and if you are up there you should go to Mr. Genes Dog House for a chili cheese mett. It was a heart stopper but amazing. (seen after the jump)
Got a chance to talk to both Ledelle and Robert, both were great individuals. Ledelle especially was super down to earth and very motivational.

Our very own Terrell went along for the opening, if you get a chance stop him in the hall and ask him about it.

Fantastic local dog place in Cincinnati. Long story about the definition of a "Mett" that is to long for the blog so you can stop and ask myself or Terrell about it.

Opportunity: AmeriCorps in museums!

2011-10-21T08:18:00.002-04:00

Check out this posting for the Ohio Historical Society. Great opportunity for recent grads interested in working with objects.

Join me@.NO Gallery, Sat.10/22, 1-5pm

2011-10-20T20:14:00.019-04:00

.NO Gallery is located 251 E. Houston, (btwn. Norfolk and Suffolk) on the Lower East Side in NYC. (take F-train to 2nd Ave, closest stop). See full program HERE.

Noah Becker: "… Authorship of ideas is fluid in the current online environment with ideas and images distributed like a digital wild west. We are still moving forward at a rapid pace with no sign of slowing down. When the paradigm shift in the art world began (from print to digital) things began to change. Whitehot took a drastic step at that juncture bringing in a large number of new critics, artists and curators forward. This involvement will hopefully provide the reader with a disconnect from the massive amount of cyclical commentary and intellectual pollution that is characteristic of our time." (from: The Letter from Editor, Monday Jan. 10, 2011. See: http://whitehotmagazine.com/documents/about)

Franklin Evans: "… Are we the Make It Bigger Generation? I think we are past that (possibly linked to recent economic decline). … Nothing felt like Richard Serra’s Torqued Ellipses, Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, or even the maquette for Jeff Koons’ LACMA Train. The recent economic past may be a harbinger of what’s to come (slow decline of economic hubris and transition to more moderate lifestyles) and in ways it may be seen in some of the GNY work. Matt Hoyt’s strange work wonderfully relates (and more than just this) to what I suggest as the current social attitude digesting the socioeconomic decline of America." (from: Greater New York Roundtable by Richard J. Goldstein, Sep.7, 2010)

Vanessa Albury: "…The light, the image, once you’ve reached it, it consumes the space and cascades before you. You are surrounded by images on top of themselves. A montage of a white lily, black lace trim, dust & sand in a mirror. I send my images back upon myself in reflections on dusty mirrors & on glossy glass windows. I send these images on to you." (from: http://www.vanessaalbury.com/2statement.html)

Tanja Thorjussen: "… One thing that is specific to the Norwegian art market is its multiple grants for artists, this sets the economy of those Norwegian artists that receive a grant in a different light than the American artists that do not get grants to the same extent. We will not be able to sidestep this comparison. I will therefore briefly explain how the grants are built up and how this influences the way many Norwegian artists work." (from an email correspondence with Boris Zakic, Oct.11, 2011)

Inger‐Reidun Olsen: "… Through the physical body, sound and simple scenographic elements [RE-ACTION] is reflecting how these power structures affect us and the way in which we have power over our own lives, in relation to other people and the world around us." (from: http://irodance.wordpress.com/main-projects/)

Volunteer: Spring

2011-10-20T17:38:00.001-04:00

Kentucky Crafted: The Market is celebrating its 30^th anniversary and is moving in 2012 to Lexington where it all started! The Kentucky Arts Council needs your help! It takes many hands to put on such a large event. This year’s Market will be March 1 – 4 at the Lexington Convention Center in Lexington, Ky. We have openings for Wednesday – Sunday and a range of specific hours from which you may choose. We are asking for volunteers to work a minimum 3-hour shift. To volunteer, please register at the following link. Volunteers receive free admission to the Market! Contact Charla Reed for info: charla.reed@ky.gov

From the object to the non-object

2011-10-20T00:06:00.006-04:00

Above: a view of Georgetown College from 1892. Below: the Cochenour Gallery, the Dr. Donald L. and Dorothy Jacobs Collection, and the Anne Wright Wilson Fine Arts Gallery, three exhibition spaces on the Georgetown College Campus.

In the Curatorial Studies class over the past few weeks, we've moved from curating objects to recording information to be placed on the smartPhone app "Take it Artside!" that we helped bring to life last year. (The app was launched in 2010 and GC art is one of the founding educational partners. See info here.) The third part of this transition is to move from the object and its record to the non-object and its story, that is, the oral history. Well, truth be told, the oral history is an actual object, in that it exists in a digital file, but its essence is truly the conversation with others. And readers of this blog will hear more about this project in the coming weeks.

As we transitioned through these projects, though, we engaged in a discussion about "the object." We asked if art, science, history, or any museum needs objects. We read Rainey Tisdale's attempt to answer this question. We mentioned Steven Conn's recent query articulated in a U Penn podcast where Conn points to museum experiences and, in our "museum age", the blending of culture, politics, and commerce, when we venture into a museum and purchase a replica or memento experience in the gift shop!

In museum circles, there is a divide between those who feel the object is essential and those that do not. Take, for example, Google Art Project. Truly, seeing John Constable's Salisbury Cathedral via GoogleArt affords me the opportunity to see a digitization of the canvas. I can see evidence of Constable's brushwork in a way that I cannot, even when I am standing directly in front of this magnificent work in the Frick Collection. There's an enhancement to my experience when I see the canvas through the monitor or screen of my computer. But, this is not a substitution for the painting. I have seen Constable's painting first hand and, after several views of it, I feel I can begin to know about it. And, I can appreciate this opportunity to view a digitization of the painting. But, I also know that this digitization is not the painting itself.

So, you might heed caution against using an app as a substitution for the work of art (or other authentic object). The object - the painting, the sculpture, the installation, the work itself -- is necessary in order to live the experience in most cases. Unless you're David Hockney.

To move from viewing art to educating us about it, I think that one of the most interesting applications of technology to the museum experience is as this type of enhancement that we see hinted in the Google Project. Recently, the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh has connected works of art -- through technology -- to educational purposes. Their fantastic new app affords viewers "a multimedia exploration of Warhol's art and life, combining archival materials, letters, images, film, video and audio clips. It sheds light on more than 50 works that span the artist's career, including Silver Clouds, Sleep, Mao, The Last Supper and Self-Portrait. See information on the Warhol app here.

So, to return to the question above: is the object necessary? Given some of the information above, what do you think?

From Analog to Digital...and Back Again

2011-10-19T06:00:00.001-04:00

This Friday I'll be participating in the UK Art Department's PhotoDay. Twelve Georgetown students will be exhibiting works in the Kentucky Next Show. I'm also hoping to see a number of our students in attendance. From my experience last year, I believe it will be a worthwhile event.

Part of my time will be spent doing portfolio reviews, looking at student work and providing feedback and insights. I will also be presenting a lecture on the idea of incorporating both digital and analog methods in the production of photographic work.

This methodology has been on the forefront of my mind in recent days—so much so that I have begun to design ART 120, Photography, around the concept. It has become a large aspect of my own personal practice and has provided me with a relatively unique and definitely refreshing way of working.

I heard a statistic recently that there are 1,000,000 photos uploaded to Facebook every two seconds. This is only a symptom of the ubiquitous nature of digital photography. My main concern is that there are so many people with good digital cameras that great exposure, color, contrast (the technical aspects which used to be difficult to attain) are a given. This makes it all the more difficult for your work to stand out these days. But what's not common are traditional analog methods, whether it be in capture or in print. And the rich (although somewhat brief) history of photographic processes can be accessed to create unique and authentic works.

If you have the opportunity and would like to find out more, I'd certainly love to have you join me for my presentation at PhotoDay; better yet, enroll in ART 120 and invest your time this Friday in attending other great workshops and lectures.

DK

Photo above: Blessed Are Those Who Are Invited (I shot it with a twin lens reflex camera using medium format b&w film, scanned with a film scanner, edited in Photoshop, digital negative printed on Pictorico OHP from an Epson R1800, final print is a toned cyanotype on the back of "recycled" Ilford fiber based paper)

opportunity: Scholarship for Women Divers

2011-10-18T16:07:00.001-04:00

Thanks to Dr. Singer for passing this along: http://www.wdhof.org/scholarships/scholarships.shtml

a cut above

2011-10-18T07:00:00.008-04:00

Don't miss artist Jennifer Anderson during her visit to Georgetown College this week! The exhibition, Fragmented Faces: Cut-Paper Works by Jennifer Anderson will open with a reception in the Cochenour Gallery from 5-8PM on Thursday, October 20 (part of Georgetown's monthly Antiques and ArtWalk) and, Ms. Anderson will give a lecture at 5:30PM (NEXUS).

Postcard design by GC Art's own Ryleyanne Vaughn.

On Friday morning at 9AM, art, art history, and women's studies students and faculty are invited to attend a coffee chat with Ms. Anderson, also taking place in the Cochenour Gallery.

Event listing...Weds!

2011-10-17T16:09:00.003-04:00

Megan (Parker) Compton, class of 2008, invites everyone to this fantastic event on Wednesday, October 19 from 6:30-8:30 pm. The event is a reception and book signing for Mariana Cook, photographer and protege of Ansel Adams, in celebration of her new book, Stone Walls: Personal Boundaries. [The book was reviewed in the NY Times recently.] The event is at the Bodley-Bullock House, 200 Market Street, Lexington. I'll be there--hope you can make it!

Also, reminder about the Headley-Whitney's event that evening, also. Art After Hours is from 6-8 pm at the Headley. Info here.