Field Study: Civil War history, memory, and placemaking

Where is that oh-so-typical hero on the horse? 

For the past two weeks I have been off campus conducting research on Civil War memory and placemaking. This Civil War research is related to my larger project on a Kentucky-born sculptor (see previous post here). Needing to incorporate a much broader geographical area, I found myself in need of a field study. Field studies involve data collection and information gathering outside of the traditional research confines of museum, gallery, research library, or archive. A field study moves outside, into the field figuratively, in that you're moving beyond the four walls of a research lab or space.  And, in my case, I was, literally, wandering through fields, as evidenced above.

My research for these past two weeks contributes to the primary research project that I mentioned above and serves also as preparation for a talk that I will give next month in Louisville as part of the Kentucky Historical Society's week-long symposium "Torn Within, Threatened Without: Kentucky and the Border States in the Civil War." My presentation and the site visit I will lead to Louisville's Confederate Monument will be one of several events for the National Endowment for the Humanities 2013 Landmarks of American History and Culture Teacher Workshops. For more information on my presentation or the NEH program, click here.

Black History Month and other links

The largest art theft in U.S. history occurred in Boston on March 18, 1990, when 12 paintings collectively worth $100 million were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum by two thieves posing as police officers. (via)

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The Huffington Post closed out Black History Month but highlighting 30 Contemporary Art Makers Under 40 You Should Know 

"As Black History Month comes to a close, we've picked 30 young black artists who are contributing to the ongoing conversation of race and representation in contemporary art. Whether through sculpture, photography, video or performance, each artist illuminates the complexity of the self with a unique and bold vision." (All photos from The Huffington Post article) 

Look at these awesome photographs of kids portraying prominent black figures in honor of Black History Month by Eunique Jones Gibson. You can go to the website here.

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Buzzfeed does it again...

I'm just going to leave this right here. (Via Buzzfeed)

Opportunity: Show art

Calling all sculptors and installation artists! Share your artistic passion on See.Me - a new creative community - and have a chance at over$125,000 in awards, including your own massive billboard display in Times Square, New York City.

It’s free and easy to join. Click Here to Participate Join before January 29, 2013 11:59pm ET and be eligible for over $125,000 in awards.

It's Turkey Day...How about a juicy, meaty book?

This comes from the resident vegetarian, of course. No turkey here, but books are certainly on the docket this Thanksgiving. And, what a selection we have from which to choose, compliments of the International Sculpture Center! The ISC has launched a web feature to focus on book reviews, essays, artists, and the profession of sculpture. What makes this site particularly rich (in terms of its potential) is that the intent is to have a new title reviewed every week. If you visit the site, you'll see recent (since 2008) publications on diversity, art, economics, and other topics. Right now, the site is very minimal, however, if it measures up to the other ISC projects (such as Sculpture Magazine and their hardcover anthologies), we'll be richly rewarded.

Perusing the site now, you'll see that each title has some relevance to the sculptural world, though not exclusively. Check it out and let me know what you think. Maybe you'd like to review a title for ISC? Or, you'd like to join the dialogue by posting comments? Instructions are here.

Happy reading!

Field Trip: Foundry Visit

Calling all art lovers -- Laura has arranged an amazing opportunity for art department faculty, students, and friends to observe lost-wax casting first hand.



Details: Join us on a visit to Prometheus Foundry. Artists Amanda Matthews and Brad Connell will open their foundry to us on Friday, Sept. 10 at 11 am. Amanda is the artist who designed one of our campus sculptures, the

Art Matters

What is art?  Does it matter?  Some of us might argue that it matters indeed because art is something essential to our humanity.  Many art historians will point to the pre-historic cave paintings as proof of man’s earliest quest to communicate.  It is such communication—and the myriad forms it takes—that causes us to experience art in uniquely subjective ways.  And, we can have conversations, even arguments, about what makes art good (or bad) while relying on objective evidence, such as formal analysis and primary research as well as secondary research and theory.

Returning art majors may have noticed some changes to the campus community--a new face in the galleries and a fun, outdoor area of the Wilson in which to relax and talk.  There is even a new edition to the public sculpture collection: The Stephen D. Elrod Memorial by Amanda Matthews.  Other changes include the departure of two public works installed as part of the temporary exhibition, Live.Learn.Believe., which debuted in 2007.  We will miss the pleasant surprise Allison Warren’s Crossing (After Whitman) gave us as we traversed across the green grass between the Anne Wright Wilson Fine Arts Building and the Ensor Learning Resource Center.  And, fond memories of actively engaging with the kinetic and participatory Pass the Lace Through the Loop (“see saw” sculpture) at the corner of Mulberry and Jackson Streets, will have to suffice since we can no longer teeter and totter with its creator, our friend and mentor, Professor Daniel Graham.

Very soon, Georgetown College will say good-bye to another landmark, also a part of Live.Learn.Believe., Leticia Bajuyo’s Forces of Nature: Hurricanes and Slinkys, those aesthetically pleasing, hot pink spirals of tubing that burst forth like peonies from the lawn along Memorial Drive, beckoning all visitors to this beautiful campus to stop and consider:  is that art?  Old and new students alike, please consider helping Ms. Bajuyo de-install her piece; ask her questions; learn of her challenges and her successes.  She will be here this Thursday, August 26 around 11:00 a.m.  

Perhaps more importantly, tell non-art majors and other members of our community about the departure of these sculptures.  Ask them whether they enjoyed these works of art while we had the privilege of having them here with us.  You may be surprised at their answers; listen to and agree or disagree with their opinions.  These types of art conversations really do matter.

Packing tape Installation

Viennese/Croatian design collective For Use/Numen.

The team uses nothing but packing tape to create huge, self-supporting cocoons that visitors could climb inside and explore.

Installed three times in the past year, the next deployment will be next week from June 9–13 at DMY Berlin's International Design Fair, which is now in its 8th year.

The installations, which look like the work of horrifyingly large arachnids, grew in scale and scope as the year progressed, first deployed inside a small Croatian gallery, then an abandoned attic during October’s Vienna Design Week.

At the last installation inside Odeon, a former stock exchange building in Vienna, the group used nearly 117,000 feet and 100 pounds of tape. “The installation is based on an idea for a dance performance in which the form evolves from the movement of the dancers between the pillars,” explains For Use’s Christoph Katzler. “The dancers are stretching the tape while they move, so the resulting shape is a recording of the choreography.”

The installation’s over-the-top theatricality comes easily to the collective, who design sets as well as furniture for the likes of Moroso and Element. In September, they’ll create a tape installation in a public space in the center of Frankfurt, and a five-star design hotel on the Croatian coast is forthcoming.

henrique oliveira

Artist henrique oliveira has made a number blog runs already but his work is too incredible to pass up. Henrique reuses old and peeling wood and turns them into these incredible curving, undulating installations. i am dying to see these in person, but in the meantime, i can’t think of a prettier piece of eye-candy for friday morning.
You can see a bunch more on his website HERE

Eric Testroete

Eric Testroete
made this 3D papercraft head of himself just larger. It is rather nice he has some other fun work on his site.

See all about the project HERE

Tedious book animation

So if you ever think your work is tedious take a look at this. All hand cut by the New Zealand book company. No computer anything in this one.

New artist to see.

Make sure to check out this commercial sculptors insane work.
HERE and in the bar on the right