As Good as the Orginal

Hubert Eyck/The Bridgeman Art Library/Getty Images
The Ghent Altarpiece, or Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, completed in 1432 by Jan van Eyck

While enjoying the overall aura of holiday cheer on Christmas day, I could not help but ponder on an article I read earlier that day. The article entitled "Is This The World's Most Coveted Painting?" (Link Below), discussed the history of Jan van Eyck's Adoration of the Mystic Lamb. I find that the actual history of the painting sounds like something out of a Hollywood film. As intriguing as the history is, that is not the reason for this post.

In 1934, the lower left panel of the painting was stolen, and the panel has never been recovered. Since then a copy of the missing panel has been placed in the original's absence. Was this a good idea? Later in the article, it states that the copy was so good that people actually believed it to be the original. If a piece of art work is stolen or misplaced, is it fair to the viewing audience if a copy is placed on view until the original is returned (if ever)?

NPR Article: http://www.npr.org/2010/12/25/132283848/is-this-the-worlds-most-coveted-painting

Countdown to London: 365 days

For those of you interested in a study abroad adventure, consider a CCSA course with Dr. Decker next Winter. CCSA is a consortium that offers opportunities for college students to participate in study abroad experiences in English-speaking countries. Yours truly, Dr. Decker, teaches a course through CCSA every two years. Our next opportunity for a study abroad with me is a year away. Start planning now!

Departure date is December 26, 2011, with a return in early January 2012 -- plenty of time to gear yourself up for Spring 2012 classes. The topic of the course that I teach is the history of museums. Students in the course will go beyond the white walls of the art museum to investigate other forms of repositories -- such as other museums, libraries, armouries, zoos, and more. We'll study how these have enriched the milieu of the museums conceptually and materially. We'll visit one or more institution(s) each day, with two (or more) site visits outside of London.

Enjoy England in the winter and come back enriched from your experiences. In your two-week excursion, you'll undertake new experiences, be immersed in opportunities to make friends from GC and other colleges and universities throughout the US, and, of course, learn about and visit a lot of museums and collections! Talk to your friends --- see who's up for joining you on this study abroad experience in London. Or, if you have a friend from another school and want him/her to join you, contact CCSA to see if that person's school is part of our consortium.

If you have any questions, contact Dr. Decker or consult the CCSA website and their photoblog.

Photo above, right, from the Natural History Museum in London. Taken by G. Decker.

conserving old master drawings

A great little video from Artbabble about the balancing act and process of conserving master drawings.
Original link HERE

What Makes it Art?

...apparently, a light switch does not. See full story here. The article also gives an excellent recap of the more famous faux pas mistaking art for trash and so forth. These include:

• the 1926 incident when Edward Steichen bought a bronze version of Constantin Brancusi's Bird In Space. The purchase wasn't the problem. But because it didn't look like a bird (i.e., no head, feathers, beak, and so forth) US customs refused to accept it as a work of art, and instead classified it as "a manufacture of metal ... held dutiable at 40%".

Some art has been made, perhaps 'more', famous through its destruction.

• In 2000 a drawing sent to Sotheby's auction house was put through a shredder instead of up for auction. The creator, Lucian Freud, valued at £100,000, was not re-enacting the famous homage to deKooning enacted by a young Rauschenberg (1953), unfortunately. The loss of the Freud drawing was a case of human error.
• As was the case with Gustav Metzger's trash bag, on view at Tate and entitled Recreation of First Public Demonstration of Auto-Destructive Art. The sculpture/installation was mistakenly thrown away by maintenance staff who viewed it as it was, an overflowing trash bag in need of emptying.
• In 2007 an art storage company in London was ordered to compensate a Swiss collector after an Anish Kapoor sculpture was apparently thrown away, mistaken for trash.

We can classify art as a creation that follows or breaks the rules certainly (i.e., if it doesn't look like a bird, it cannot be a bird so therefore, it must be art). This reminds me of Daniel's installation that had been on display for three years, as part of the "Live.Learn.Believe" outdoor sculpture program funded by GC alum, Richard Spears (class of 1957). The sculpture was located on the corner of Jackson and Mulberry and had the appearance of a teeter-totter but was much more intentional and visually interesting than a traditional playground toy. As Daniel and I were looking at his sculpture one day, an elderly man rode by and stopped to ask us about it. He questioned what it was to which we replied that we wanted to know what he thought it was. The gentleman reasoned that it had to be art because it wasn't like another teeter-totter that he'd seen before. In other words, Daniel's work was unfamiliar to this Georgetown resident. Therefore, he classified it and posited that it was art.

Blurring the boundaries between life and art, while a tenet of modernism, also serves to problematize how we think of modern and contemporary art today. As artists-, art historians-, and curators-in- training, what do you think? Where are the boundaries blurred and where are they distinct? Is Dan Flavin's installation art or just a bunch of light tubes?

Art Bests and Worsts

If any of you are still out there, reading the blog in between shopping, sleeping, and general lazing about, take a few minutes to check out the article below, which ranks the top ten best and worst art moments of the decade. The slide show largely forgets the first half of the decade but is still an interesting summation of major art-world events from recent years.

Best and Worst

Personally, I can think of several "bests" of my own:

"The Age of Discrepancies: Art and Visual Culture in Mexico, 1968-1997," an exhibit and archive organized by the Museo Universitario de Ciencias y Arte, whose catalog has become a veritable "Bible" for contemporary art in Mexico

Feminist art and art history's big moment in 2007 with the mounting of both LACMA's "Wack! Art and the Feminist Revolution" and the Brooklyn Museum's "Global Feminisms" exhibitions

MOMA's 2007 Richard Serra Retrospective

The "worsts" for me are harder to name. I'll have to keep thinking on that.

How about you, readers? What would you list as any art bests and worsts from this year or recent history?

Learning from the Masters

One should never take for granted the discoveries that have been made by the great artists of the past. Within the way they treated light and shadow, the figure, nature, are so many lessons to be learned upon close observation. During my semester in France, I have had the chance to do studies of many artists in a quest to better myself as an artist. Here is the result of some of my studies:

Vermeer

Monet

Renoir

Degas

GC Art in Review

While you're musing about art in the new year, you might want to peruse this nice recap of 2010 art trends from the New York Times. Meanwhile, here are a handful images for your viewing pleasure.  Hope you enjoy this GC Art Dept fall semester in review!

Fun with Professor Graham

Professor Kincer and photographer Jan Albers at Prometheus Foundry

"Pink Slinky" artist Leticia Bajuyo on the Wilson putting green

Professor Ratliff and Emily Brandon pose with prints from Mexico

Recent art history grad with Dr. Czarnecki at the Exquisite Equine opening

Dr. Decker and friends discussing ImPrint

Show It: the "nexus" for great art!

On my bookshelf: "Monument Wars"

If you're looking for an interesting read, pick up a copy of Monument Wars: Washington, D. C., the National Mall, and the Transformation of the Memorial Landscape. Here, Kirk Savage acutely addresses the notion of public space, history, and memory. He makes, in the closing pages, "A Modest Proposal" (I love the Swiftian ring to that....) that begins with a moratorium on new monuments in Washington for 10 years (excusing those spaces and monuments that have been grandfathered into creation). During this time, ephemeral monuments would take stage but the formula would be broadened to include installations and reinterpretations of the space. He states that this shifting of the ground from the permanent to the ephemeral would "alter the system dramatically...to treat the memorial landscape more as an open conversation than a quest for an immutable national essence." (p. 312).

As many of you know, I am involved in a group called "Public Art Dialogue", so the notion of an open space as a place for conversation, rather than formulated population of monuments and plop art, does intrigue me. In case you need convincing, consider the recent controversy at MOCA LA involving Italian muralist Blu.

Guy, Kickstarted

This past weekend I had an enjoyable happening. I found out that local photographer, Guy Mendes, currently has an exhibition of his work, 40/40, at Institute 193 in Lexington. Unfortunately I missed the opening, however I was able to make it to his book signing at the Morris Book Shop the following day. I was delighted to meet and say hi to guy, as well as purchase a signed copy of his new book of portraits, 40/40 Forty Years of Forty Portraits. If you're familiar with the Lexington photography and/or arts scene, then you will find out about Guy and probably know a large number of the people that are featured in his book, from James Baker Hall to Ashley Judd.

Another unique aspect of the project is that Guy raised funds for the book through Kickstarter, an online funding platform that allows nearly anyone to raise money for projects. 40/40 is a perfect example. It allows for people to invest in your projects in many ways, as well as receive possible specialized perks for helping to get a project off the ground. You can take a look at Guy's Kickstarter page here.

What makes this all the more special is this work's relation to the upcoming Special Topics class, Portrait and Lighting. Guy has put together an outstanding collection of portraits from across his lifetime that includes insightful and personal text about each image. It is both an excellent example of fine photography and perhaps a springboard for students to consider in their own work.

To find out all about Guy's work, consider reading Institute 193's blog post documenting the project. And if you get a chance, go by to see the show which is up from now until January 29. Institute 193 is located at 193 N Limestone Lexington.

Art and Value

Hysterical clip below as Stephen Colbert tries to figure out art and value with noted art collector Steve Martin and artists Frank Stella, Shepard Fairey, and Andres Serrano.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Exclusive - Steve Martin Extended Segment
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog March to Keep Fear Alive

More than just a pretty picture

At Christmastime, when I was a little girl, I would often  encounter what I considered to be quintessential scenes of the season.  As I crunched on sugar cookies from store-bought tins, I would gaze at the illustrations on the covers of the cute little boxes.  I wondered about what life was like for the people pictured there.  They were dressed in old fashioned clothing, ice skating or sleigh riding, enjoying the fun that comes with snow.  

Winter Morning in the Country, courtesy of the Currier & Ives Foundation

Now, when you have to get up early to shovel and scrape, winter seems to be a bit of a hassle.  And, those Christmas pictures don't seem to be as prevalent as they used to be.  But, for you art lovers out there, Currier and Ives, a lithographic firm (NYC 1834-1907), is a fascinating subject for study.  In fact, the firm employed many of America's "great" artists, including George Inness, Thomas Nast and Eastman Johnson.  Promoting itself as creating inexpensive popular prints for the masses, the firm produced illustrations that spread throughout the country's collective consciousness. These prints and reproductions certainly captured my imagination, and I hope you appreciate them as well.

Enjoy the season!

American Farm Scenes (#4 Winter), N. Currier courtesy of the Currier & Ives Foundation

In light of furniture making

I came across this interesting piece of furniture the other day and thought it was a great example of the current "anti digital through digital means" trend, much like the sepia or pinhole setting on a digital camera.
The work is called Tableau by John Kestner it is a side table that can scan and print images to and from twitter. So the social networking site becomes a physical experience rather than a digital one. Quite interesting. I think this would be great to check email this way in a chair with some hot chocolate and open a drawer to find what people have left for you.


Tableau: physical email from John Kestner on Vimeo.

12/12/2010 Field Trip: Cancelled

Due to the Winter Weather Advisory, the field trip to Cincy has been cancelled. Sorry!

Still Life

It is amazing how much life one can find within the still life. The way the objects interact with one another has captured the fascination of artist from the beginning of time. From Rembrandt to Cézanne the ability to bring objects that are as the French would say "morte" has been pursued by many and realized by few. Giacometti in an interview with David Sylvester talks of each object containing within itself the whole universe. As he says "having an inch of something, you have more chance of getting some feeling of the universe than if you claim to embrace the whole sky." He also talks about how attempting to copy a still object on a surface is both a prideful venture, yet as it is impossible to replicate exactly something living, it is also a humbling experience.

For me, painting the still life is about discovering the air that exist between the objects. How they relate to each other in space. Finding a balance between the shadow and the highlight, realizing that they are not two separate entities, they are one in the same, working together to bring the form to the surface. Without one, the other is useless. That is my aim. To try and find a balance of dark and light while addressing each part of the surface in order to create a whole image.

Here is one of my studies:

The three paintings in more detail. These were done in 2 hours as the light in the studio continued to fade:

Voila. J'ai commencé les peintres de la vie morte.

Opportunity: Portfolio prep

Mark your calendars... Artist Professional Development Series: Part I

Spread some Christmas cheer by...

ImPrint Catalog

It's been a few weeks since ImPrint ended. Throughout the show and up until now, I've been working on a catalog via Blurb (and their software BookSmart), featuring the works and statements from the artists. It has been a lot of work, but I'm glad to have included this component of the show, particularly since so many of the artists, 15 of 16, couldn't make it to the Ann Wright Wilson Gallery. I don't blame them; we had pieces in the show from across the country. But hopefully with this catalog all of the artists can get a sense of the works included in the show, what the other artists say about their own work, a glimpse of the gallery space, and feedback from Daniel, Laura, and myself.

You can see and even purchase a copy of the ImPrint Catalog at Blurb.com.

AHRG: Art History Reading Group

Students who love art history....

Opportunity: Summer Institute for the Museum-bound

Students interested in possibly working in a museum as a future career goal?

Humming about Hummels

The Georgetown College community will be pleased to learn of a recent gift to the College made by the heirs to the Clyde Ensor Estate:  a couple hundred Hummels!  

What's a Hummel?  Well, in the late nineteenth century in Germany, a man named Goebel founded a porcelain factory.  Later, his son William oversaw the W. Goebel company and developed a product line specifically aimed at the U.S. market.  In the 1930s, 4th generation Goebel Franz began looking for something that suggested "innocence", perhaps to counter the extreme political upheavals occurring in Europe at the time.  A Franciscan nun born in Bavaria in 1909, Maria Innocentia (Berta) Hummel, after being trained at the Munich Academy of Applied Arts, came to Franz's attention for her popular art card images of rural children.  Goebel fashioned clay models based on the artist's drawings and Sister Hummel gave full rights of reproduction to the Goebel company.  She did, however, personally approve both the sculpture and painting of each earthenware piece.   M.I. Hummel figurines were first introduced in 1935 and were very successful, even following Sister Hummel's death in 1946 at the very young age of 37.  In fact, today Hummels have a large collecting base and several models are quite sought after. (From Dr. Lori's website and Hummel: the complete collector's guide and illustrated reference by Eric Ehrmann, Portfolio Press Corp, Huntington, NY, 1976.)

Currently located in Ensor art storage, Georgetown College's newest, rosy cheeked friends have found a good home!

CHRISTMAS PARTY!!!

Hey guys Kappa Pi is going to have a (super last minute... I know... I'm sorry) Christmas Party this Friday. Please check the SODAH blog to get all the details.

Book review Step one: Read book

I am quite excited about a resent book acquisition.  I was just birthday gifted a copy of Ken Robinson's book "Out of our Minds"  (synopsis from the publisher below).  I have been a long time fan of Sir Ken Robinson ever since his TED Talk appearance in 2006.  I started the book the other night and...good, yes...thick material, yes...worth it, i hope so.  I have recently been really interested in the current perspective and direction of higher education.  So far Robinson's "Out of our Minds" has addressed some interesting points with respect to the history of higher education and its link to technological revolutions.  As well as some research presented in the area of educational equivalency inflation.
I will let you know how the book progresses. But even though I have just started this work I have been presented with some moments of "that is exactly what is going on, and it makes a little more sense why" So if anyone is interested in this topic stop me and we will chat it up.

Out of Our Minds 

There is a paradox. Throughout the world, companies and organisations are trying to compete in a world of economic and technological change that is moving faster than ever. They urgently need people who are creative, innovative and flexible. Too often they can’t find them. Why is this? What’s the real problem — and what should be done about it? Out of Our Minds answers three vital questions for all organisations that have a serious strategic interest in creativity and innovation.

• Why is it essential to promote creativity? Governments, companies and organisations are concerned as never before with promoting creativity and innovation. Why is this so essential? What’s the price of failure?
• Why is it necessary to develop creativity? Why do so many adults think they’re not creative (and not very intelligent)? Most children are buzzing with ideas. What happens to them as they grow up?
• What is involved in promoting creativity? Is everyone creative or just a select few? Can creativity be developed? If so, how? What are the benefits of success?

In Out of our Minds, Ken Robinson argues that organisations are trying to fix a downstream problem that originates in schools and universities. Most people leave education with no idea what their real abilities are. He says what all organisations, including those in education, can do immediately to recover people’s creative talents. Robinson also argues for radical changes in how we think about intelligence and human resources and in how we educate people to meet the extraordinary challenges of living and working in the 21st century.

Fan of Leonardo's "Last Supper"?

Feast your eyes on this video and the write up in the New York Times.

Oral History Project

Students in the curatorial studies course (ART 302, offered every fall) developed an oral history project that focused on a person close to them. Below you will find an image of the person being interviewed and the student and the audio file, edited by the student. We hope that you enjoy this project as a curatorial, virtual, and compassionate endeavor.

Oral History: Mike Sutherland

Oral History: Velma Adams

Oral History: Michael Breidert

Oral History: Patrice Payton

Oral History: Katie Webb Kneisley

Opportunity: Summer Internship

Washington, DC - The Kentucky Society of Washington announced January 15, 2011 as the deadline for applications for the 2011 Henry Clay Internship program. Applications are available now at http://www.kentuckysociety.org/internship.htm.

Opportunties, Call for Art

If you're not familiar with Art House Co-op, it's a great place to find art projects and opportunities where you can share and show your work. They have tons of different calls for work that might be tailored to exactly what you've been creating. Check it out from time to time and see how you can get involved exhibiting your work and building your resume.

As a side note, I've participated in their "A Million Little Pictures" project in which I payed an entry fee, they sent me a disposable camera, I shot and returned it, they printed the pictures along with many others, and all the photos were shown in Atlanta and San Fransisco. Pretty cool.

Reminder: Art For Lunch today

Join us at noon for pizza and discussion of art and music, led by Shawn McPeek. Meet in the lab at noon!

Critical Issues: Taste Classifies...(part two)

A few weeks ago I made a post that linked Pierre Bourdieu and the permanent collection at Harvard through a discussion of changing the face of the collection by adding portraits to show the complexion of the college community. I posed questions to the blog followers asking who you would like to serve as a representation of our institution and, further, asking what ways do you think that the art on the walls (however narrowly or broadly defined) classifies the institution.

This week, I've been asking students a different kind of question: If the college were to do something together -- as a community -- such as reading a book, what book would you select? Your choice could come from poetry or prose, fiction or non. Might you choose epic? tragedy or comedy for you Shakespeareans among us? novel, short story, or creative non-fiction? Would you select fiction, biography, spiritual, historical?

The choice should not be full of jargon or purely discipline specific and appeal to the widest possible audience -- students, staff, and faculty. Here are some of the responses that students have given (and I've provided links from amazon.com for editions that I've selected for demonstration purposes only):

Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist

Vandana Shiva's Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution, and Profit

Bill McKibben's Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future

Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The Idiot

Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak

John Gardner's Grendel

What book would you choose? And why? Please post here and let's discuss.

Photo pulled from Black Swan Books. If you've not been, you don't know what you're missing!

exhibition call for entries: Nashville

more information:

http://www.artandartdeadlines.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/46th-Annual-Central-South-Exhibit-Prospectus.pdf

Road Trip*

So, who's ready for finals?

Who's already anticipating a break from finals? Now we're talking! On Sunday, Dec. 12, GCVA will be hosting a trip to Cincinnati. We're going to make a day of it, see some great art and have some fun rounding out what has been a long (although fruitful) semester. Plans include:

• A visit to the Taft Museum, which will be hosting an exhibit of Goya's Los Caprichos prints (good stuff).
• A visit to the Contemporary Art Center to see the exhibit of contemporary art entitled Where Do We Go From Here? Selections from the Jumex Collection. I have already blogged about my excitement about this exhibit here.
• A trip to Jungle Jim's International Market and/or IKEA.

We're meeting at the department next Sunday at 9:30 am. We'll cover transportation; just bring some money for food and/or shopping. Bring your notes or flashcards to study on the ride if you need to, but don't miss out on this event.

If you'd like to attend, we'll need to know a head-count beforehand so that we can plan for it (and so that I can get certified to drive the GC van if I need to). Either comment here with your name or email me at jratlif0@georgetowncollege.edu by Monday, Dec. 6 to let me know if you are interested in coming. Spread the word to SODAH members.

*"Road trip" just sounds better than "field trip."

Exhibition Call for Entries: LVAA

LVAA's Regional Exhibition

Not famed (yet) as the Parisian Salon -- your participation just may do it -- the LVAA's Regional is the survey we should embrace and hope it to grow. It is a warm and wonderful event for the chill of February!

http://www.louisvillevisualart.org/2011regional.html

Another "Sensation"?

A few weeks ago, art gal posted a link about an exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. entitled “Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture.” This exhibit, which opened just last month, is the first of its kind to focus specifically on the representation of gay and lesbian identity and its impact on the arts in American history and culture. This week, the exhibit has come under fire by a couple of a top-ranking state Representatives (John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Eric Cantor (R-Va.)) as well as members of the public who are calling for the cancellation of the exhibition altogether.

As a result, the NPG has pulled from the exhibit a four-minute edited version of a video by artist David Wojnarowicz (A Fire in my Belly, 1987) which shows, among other things, a small crucifix with ants crawling on it as well as a nude male body. Contemporary art is certainly no stranger to this kind of controversy. This latest exhibit is only the most recent example of a long line of debates concerning the public display (and public funding) of works of art that provoke, offend, and otherwise disturb the aesthetic (or even "moral") sensibilities of segments of the population. The previous 25 years provide us with a litany of now-iconic artworks and their resulting controversies: Dred Scott's What is the Proper Way to Display the American Flag? and its contested display at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago; Robert Mapplethorpe's X Portfolio, which led to the arrest of Cincinnati Contemporary Art Center's director in 1990 on charges of obscenity and the Corcoran (also in D.C.) Gallery's decision to cancel its scheduled exhibit; Andres Serrano's Piss Christ and the debate over NEA artist funding; and the 1999 controversy over Sensation, which led to the temporary suspension of state funding to the Brooklyn Museum.

Controversies like these re-ignite ongoing debates about the role and/or responsibility of art and artists in society, the role of the state in supporting contemporary art, and the boundaries of social, aesthetic, and ethical propriety. What about the role and/or responsibility of the art museum as a public institution? As members of an art community, what are your thoughts on the subject? How do you respond to provocative, or even offensive, works of art? How do we reconcile and respond to accusations of "shock" that often reduce these works of art to meaningless "garbage"? How can we, as a society, still find meaning and value in works of art that are difficult to digest?

Here are a couple of links, one to an article about the current controversy and the other is to an op-ed peiece in the Washington Times. I'd love to hear others, especially students, weigh in on this topic.

Exhibition Call for Entries: Love and Things Like Love

LAL is accepting entries for Love and Things Like Love. Please see the attached flyer and visit

http://www.lexingtonartleague.org/calltoartist.htm#Love

Van Gogh Museum

While on route to Mexico, I had the opportunity to make a 6-hour layover/pit stop in Amsterdam. Because of the time constraint I had to make the tough decision between visiting the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum. I final decided upon The Van Gogh museum. I may have missed out on seeing the work of Vermeer, Rembrandt van Rijn however I was able to gain a unique understanding and appreciation for the oeuvre de Van Gogh. The Museum showed the progression of Van Gogh as an artist from his naturalistic Sketches, to his First

attempt at a master piece, The Potato Eaters, and from his works inspired by Japanese art to his paintings done in the latter years of his life at St. Remy where he was hospitalized due to mental instability. It is always a different experience to stand in front of a piece of artwork that one has only seen through reproduction. What is more, taking the time to stand in front of works of art and copy the work of masters, learning from their use of color and shadows sheds life upon the hidden world of the artists. Two paintings that I particularly enjoyed were The Sower (1888) and The Boulevard de Clichy (1887).

The striking use of contrasting colors in the work of Van Gogh makes me think of his letter he writes from Arles where he talks about how he is not concerned about accurately portraying the color he sees in nature and is more concerned with making his pallet replicate the beauty he sees in nature. The vibrant yellow of the hay and the deep rich violets of the sower and the tree certainly communicate beauty.

The Boulevard de Clichy was painted after the beginning of the impressionism movement when Van Gogh stopped criticizing the movement and started eperimenting with the techniques of the impressionist. In this painting Van Gogh places strong colors close to each other in opposition modeled after technique of pointillism.

One thing that I did not realize about Van Gogh, prior to my visit, was the amount of writing that he did in his lifetime. He wrote over 800 letters, about life, art and society. It is humbling to see the great amount of passion Artists such as Van Gogh had in their pursuits of discovering life through his work. He saw beauty in the mundane things of life, observing the world around him through painting up until his death in 1870.

Three Opportunities This Friday

Robert C. May Photo Lecture @ UK,

Open Studio @ UK,

Open Mic, Open Walls @ the 930 Art Center, Louisville

The second Robert C. May Photo Lecture of the semester is this Friday in the UK Student Center, Worsham Theatre at 4 PM. Kael Alford will be speaking and showing her work as a photojournalist and war photographer. Her work will also be on display in UK's Art Museum from November 20, 2010-January 16, 2011.

Each year on the first Friday of December, the UK Fine Arts Department opens their doors to the public. It's a good chance to see what fellow students in the arts are up at a nearby university, meet and greet, and enjoy some food and music. Open studio is from 6-10 PM in the Reynolds Building, located at 349 Scott St (right off S. Broadway).

If you might be in Louisville and would like to show some of your work, the 930 Art Center is holding an "Open Mic, Open Walls" event. The 930 is a great space for art, music, writing, and even worship.

Here's a quote:

"The 930 is pleased to present an evening of creative sharing. In hopes to further our mission to encourage meaningful and beautiful art, music, and community we’re launching our first “Open Mic, Open Walls” event.

Many talented and creative people shy away from bringing their efforts out into the public realm. For fear of failure, or for lack of opportunity, much creative work gets left unheard and unseen. Open Mic, Open Walls hopes to create an atmosphere of encouragement to bring new art and music to the public surface.

This is an event for newbies, amateurs, and bigshots alike."

So I hope this Friday you find yourself involved in the arts. I plan to be.

Show More

More photos from Show It:

SHOW IT!

Thanks for all the people that helped the SHOW IT exhibition happen.  It looks great and the juror had a great time with all of the students she interacted with. She was impressed with our program and the work coming out of it.

 Here are a couple of shots from the opening, for those that couldn't make it.

Helen Levitt

Levitt did the bulk of her work from the late 1930's up to the 1990's. She shot mostly street life in New York City.

Starting out with photography she worked for a commercial photographer, but was inspired to do her own work when she bought her leica camera and began to shoot children and their chalk drawings that had become a part of the street culture in New York City.

The photos were published under the title "In the Street: Chalk Drawings and Messages, New York City 1938-1948"

Here is an example of that work. You can see more here

From what I have read about Levitt was that she just shot people going about their everyday life. When she started working in color a large amount of her work was stolen from her apartment in 1970.

After the robbery Levitt started over again and worked through the 70's on new pieces. Forty of the images from this body of work were shown in a slide show at the New York Museum of Modern Art in 1974. This was a huge deal since it would have been one of the fist times photographs would have been shown that way in a museum, and it was one of the first exhibitions of color photography anywhere.

I really love photography that seems to have a sense of reality to it, photographs that capture more than just someone with a fake smile or a pretty face; photographs that capture something more that what is just in front of the lens, photographs that make some sort of commentary about the time, the culture or the place.

Here is an example of her color photography work. You can see more here.

Some information was taken from : lensculture.com

and... cameranaked.com